Homemade GF Chewy Granola Bars

Pretty much everything is packaged today.  Sometimes it takes all the fun out of cooking because then you have to compete with this fancy chocolate coated granola bar that has half the nutrients of your homemade not so glitzy looking bar. Since I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2007, I have learned to make almost everything I eat from scratch.  And now that my naturopath has me on a dairy free diet, I am experimenting again with switching things in my recipes.  So far so good. 

Anyway this recipe comes from a home ec notebook that one of my daughters got in junior high. That was definitely back in the day, just about 1998.  And today you hardly see a home ec class in middle school or high school.  Who would ever have thought that they would have ever phased home ec out of the school curriculum.  The home ec room was like a safe haven, you were guaranteed at least an A or  B.  And back in a time when schools didn't have vending machines and didn't let kids eat in class, home ec equaled free food in the middle of the day! 

So here's her teacher's granola bar recipe.  And granola bars aren't like cookies--they allow for a lot of variation. 

Homemade GF Chewy Granola Bars -  Makes 2 dozen

1.  In a large bowl combine well the following ingredients:
(1)  1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar (I usually make this 3/4 cup)
(2)  1/3 cup of peanut butter
(3)  1/2 cup light corn syrup (I like to use agave syrup)
(4)  1/2 cup of melted butter (I always use a little less, and lately I've been trying to substitute coconut oil for butter to reduce my dairy intake)
(5)  2 teaspoons of vanilla

2.  Then stir in the following:
(1)  2 1/2 cups of  gluten free rolled oats
(2)  1/2 cup of flaked coconut
(3)  1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
(4)  1/2 cup of raisins
(5)  1/3 cup of flax seed or almond meal
(6)  2 T sesame seeds
(7)  Optional:  1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or carob chips

3. Press this mixture evenly into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. 

4.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until light brown.  Cool completely and then cut into bars.

Cookies:
The Ultimate Gluten Free Cowboy Oatmeal Cookies   (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Mom's Go To For Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
The Best Gluten Free Recipe for Snickerdoodles    (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Gluten Free Rocky Road Brownies    (From a church friend)
Mark's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies - Made Gluten Free!   (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
Judi's Gluten Free Oatmeal Craisin & Coconut Cookies (From a church friend)
Marie's Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies (Also Great Gluten Free!)   (My friend Marie's recipe)
Bebe's Gluten Free Whoopie Pies  (From my friend Debbie)
Gluten Free Coconut Chocolate Chip Macaroons  - (Recipe on Baker's bag of coconut)
Dale's Gingersnaps Made Gluten Free  (From my Come & Dine cookbook)
Chewy Gluten Free Molasses Cookies (From my daughter-in-law's Family Reunion Cookbook)
Those Famous Neiman Marcus Cookies Made Gluten Free   (From my daughter-in-law)
Janah's Oatmeal Cookies with a GF Spin  (My daughter's recipe)
Homemade Gluten Free Butter Cookies   (From My Heritage School Cookbook)
An Old Fashioned Favorite Made GF - Hermit Cookies- Hermit Cookies  (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
A New Twist on Holiday Peppermint Cookies (You can make them Gluten Free) - (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
Who Wouldn't Love a Cookie that Tastes Like a Brownie? GF Cocoa White Chocolate Chip Cookies - (From my daughter-in-laws family reunion cookbook)

How Does Elisha's Ministry Parallel the Lord's in the Gospels?

    Before God took Elijah up in a chariot of fire—now that never happened before or since!—he prepared Elisha to follow him.  He was sort of like a spiritual apprentice. It’s touching to see that even though Israel was idolatrous at this time, God didn’t completely forsake them.  He used both Elijah and Elisha to help preserve His people. 

On a family walk--this is my favorite tree on the bay.

      In chapter 13 of the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings I read something that made me think—Witness Lee stated that Elijah typifies God’s Old Testament economy, and Elisha typifies God’s New Testament economy (Think of economy as God’s plan or arrangement).  So Elijah’s praying to shut up the heavens and then commanding fire to come down and consume his offering,  typifies God’s miraculous power in caring for His people in the Old Testament.  Then Witness Lee shows through various accounts how Elisha is a type of Christ’s ministry of performing miracles of grace in life. 

     The first miracle Elisha did was healing the water of Jericho in 2 Kings 2:19-22.  This can be compared  to the Lord’s first miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Both Elisha and the Lord changed the water into something that brought life.  In the Gospels we see the Lord calling things not being as being (Rom. 4:17) when He multiplied a few barley loaves and fish to feed thousands of people.  Elisha did the same thing when he told the widow to keep pouring out her cruse of oil until the last jar she had collected was full!  I have to be honest and say I never saw this parallel before I read this chapter!

     Also in the same way that the Lord’s miracles were out of love and compassion, Elisha’s were too.  And we see this especially when Elisha brought the boy back to life (2 Kings 4:18-37).   In the Gospels we see the Lord's compassionate heart when he resurrected  both Lazarus (John 11:41-44) and the widow’s son (Luke 7:11-17). He had other comparisons that you can check out if you click on the above chapter link.

     In the closing paragraphs  of this chapter on page 94 Witness Lee speaks about the impact Watchman Nee's ministry had on him:

"I received most of this light through Brother Nee.  He was the most balanced person in knowing the Bible. Through him I picked up the principle of studying the Bible in the way of life.  The Bible has been studied, interpreted, and expounded by thousands throughout the last twenty centuries.  Brother Nee studied all the interpretations and passed them on to me.  This is why the preface of the Recovery Version of the New Testament says that the footnotes contain 'the 'crystallization' of understanding of the divine revelation which the saints everywhere have attained to in the past two thousand years." If we pay attention to all the notes, we will understand the Bible through all the teachers in the past" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1994, Print).

   I 've been reading my Recovery Version of the Bible (You can order a free New Testament) for over 30 years, and of all the various versions we own,  I like it the most because the footnotes are both enlightening and full of spiritual application. Take advantage of this free offer, and they'll ship it to you free, too.

 List of Other Posts on 1 & 2 Kings:

Taking a Look at Solomon's Prayer in 1 Kings 8:48
Elijah & the Showdown on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 17
    

Who Wouldn't Love a Cookie That Tastes Like a Brownie? GF Cocoa White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's another delicious cookie I tried from my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook this winter.  I never tried it before so I halved the recipe to check it out.  These cookies are really pretty looking and like my granddaughter said, they taste like brownies!  I will definitely make them again.

Cocoa White Chocolate Chip Cookies - Makes 2 dozen

1.  In your mixer or a mixing bowl:
(1)  Cream together 1 cup of butter or coconut oil and 1 cup of sugar.
(2)  Then add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and mix well.

2.  In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients:
(1)  1 cup of gluten free flour and 1 teaspoon of salt
(2)  Stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda
(3) 1/2 cup of cocoa powder

3.  Combine ingredients:  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.

4.  Stir in 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.

5.  Drop by a teaspoon onto a baking sheet (I put parchment on mine), I usually press mine down just a tad, and bake for 8 minutes at 350 and leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. 

Cookies:
The Ultimate Gluten Free Cowboy Oatmeal Cookies   (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Mom's Go To For Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
The Best Gluten Free Recipe for Snickerdoodles    (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Gluten Free Rocky Road Brownies    (From a church friend)
Mark's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies - Made Gluten Free!   (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
Judi's Gluten Free Oatmeal Craisin & Coconut Cookies (From a church friend)
Marie's Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies (Also Great Gluten Free!)   (My friend Marie's recipe)
Bebe's Gluten Free Whoopie Pies  (From my friend Debbie)
Gluten Free Coconut Chocolate Chip Macaroons  - (Recipe on Baker's bag of coconut)
Dale's Gingersnaps Made Gluten Free  (From my Come & Dine cookbook)
Chewy Gluten Free Molasses Cookies (From my daughter-in-law's Family Reunion Cookbook)
Those Famous Neiman Marcus Cookies Made Gluten Free   (From my daughter-in-law)
Janah's Oatmeal Cookies with a GF Spin  (My daughter's recipe)
Homemade Gluten Free Butter Cookies   (From My Heritage School Cookbook)
An Old Fashioned Favorite Made GF - Hermit Cookies- Hermit Cookies  (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
A New Twist on Holiday Peppermint Cookies (You can make them Gluten Free) - (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)

