Friday 14 November 2014

Make you banana pancakes, pretend like it's the weekend: Gluten free banana pancakes



I made these last weekend They've been on my list of food I want to share on my blog for a long time now. Who am I kidding? I don't have one list. I have post-its, backs of envelopes, backs of receipts, corner pages of electrical bills and at least five Google drive documents of lists of food that I want to cook or have cooked and want to learn about, make and share. A few months ago I wrote about lists. How they can be damning, anxiety inducing and debilitating. I lived my life through lists. Lists of things to do and see, places to go, chores to complete and most importantly (at the time) of how to improve myself, my personality, my appearance and my time.

At the beginning of 2014, I was determined that this year would be different. Not in a 'New Year's resolution' kind of way. More in a 'I'm ready to be a completely different person and discard the life I have' kind of way. I wanted to move countries, get a tan, erase all memory of a gut wrenching relationship and all the mistakes I had made along the way. I made a new type of list. A bucket list of sorts, I wrote down all the things I was passionate about and instead of chaining myself to fixed time frames of completion, I just stuck them on the wall beside my bed and glanced in their direction each day.

It's nearing the end of 2014 now and I count maybe ten completed tasks out of a possible fifty and I'm over the moon. The tasks were not to improve myself and make a more likeable interesting version of myself for the consideration of others. They were all completely "selfish", or what I now call "self-loving" ideas. The first one on the list was "go to New Zealand", which a few years ago seemed insurmountably, exhaustively impossible. A month later, I was there. I went on a surf holiday, grew food for myself, went on a road trip, had some of my writing published, went to more parties, danced more, swam more, took more photos, became a better Auntie, meditated, stressed less and made the most of my free time. If you had told me I would have achieved even one of these this time last year, I would have said you clearly didn't have a clue how weak and lost I was. Now I feel more like me, natural, giddy, freer. I used my time to do less, not more. To stop to look at the sunshine and notice the moon cycles and really listen when friends spoke to me and really be aware of what my body and mood were telling me about what my heart wanted.


Every morning, last year I would wake up and dread the day. All those things on the to do lists scattered by my bedside. How would I get them all done? How would I make them count, be perfect, figure it all out? Nearing the end of 2014, I'm not a different person by any means but I do have a different outlook. I feel like I learnt a lot about myself and the life I'm building within and around myself since the disintegration of my last relationship. There were great, loving memories, to be sure and an immense amount of love at some glorious times but I can also see that I dodged a bullet because I wasn't true to myself throughout the entire period we were together. One area of that relationship was trying to think and stress and do things on behalf of two. Each morning was a stress.

Lately, each morning is a blessing, each day an opportunity to be around great friends, in a work environment I love where I am myself. Each day, my aim is no longer to do more but to do less in a calmer way. My lists aren't full of improving tasks of hassle, they are of beautiful recipes I care about and each time I write them, I remind myself that there is time, always time.

I would listen to Jack Johnson at 17 years old and long for a surfer dude boyfriend to stay in bed with me all day, munching on banana pancakes and playing music, laughing, chatting and loving. These pancakes have been on many food lists since first discovering that song and the feelings of love I associated with it but I was waiting for the right time to make them. I realized I didn't need some dude, I could make them for me and a best friend. They were made on a rainy Saturday when Josefina was stressed all week and I was tired. We sat and watched two movies in our pajamas while we devoured these. They were soul-nourishing, delicious, fluffy and sweet. They were perfect.

This weekend, I urge you to make these. Dress them up on the plate like you're serving them to a date you want to impress and then eat them all for you and the people you love. Take all the time in the world. Make a double batch and just spend the morning doing nothing. We often feel like we don't have time, we aren't good enough, we always have to strive. I urge you to stop, realize we have all the time in the world, we are all deserving, all good enough and deserve to thrive, love and share.

So make like Jack Johnson and on a rainy, sleepy Saturday morning, go make these banana pancakes and live out every last drop of the beautiful beginning to the weekend.




Ingredients:
Makes 6 short stack pancakes and serves 2 awesome individuals

coconut oil for frying
3 bananas (kinda mushy)
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder

*note: These make short stack pancakes. If you're looking for crepes, add 1/2 cup almond/soy milk and blend through)

coconut oil for frying
1 banana for frying
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 pomegranate

optional: creme fraiche/natural yoghurt 
topping: honey/maple syrup

Method:
Pancakes:
Using a handheld blender, blend bananas, eggs, cinnamon and baking powder. Leave in fridge for 30 minutes to let baking powder activate.
(Leaving it overnight is even better. If you don't have a blender, mash the bananas and whisk through the other ingredients well-you're looking for a pretty smooth batter)

Melt coconut oil in frying pan. Fry ladle fulls of the batter and flip pancakes once browned on one side. I kept my oven on low to keep the pancakes warm while I made the topping.

Topping:
Melt coconut oil in same pan you used for pancakes. Slice bananas at an angle until they brown on both sides. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Slice pomegranate in half. Hold one half in your hand and using the back of a wooden spoon, spank the shell. The seeds will fall out into your hand.

Plate up pancakes, stacking them one on top of the other. Drizzle with honey/maple syrup, lay grilled bananas on top and sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top.
Enjoy!



2 comments:

  1. What a beautifully written post Grace! I have the same lists, every where and on everything! It's so nice to hear about you now, and how your happy with your lot in life!

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  2. Thanks a million Clare! Means the world to me to have a great friend and fellow food blogger like you comment and to love the post! Big love to you and your family. The house looks great! X

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