Homemade Bran Muffins

With two full days on campus each week for both of us, it gets challenging to try to come up with at least somewhat healthy food to take with us. Sandwiches get soggy; we do not have a spare moment to microwave leftovers. One food item that holds up pretty well, tastes good, and sustains us is the bran muffin.

I found the following recipe online a while back and decided to try it. You can find it in its original form here.

It was not as easy as I thought it would be to find wheat bran. Apparently they do not carry it at Walmart, which is where we do a lot of our shopping. We finally found some at Smith's, in the cereal aisle. I found it in a display with other "Bob's Mill" special mixes and cereals (which is where I was looking at Walmart, but to no avail). It is helpful to know that it looks like sawdust :o)

Bran Muffins
1 1/2 c wheat bran
1 c buttermilk (or 1 c milk plus 1 Tbsp lemon juice or 1 3/4 Tbsp cream of tartar)
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 egg
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c raisins (the next time I make these, I think I may try adding Craisins for a twist)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and prepare muffin tin by placing liners or greasing cups.
2. Mix wheat bran and buttermilk (or substitution) and let stand 10 minutes.
3. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.
4. Mix dry ingredients in a third bowl. Then, combine everything and add raisins.
5. Pour into muffin tin, filling cups about 2/3 full. You should be able to fit all of the batter into 12 regular-sized muffin tin wells.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes.