I have been obsessed with a podcast lately.
It's called Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, and half of my favorite duo (Kristen Bell & Dax Shepard) created it. I'm totally not a Hollywood person at all. I don't really pay attention to that world and until recently it felt so distant from my own.
He tends to interview many of his famous friends who grew up similarly to him, in a lower middle class middle America family with a single mom working two jobs. And all I keep thinking about is that everything ever created came from inside of somebody's mind. The personality that sent him into fame and fortune came from inside of him.
The Apple computer started with something Steve Jobs imagined.
The first recipe ever created was something a human made up.
The roads that pave the way to the Palace of Versailles were designed by a human. And another human dreamt up the hall of mirrors and then another human reigned a country for 72 years and resided there.
What I'm getting to is that all of this stuff happened because someone at some point in time had a brain that made it happen.
If you could use your brain to turn your dreams into the real life that you walk through every day, what would you dream? What is the wildest thing you can't imagine possible that you want?
WOULD YOU DREAM ABOUT FLUFFY BANANA BREAD STUDDED WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS TOPPED WITH CRUNCHY SUGARY CRUST?
Because omg would you look at that you just used your brain to manifest your dreams into reality.
Vegan & Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
2 c gluten free flour blend (I like Trader Joe's)
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 medium super ripe bananas (like, so ripe that your houseguest looks at your counter and says you should probably throw those out)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 c refined coconut oil, melted
1/4 c applesauce
1 c bittersweet chocolate chips
2 TBSP raw sugar
I used a 6" round cake pan for this because I made it for the full moon and I only eat round foods on the full moon because I'm a LUNATIC. You can totally make it in a standard loaf pan!
Preheat the oven to 375.
In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour, 1/4 c sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with a fork leaving some chunky bits. The chunky bits will caramelize in the oven and create sugar pockets that you definitely want. Add the coconut oil, applesauce and lemon to the bananas and mix until combined.
Stir in 90% of the flour mixture. Toss the chocolate chips in the remaining flour mixture before folding in.
Spoon the batter into your greased and floured pan, sprinkle the top with the raw sugar.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, until it doesn't jiggle when you move the pan and a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve immediately. Or not. You can also slice into the size slices that your future self wants to eat and freeze! I made the mistake of slicing this into quarters and now every time me (future self) wants this, I have to eat a quarter loaf of banana bread.
xo
Audrey