Homemade Granola Bars

Granola Bar Recipe

My friend and co-worker Norma shared this recipe with me.  Norma was a shy, quiet graphic designer from Hawaii.  I caught her eating this interesting looking sooped-up rice crispie treat.  I loved rice crispie treats with a passion, so I made her promise to bring me the recipe.  I changed the raisins to dried cranberries and have loved making it for hiking trips, road trips, special occasions and ordinary days.

Norma was an unassuming risk taker.  One day she asked me if I wanted to go swing dancing--something, she admitted was entirely out of her comfort zone.  It was at her Asian-American church.  Some graduate students from Pepperdine University who were really into swing dancing were giving lessons.  We did a lesson for an hour and had open dancing the rest of the night.  I had never seen so many Asians 'cutting a rug'.  I mean where were the movie producers to hire these experts!  Moving from Ohio to California, I had loved all my Asian American friends, but so far they seemed quiet and reserved as a cultural norm.  Kind of like these granola bars, the experience put together things I loved and helped me realize how much fun they were together!  The gentlemen were so polite, making sure all the ladies got plenty of time dancing.  This was not a meat market; there was serious fun to be had!  And what fun we had!

Anyway, that recipe...

2 1/2 cups oats
2 1/2 cups rice crispies
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (or raisins)
1 cup peanuts (salted or unsalted)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter or margarine (I prefer butter)
1 pkg (smaller 10oz bag) mini marshmallows (or 40 large ones)

Grease 9x13 pan.
1. Heat oats in a frying pan over low heat until lightly browned (I recently warmed them in the microwave for 1 minute in a steamer and that seemed to work also.)
2. Mix oats, rice crispies, cranberries and peanuts together in large bowl.
Heat butter on low heat in a large pot until nearly melted. Add peanut butter and melt. Add marshmallows and stir constantly until melted. (Important: stir continually and adjust heat so that the ingredients don't bubble or burn.)
3. As soon as everything is melted, removed from heat and quickly add the dry mixture.  Stir all ingredients quickly until coated.
4. Spread and press evenly into pan.  Allow to cool and cut into bars.  Store for a few days in air tight container.

A Winged-Seed

A Winged-Seed

 

Circumstances often make life difficult, challenging—even discouraging.  We make choices that we think are best for us, but then we suddenly find ourselves in situations we wish we could escape.

My first job after college brought me into just that situation.  After a one-year internship with a non-profit organization, I took a job in their Human Resources Department.  This was a switch from the department I had interned with, so I was a 25-year-old newbie.  I was excited to work with such a hopeful group of people doing a purposeful work. 

However, soon after reporting to my new job, I realized that the department was undergoing a complete overhaul.  I found myself sitting in hours of meetings talking about things I new nothing about.  I wanted to “learn the ropes” but it turns out they were busy weaving and tying new ropes.  I would have to be a part of building a new structure with the team.  I felt like I was free-falling.

On one particular day, our small department gathered in our director’s corner office.  Two of the walls were floor to ceiling windows.  Looking out the window was the best thing about the meeting.  My thoughts consumed me.  I was extremely discouraged with doubt and unable to focus on the conversations taking place.  I don’t think I am cut out for this work.  Did I make the right decision?  What am I doing in southern California?  How will I ever find my way back home?    

Then, something outside the three-story window captured me.  Contrasted against the waving green leaves of a tree and the clear blue of the sky, I noticed a fluff of cotton-like material, suspended, floating.  I quickly figured out it was a tiny seed circumferenced by millions of miniature feathers—tufts that took it into flight.  A little up, a little down, onto the next windowpane.  It danced on the tremors of the breeze along the windows and gradually out of sight.  These words came through the ticker tape of my mind: You are exactly where you are supposed to be.  There is not accidental breeze.

As a Christian, I suddenly saw God’s hand in my circumstances.  As that little seedling went rolling, bobbing and tumbling through the air, its Designer and Creator knew exactly what course it would take and where its final destination and destiny would be.  And as serendipitous as it seemed to be floating along, a Sovereign Hand was overseeing its comings and its goings.  And just as this Hand knew that seed’s destiny, so it knew mine.  My Designer and Creator knew I would end up sitting in that room—overwhelmed, discouraged and doubting.    

In His sovereignty, He had led me to this new job, which was 2,000 miles away from my Northeast Ohio hometown.  One moment can be delightful, another horrific and painful.  I cannot avoid the latter.  I cannot have only delightful moments.  But I can know the One who is with me.  The One who sees and oversees.  The One who guides and abides.  The One who encourages and consoles.  The One who endured his own moments, who lived with two feet on the ground while circumstances and emotions went swirling.

The choices I made which led me to this corner office meeting were no accident.  I was not in the wrong place.  I was on a journey.  I would have many adventures, many sojourners, many lessons, and many memories. 

It has been 10 years since that seed swirled in and out of my life.  It’s brief visit brought perspective and courage to many of my days.  Just recently, I stood in my kitchen taking care of my 6-month-old baby girl.  Our first child.  Almost a pure delight, she was having one of her rare grumpy moments.  As I walked past the island countertop, I noticed a black fleck and scooped it into my hand to discard.  How did you get in here, I hurriedly thought, recognizing an old friend.  In the creases of my cupped hand sat a single seed attached to a few tufts of feather, just enough to give it some flight. 

My thoughts turned into tears and rolled down my cheeks.  No matter how difficult motherhood would be, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  There was no accidental breeze.  God created her on that June night and gave her to her Daddy and me.  

There were many more lessons and memorable moments during my first job.  If all goes well, the next several posts will come from those experiences. 

Today's Banana

Have you ever had a title for a book or article or poem, but it's taken a long time to figure out the rest of it?  That's my banana.  I've held this title, "Today's Banana", close to my chest like a winning hand of poker for several years.  Like an artist who believes--whether rightly so or not--that she's got her hands on a masterpiece, I have enjoyed crafting my banana bunch of thoughts in my head for years.  Now, I am finally putting cyber-ink to cyberspace to let the creativity flow.  I don't think I have a masterpiece.  More accurately, I am a recovering perfectionist taking steps of faith to start something without knowing if I will finish it, and to believe that I can enjoy the scenery along the way.

My thoughts and ideas have taken on many forms through the years, so this collection of banana blogs will likely cover a wide range of topics and creative forms.  I am hoping to enjoy the journey, the writing and some feedback and interaction with other thinkers.