Do Unto Others

On the back page of the 2011 Old Farmer's Almanac, there is a great little piece about The Golden Rule and how basically all the world's religions are based on this one principle:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Christian).

That which you want for yourself, seek for mankind (Islam).

Love your neighbor as yourself (Judiasm).

Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself (Ba'hai).

Never return Tupperware empty (kitchen wisdom).

"Never return Tupperware empty."  Have you heard this saying?  Basically, if someone gifts you food, it's best to fill it up with your own home-cookin' before returning the container. I don't know where it came from, but I like this rule.  I'm not 100% always sticking to it, especially since my recently retired mother cooks all day and loves to pass the food on to us so we don't wither from hunger but I barely have time some days to blow my nose, let alone whip up extra servings for the container's return trip home, so understandably sometimes I'm returning an empty container but I think she understands (love ya mom!). 

So when mom gave me a Mason jar filled with vegetarian chili last week (which served as an excellent work lunch for most of the week), I took a note from a gift idea article out of the latest Midwest Living magazine and filled up the jar with cranberry bran muffin mix, all pretty and layered with a recipe attached. 

She really liked it and maybe, just maybe, I'll be seeing some cranberry bran muffins come back my way in the near future.  Karma's cool like that.

Want to make a layered jar for yourself or for a gift?  Here are the contents (recipe from
Midwest Living); make a funnel from a piece of parchment paper to make the layering go more easily.

Layer 1: mix together the following
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Layer 2
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (crumble it up again before pouring into jar)

Layer 3
1 cup whole bran cereal (like All-Bran)

Layer 4
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Layer 5
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Combine in a small bag to pack on top of the layers
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

(Here are the instructions to include with the jarred mix)

Cranberry Bran Muffins
Remove bag of streusel topping.  Shake remaining ingredients in jar to mix.  Prep 12 muffin cups.  Combine 1 egg, 1 cup milk and 1/4 cup vegetable oil.  Stir in jar contents until just moistened.  Spoon batter into muffin cups until two-thirds full. For streusel topping, in a small bowl cut 2 Tablespoons butter into streusel topping mix for coarse crumbs; sprinkle over batter in cups.  Bake at 400 degrees 15-18 minutes or until done.  Serve wam.