Elijah & the Show Down on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 17

     Sometimes we think that God is all powerful, and He doesn’t need our prayers.  Again and again it touches me how much God needs man’s cooperation.  And I saw it again when I was reading chapter 10 in the  Life-Study on 1 & 2 Kings on Elijah who was an incredible Old Testament prophet.  In 1 Kings 17 Israel’s idolatry was so bad that Elijah prayed that the rain in Israel would stop. So for three years there was no rain, and of course without rain, there was a severe famine in the land.  

     God shutting up the heavens was definitely an attention-getter to make the Israelites consider where they were spiritually.  At this time most of them were worshiping idols. Can you believe it?! In the account given in 1 kings 17:17-40 Elijah challenges King Ahab to a duel of sorts—he proposed that they would make two altars and that the God who answered by fire would be Israel’s God.  So Ahab tells all the  prophets of Baal to build their altar. 

     Then Elijah repaired the altar of Jehovah and then dug a deep trench all around it.  When both altars had bulls on them, the prophets of Baal began to cry out for Baal to answer with fire and consume their offering.  But nothing happened.  Absolutely nothing. This put them into a kind of frenzy and they started cutting themselves in hopes that this would make Baal bring down fire.  Elijah who knew God very well sort of mocked them and told them maybe Baal was sleeping or on vacation.  When it looked like they had exhausted every means with Baal, Elijah did something sort of peculiar.  He took four jars of water and started drenching his offering with it, not just once but three times.  Everything was so wet that it made the water ran down and fill the trench.

     Elijah must have felt that he was going to make it crystal clear that Jehovah WAS God because if you’ve ever made a campfire you’ll know it’s a bit hard to get something wet to burn. 

    When it was Elijah’s turn, every eye was upon him.  He prayed this beautifully simple prayer: Not a minute later, fire came down from heaven and consumed not just the bull, but every stick of wood, the stones, dust, and even the water in the trench! 

     I think God was so fed up with His people worshiping Baal and Asherah that He was more than ready for this show down!  What the Israelites saw made them all say twice-- Jehovah He is God! But do you notice here that God didn’t do all this alone?  In his prayer Elijah was in complete obedience and cooperation with God, and this allowed God to touch the hearts of His people and turn them back to Him. Writing this post  at the beginning of this year reminds me again how important all of our prayers are for God to carry out His will on this earth!!

OTHER POSTS ON PRAYER:

From the Life-Study of Luke:
Why is Persistent Prayer Important in Luke 18:1-8?

From the Life-Study of Acts:
How is Acts a Book on God's Move & Prayer?
Seeing God's Move & Satan's Frustration in Acts 14

From the Life-Study of Galatians:
How Do We Practically Enjoy Grace in Galatians 5:18?

From the Life-Study of Ephesians:
How Do We Apply the Armor of God in Ephesians 6?

From the Life-Study of Philippians:
Why Does Paul Put Anxiety and Prayer Together in Philippians 4:6?

From the Life-Study of Colossians:
From the Life-Study of Colossians - What Happens When We Pray?
What is Christ Doing at the RIght Hand of God in Colossians 3:2?

From the Life-Study of 1 Timothy:
What is Paul's First Exhortation in 1 Timothy 2:1?

From the Life-Study of James:
What James 5:17-18 Teaches Us About Elijah's Prayer

From the Life-Study of Revelation:
What are the Golden Bowls of Incense in Revelation 5:8?

From the Life-Study of Exodus:
Taking a Closer Look at the Tabernacle in Exodus: The Incense Altar

From the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel:
What We Can Learn from Hannah's Prayer in 1 Samuel 1

From the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings:
Taking a Look at King Solomon's Prayer in 1 Kings 8:48

Other Posts on Prayer:
Why Prayer Matters
Calling on the Lord Makes a Difference! 
Hearing God   (From Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 18 - Tell Him)

Why Prayer Matters

Calling on the Lord Makes a Difference! 

Hearing God   (From Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 18 - Tell Him)