Gluten-Free Awesomesauce Banana Bread.

Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe  Gluten-Free Awesomesauce Banana Bread

20 45 65

Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4-5 medium)
• 1 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, sugar, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
• Transfer to two 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with walnuts if desired. Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 loaves (12 slices each).

Mixed Grain Whole Wheat with Bran Bread from the Breadmachine

Created by Julie Herrmann

• 1-1/3 cups Water (room temperature) 
• 3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil 
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Honey 
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
• 1 tsp pink Salt
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill All purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour
• 1-1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Oat Bran cereal
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

Directions

Add all ingredients in the order of appearance in the recipe. Set bread machine for the basic bread cycle according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Enjoy the aroma while baking.
Frequently update your facebook status with the progress of the bread.

Let loaf cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

A Year in the Life

My new Vineyard church in Simi Valley is interested in doing missions to Costa Rica. So I made a little missions video. Enjoy!!

Yummerouski Vegan Bran Muffins

Experimental recipe win of the week: Yummerouski Vegan Bran Muffins. I've had this Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Oat Bran cereal in my fridge for a bit now and have wanted to make something yummy. Tonight was the night. They came out AWESOME!! Enjoy!!

1 & 1/4 Cups Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Oat Bran Cereal
1 & 1/3 cups flax milk (I used flax milk. You could use almond or soy)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsweetened applesause (or you can substitute oil)
1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds + 2 Tbsp milk (flaxseed, soy, or almond if you want it vegan) (or if you don't mind and don't care if it's vegan, you can add 1 egg)
1 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Heat over to 400 degrees. Grease the bottoms of muffin tins or use paper baking cups.
2. Mix cereal, milk, raisins, and vanilla in a bowl. Let stand 5 minutes for cereal to soak in milk.
3. Beat in applesauce and flaxseed/milk mixture with a fork. Mix remaining ingredients; stir into cereal mixture just until moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. This batch made 18 muffins for me.

The devil likes to throw snake skins

Fear is a snake that tries to slither it's way into all of our lives. It is as old and crafty as Eden and still uses the same tactics. There are several kinds of fear, just as there are several kinds of snakes. There is the innate fear that keeps us from randomly jumping off buildings or crashing our cars into guard rails at will. That is the garter snake that is harmless and can eat the other mice and bugs that would actually be a problem in our lives. That kind of fear is a natural fear and can be helpful for species preservation. There is the imitative fear that keeps us from trying things because we are tricked into thinking it is dangerous when it reality it is not. This type of fear is the snake that looks like a coral snake, but the color of its stripes are wrong, thus it is an imitation of the real thing that causes confusion and makes us think we should be afraid of it, even though it is in fact harmless. This type of fear is the fear associated with public speaking or trying a new food. I have yet to hear of any one who has clinically died from public speaking, and yet it can paralyze people. Then there is the legitimate, heart-pounding, sweat-inducing fear. The fear of death. The fear of drowning. The fear of losing a loved one. The fear of the dark. Even the fear of missing out. This type of fear is the boa constrictor, the python, the rattle snake of all fear. It bites. It poisons. It incapacitates and murders. 

Here's the good news: in Luke 10:19 Jesus says, "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.". I believe Jesus is referencing fear and the demonic. He has given us authority over fear and the demonic that act like snakes in our lives. That kill, steal, and destroy from the fullness of our lives. We can take that kind of stand in our lives and through the power of Jesus' blood trample fear out of our lives!! We don't have to be afraid of anything any more! Not even death!! Mark 16:17-18 literally says, "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 
  
When we ask Jesus to kill fear in our lives, He does! When we stand in our authority over what makes us afraid in our lives, we also kill fear in our lives. It is dead. It holds no power. But Satan is deceptive. Satan doesn't like it when we are not held captive to fear. He likes to keep us bound to it, trapped, cornered by snakes and scorpions, paralyzed when one crosses our path. He will do anything he can to throw snake skins and snake-look-a-likes in our paths. He likes to try to make us think that fear is not dead, even though the thing he is using against us is, in fact, dead. Have you ever been startled by a rubber snake in a toy store? Rodney has one hidden in by the base of the big tree in the back patio by where we eat dinner with teams. It is a thin, green, rubber snake. It would startle some one on just about every team that would come down. Can that rubber snake harm some one? Only by an associative heart-attack! The enemy loves to use this tactic next because it drives doubt into our hearts about our authority and the promises God has for us. When we linger too long in doubt, it allows either true fear open access to come back into our lives, or leaves us discouraged and feeling like God has some how lied to us. It's a sneaky, low-blow to our confidence in Christ.

