A Christmas Card

Today I was thinking about sending out Christmas cards.  I've started getting Christmas cards in the mail and I love it.  It is so fun to see all the pictures of friends and family and to tape the collection to the door.  Deep in my heart of hearts, though, I fear that the idea of me getting a Christmas card out to y'all is just a far away dream.  For the last two years I have had detailed plans to send Christmas cards (and even some lovely abandoned drafts of cards), and did any of you get them?  Not so much...

So this year I have decided to try a new experiment.  I am going to put our cards right here on the blog, and you can click on them and print them out if you want to put us on your fridge.  Now since this is the height of laziness, I'm going to make more than one so what I lack in getting-to-the-post-officeness I can make up for in terms of options.

Option number one is our traditional look.

Personally, it is a favorite of mine.

Next I have the more soulful, contemplative look:

Sam never fails me.

And now, for those of you who like a more playful Christmas, I thought I would put together some of our greatest hits.

It has been a lot of fun writing to you all throughout our new marriage.  Thanks for letting us share our lives with you!!

The Mullet Muffin

Some things never go out of style.    

Take for instance, the American (and let's be honest, Eastern European) idea that a haircut can be all things for all situations.  That business in the front, party in the back attitude may not always translate into the best concept for making the impression you want people to remember.  However.  It absolutely translates into the best possible idea for a muffin.  That's where our story takes us today.

For too long I've felt I had to choose between the healthy, homemade, regular sized bran muffin, and the larger than life, cake dressed in muffin clothing at the grocery store.  Honestly, I love them both.  Inspired by a favorite muffin at Big City Coffee in Boise, Idaho, I came up with this muffin that is health on the bottom and a party on the top.  I give you the mullet muffin, named after the plucky haircut that refuses to quit challenging the idea that work and pleasure can't be mixed.

Mullet Muffins (aka, Peanut Butter Bran Muffins)

Makes 12

1 1/2 cups wheat bran

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2/3 to 1 cup brown sugar (recipe says 2/3, I usually add more)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Mix together wheat bran and milk; let stand for 10 minutes.

3. Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.

4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes.  Frost with peanut butter frosting.

Peanut butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup smooth, non-healthy peanut butter (some people in our house refer to regular peanut butter as the poison kind.  We compromise with Jiffy Natural, which works)

1 cup powdered sugar

Mix the ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth.  

Much like it's haircut counterpart, in this picture my muffin leaves one a bit underwhelmed.  However, you have to understand that my muffin's appearance and Sam's expression reflect that fact that Sam is (because he loves me) fake-eating a muffin that sat undiscovered in the fridge for two weeks.  I personally think that for the photo Sam was channeling Pip in Great Expectations when he discovers Miss Havisham and her rotten wedding cake.  Consider this your backstage pass to our real lives, but don't let my disturbing imagery dissuade you from making this incredible muffin.

Stay tuned for more frequent posts from Chalkboard House, in which these two cuties:

Also known as Mom and Aunt Pat

 help Sam and I put up our Christmas tree.

I know you will be waiting and wondering, so let me give you this little hint about where we went with the theme this year:  Japanese hunter in a peppermint forest.