Dairy Free bran muffins

I love having home made muffins in the morning for my boys to have at breakfast, or to throw into a lunch kit for an extra snack at school or work.  And let's be honest, I love to eat muffins too, all kinds, but if you suffer from a dairy allergy you know that muffins are something you normally should avoid.  Most store bought muffins contain milk, often buttermilk, so I make my own.
I use almond or soy milk as my dairy alternative, depending on who will be eating the baking, and I fake the buttermilk component by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to my almond milk a few moments before adding it.  You would never know the difference.  I love this recipe because it can last well mixed in the fridge in a sealed container for two weeks so that you can quickly bake some up on a Saturday morning for a quick hot breakfast.
In my new house my fridge is pretty small, so I just make half a recipe and bake them all at once, then I individually wrap them and freeze them in a zip lock bag, ready to grab one to place in a lunch kit.

Originally I got this recipe from a friend, and I am unsure as to where she got it, but I have altered it over the years.

Bran Muffins (Dairy Free)
Pre-heat oven to 400

4 cups Flour
4 cups bran
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking soda
2 cups white sugar
6 eggs
4 cups almond milk (add a tsp of white vinegar to your milk. Any milk alternative will work. Or if you don't want it to be dairy free, buttermilk)
2 cups oil (I usually use canola)
1/2 cup molasses (I like fancy molasses, but I don't think it matters)
2 cups raisins (or cran-raisins or a mix of both)

1. mix dry ingredients
2. mix wet ingredients in separate bowl and add to dry.  Stir just until blended, Do not over mix.
3. add raisins.
4. bake at 400 for 10 minutes then lower oven temp to 350 and bake for additional 6-10 minutes.  my oven only takes an extra 6 minutes.
You will know that they are done when they crack on top and are slightly firm to the touch.  If you want you can test if they are done by inserting a tooth pick into a muffin and if it comes out clean they are finished. The muffins should be nice and golden brown and smell delicious.

Suck it up Mister...and other things I say for his own good.

There are some days that I feel like the worst mother in the world, I think we all have those days but today was one of those days.

We recently moved to a new city, and my son has not adjusted super well to a new school and new friends.  To be fair there are days that I haven't adjusted well either, I'm just 'old enough' to deal with my emotions and more often then not, pretend they don't exist.  So I am trying to help my son learn how to discern when he can share his emotions and when he should pretend he doesn't feel them (see...worst mother in the world).

My son is a super sensitive 8 year old boy with a strong passion for justice and fairness and he is very compassionate.  All amazing qualities that I don't want to squish.  But with that often comes over emotional break downs, drama like you wouldn't believe and tears, oh the tears. So I find myself saying some of  my mother's favourite phrases "suck it up",  "Life isn't always fair", "you reap what you sow".  Man is it hard to tell your crying son that he needs to tough it up before the school bus arrives.  I can barely do it without crying myself, goodness I am almost crying just typing this, but he needed to hear it.  He needs to know that there are times that crying is good and right and appropriate and then there are times when he needs to hold it in.  School isn't as safe of a place emotionally as I wish it was.  I wish that he could express everything that he was thinking and feeling and have his class look at him and say 'boy that kid is sure in touch with his feeling and he makes a good point, we should all care as much as he does", unfortunately that isn't the case.  He is just getting to be known as the 'weird crying kid'. And it breaks my heart.  I want to sit outside his school and watch him each day.  I want to talk to each kid in his class and make them be his friends.  I want to shake each teacher and tell them that they should make the kids in the class be friends with my sad little boy, but none of those things will help him.  I want to tell him that one day the most perfect friend will just show up and come and talk to him as he sits there crying into his sleeve on the playground and that they will be best friends forever, but this is not an after school special.  This is real life.  If he wants friends to play with him, he may need to ask them to play.  He probably needs to take a deep breath, wipe his eyes and for the 15 minutes that recess is, pretend to have fun.  Pretend so hard and so often that before he knows it he is having fun.  He needs to ask for phone numbers to create play dates, he needs to stay in class, instead of heading to the office to cry. He needs to change his attitude, even though it is hard.

And he needs to suck it up.  And so do I, and there are times when you probably do too. As adults we know that we can't go around crying through meetings, dinner with friends or on the bus, we need to hold on to those emotions until we can release them with safe people, in a safe and appropriate place.
So along with saying 'suck it up' I am trying to create that safe place, here at home for him to release that sadness.  I am trying to help him nurture relationships, new and old, where he can express those emotions without judgement or fear.  I am trying to help him grow into a man who knows when to be strong and in that strength know when and how to express how he is feeling.  I am trying to teach my son that his compassion and sensitivity can be shown to the world through words, deeds and acts of justice, not through drama.

And that is not easy.  Thankfully I am not doing this alone.  We have friends and family and a church family (past and present) who are leading by example as well as with words of encouragement and prayers of support.  Even the school is trying their best to support him in this transition.  And he does have some great friends here and in our last city who are keeping in touch and helping him be happy.

I will keep being that mother who tells her son to suck it up, and I will be there to hold him when he just can't and celebrate with him when he suceeds.  This is just a season of our life.

Cross Posting

Ok! I won't do this for long, but for now I am cross posting my Mennonite Treasury of Recipes post here. So if you are looking for the great menno fun, follow this link.

http://mennonitetreasuryofmemories.blogspot.ca/

Stay tune for a few new blog posts for Highballs and Hair dos in the next few days.


Thanks everyone!