Are there major areas of fear in your life? Are you afraid of death? Trying new things? The dark? Losing some one close to you? Have you asked Jesus to trample the fear out of your life? Did you know you have the authority over that in your own life through Jesus Christ? Did you think you had taken care of fear in your life already? But does it occasionally sneak up on you? Is it actually a snake skin pretending to have power and authority over you when it is  really a fake?

The art of self control

If there was any topic I learned the most about in Costa Rica, the thing I learned the most about was the fruit of the Spirit labelled "Self Control". From this fruit  I think lies the key to the seeds for all the other other fruits. It's like what I used to tell the parents of the kids at my feeding program in Michigan: up until a certain age you can make a child do pretty much anything. You can make them get up in the morning, put on a certain shirt, get in the bath tub, buckle up in a car. Granted, there are occasional struggles with these tasks, but in general you can pick a child up and move them where they need to go. But there are two things you can never make a child do: poop and eat. Because even from a young age children learn they have self control over their own bodies. No matter how hard you try, you can never force a child to swallow a bite of food. 

I think even from a young age we can learn to control ourselves. As we grow and come into our own selves, with individual personalities, wants, and desires, no one can control us. We can surely be influenced by other people; influenced for good or influenced for bad. We can allow other people to give us guidance or wisdom. We can allow other people to give us ideas of what we should or shouldn't do. But ultimately, we are the ones who have the choice, the decision for whether or not we will comply with their suggestions or not. We can never really, truly say, "My boss made me do it," or "my brother started it", or "the woman you put in the garden with me is to blame". Eve didn't force feed Adam. We are in control of our own actions. whether we chose to be truth speakers or embellish the facts to make ourselves look better, that too is our choice. We can allow others to influence us for the positive or the negative, but at the end of the day we are still the ones with our actions in our hands. We are the ones to blame for the consequences of our actions, whether good or bad.

Self control is not only a means for controlling our own personal actions in any given circumstance, but also the ability to react to the behaviors of others.  Did so one blow up at you for no apparent reason? What was your reaction? Did you lash back in hot-blooded retaliation? Or realize that maybe their anger toward you was just a symptom of some deeper level issue that they didn't know how to deal with? Our very reactions to the world around us show us just where we are in the growth process of self control.

God also doesn't want to control you, either. He allows self control to grow in us through the power of His Spirit because the freedom of choice is the only place where true love can legitimately exist. As soon as you place force on a relationship, love is taken out of the equation and it becomes a one-sided dictatorship. Did you ever wonder why God put the tree of good and evil in the middle of the garden and not hidden in a corner some where? Did you ever wonder why the fruit was appealing and good for eating? I believe God wanted Adam and Eve to have the freedom to chose their own actions in coordination with self-control because that is where the veracity of God's love for them was demonstrated.

So where are we in our fruit growing process? Has the seed to self control been planted? Am I seeing fruit in my life based on how I act in the world in every day situations? Am I working at my job with integrity or am I manipulating the situation to make myself look better? How am I treating the people around me? Am I over- or under-reacting to the actions of others and then blaming them for my bad behavior? Am I really believing that God has given me the freedom to make choices in my life and to grow self-control? Do I really believe that God doesn't want to control me through rules and regulations but through understanding the positive or negative consequences of my own actions and reactions?

Foot note: this is not to say that there are not victims of others seeking total control. It is true there are people unwillingly sold into slavery every day to this day in the modern world. There are innocent children who are daily exploited all around the globe.There are people who have a significant lack of self control and force their will on others. I am speaking to people who are growing deeper in a relationship with Jesus and want to introspectively go deeper. 

Recipe Win of the Day!

It is no secret. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake. And if I can wear an apron while doing it, kudos to me. Trying out new recipes is always fun, but inventing recipes is glorious! I made this one up today and it´s a keeper! Try it out if you would like your taste buds to rejoice;

Coconut Almond Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 beaten egg
1 & 3/4 cups coconut milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
3/4 cup almond pulp left over from a batch of almond milk

1. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, powder, salt, and soda.
3. In a small mixing bowl combine the egg, milk, oil, and flaxseed.
4. Add the egg mixture at once to the dry mixture, add the almond pulp at this point, and stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy).
5. Once it is completely mixed, dip a small spoon into the batter and try it. Does it taste good? Excellent, so will your bread. Put spoon in the sink. No double dipping.
6. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 & 1/4 hours or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
7. cool on a wire rack.
8. Cut and enjoy!! Take a loaf over to meet your neighbor. Or bring it to work. Or enjoy it over coffee with a good friend.