Peanut Butter Granola

Need a pick me up this morning?  Look no further - this recipe is power packed full of energy to help you tackle our world's problems! (Or the algebra sitting on the table, but you know, its same difference.)

Peanut butter and honey are becoming staples in my our pantry.  This recipe is awfully similar to the Crispy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, so if you could make those, you can make this granola!  It smells so good while it is crisping in the oven and unlike most granola recipes, this could actually be made the morning you want to eat it! 

Think about it.  No more hanging around the kitchen for hours, turning your granola every 15 minutes.  Its baking time is only 8 minutes! 

Peanut Butter Granola
Recipe Source: Adapted from Peanut Butter Fingers
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
dash of nutmeg
2 cups oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Melt peanut butter and honey on stove, stir in cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg.  Add oats and almonds, spread on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 325 for 8 minutes.  You will be tempted to eat some as it comes out of the oven, but resist.  It will feel a little soft, but give it a couple minutes and it will crisp up beautifully.

This makes a perfect breakfast.  I was getting a little tired of my cooked oatmeal and this is a delicious switch up.  Protein from the peanut butter, fiber from the oats, fill-me-up from the almonds  . . . perfect.  Its spices taste so warm and comforting, especially with all the snow about.  Its versatile, an easy snack, and did I mention less than 10 minutes in the oven?  I'm good at repeating things I like if you hadn't noticed.

One of the reasons I love this recipe is because it is short.  It doesn't take a lot of time, ingredients, or effort.  Its easy.  I have been doing a Bible Study on Daniel (not Beth Moore's; I'm still waiting to do that one) and I am continually amazed at how not-easy his life was.  First he is whisked away from his home and family.  Then, they take away his identity and give him a Babylonian name.  He doesn't know the land, the people, the culture, and he is expected to embrace it all.  Oh yeah, to make you feel better, we've decided you're really smart and you get to be an aide to the king.  I would want to curl up in a bed, pull the pillow over my head and tell everyone I'm not there and I don't want to do it. 

Thankfully, Daniel wasn't like me.  Not at all cowed, Daniel rejects the food (really buddy, don't insult the host's cooking) because it defiles his God.  Guess he knew he needed his own version of peanut butter granola to give him the energy to deal with royal nightmares.  He was constantly in demand after he interprets confusing dreams for Kind Nebuchadnezzar.  And King N. is only the beginning.  Daniel interprets several dreams of doom and is honored every time.  That cracks me up.  "The writing on the wall means you are going to die tonight!"  "Okay, thanks for interpreting, here you can be third on command."  God was definitely helping Daniel, because Daniel's life was not easy.  It didn't have short cuts or a short list of things to do.  He had to be thrown in the lion's den, interpret dreams and then be shown the end of the world and expected to keep quiet about it.  It is impossible to read it and not be challenged.  Challenged to stand up.  Just stand. 

Don't eat the defiled food.  Don't glory in what our culture does. 

Tell the king the truth: he is going to act like a cow pretty soon.  Be honest with people about Whom your identity is in.

Just listen.  Yeah, there is this creature with four horns and a creature that is too freaky to describe.  Just listen when God speaks.

Daniel is way bigger than the lion's den and I am having to be patient as I take it page by page, challenge by challenge.  I love one of the lines that says, "Let the lions roar."  Let them roar, because thats all they can do.  My fears can sound powerful, hungry, and ready to devour me, but in reality, God has shut their mouths and all they can do is roar.  God is the source of power.  Ultimate power, not the peanut-butter-protein-packed kind of power.  No, the kind that shuts lions mouths and silences kings kind of power.  And it takes less than 8 minutes.  It takes just as long as it takes for us to humble ourselves.