What do I do with Wheat Bran?

Remember how I talked about cleaning out my pantry a few weeks ago? Well, as I was taking inventory of all my pantry items, I found an almost-full bag of wheat bran and had no idea why I even had it in the first place.

What the heck do I do with wheat bran?!

Then I turned the package around and noticed a yummy sounding recipe for Cranberry Quick Bread.

And I just happened to have all the ingredients on hand. I also needed a breakfasty (it's a word) item to send with Alex to work the next day for his "Birthday Breakfast" with his squadron. I love when things like that happen! It's just meant to be. :)

So I got to cookin' and this recipe came together in NO time! The hardest part was waiting the hour that it takes to bake. But when it's done, you get rewarded with this beauty:

YUM! Golden brown perfection!

And the taste is really great too. It's not too sweet with the lovely contrast of tart cranberries and the bran and walnuts add a nice texture to it.

This recipe is one that I would make again and again. In fact, I would probably go make it right now, if it weren't for the fact that I'm sitting in an empty house without any of my kitchen tools. Turns out, a random package of wheat bran isn't such a bad thing to have around after all!

Disclaimer: Although this recipe may seem healthy, since it includes things like whole wheat flour and wheat bran, it really isn't (see nutritional info at the bottom of the recipe). I'm sure there are a lot of healthy substitutions that could be made for the oil, egg, orange juice, etc. but I haven't experimented with that yet. Maybe I will sometime soon though.

Wheat Bran Cranberry Quick Bread

Source: Bob's Red Mill

• 1/2 cup White Flour, Unbleached

• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

• 1 cup Wheat Bran

• 3/4 cup Brown Sugar

• 1 tsp. Baking Powder

• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

• 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt

• 1/2 cup Walnut Pieces

• 1 cup Cranberries (I used half dried and half frozen)

• 1 Egg

• 1/2 cup Milk

• 1 cup Orange Juice

• 1/3 cup Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together the egg, milk, orange juice and oil. In a separate bowl, combine flours, bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, walnuts and cranberries. Add dry mixture into wet and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased 9x5x3” loaf pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until the bread is firm in the center. Cool in pan 10 minutes, remove to rack and cool before slicing. Makes 1 loaf, yielding 12 slices.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size: 1 Slice (87g) - Calories 220, Calories from Fat 70, Total Fat 7g, Cholesterol 20mg, Sodium 200mg, Total Carbohydrate 39g, Dietary Fiber 4g, Sugars 22g and Protein 4g.

Ashley's Notes: These could also easily be transformed into muffins, by placing the batter in muffin tins and decreasing the cooking time by about half (just a guess).