Love: The Wellspring of Creativity

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make” ~ The Beatles

After a slow start that can only be described as abject procrastination, I am well into the writing of my book. Like all things borne of love, it is teaching me so much.

Like love, it’s a wonderfully challenging, exciting and disorienting process. It’s also a lesson in simple physics: motion begets motion, creating leads to creation and love generates more love. For me, the writing has led to… well, baking.

Joni Mitchell describes it as “crop rotation”. An accomplished singer/songwriter she also finds inspiration through painting and gardening spending her days steeped in creativity. When she feels challenged by a lyric, she turns to painting. If painting leaves her uninspired, she gardens, and in this way she is finds the seeds to sow her next creation.

elvisscones3Cooking and baking have become my inspiring outlets. When I am stuck and bleary-eyed from writing, I put on music and head to the kitchen. It is there I find inspiration while coming up with delicious and healthy ideas that I can share with you. Creating a new dish sparks a mystical flame. What felt elusive on the page is liberated in my kitchen. What is imagined in my kitchen enhances the page. Like love, the more I give, the more I receive.

Creating anything of value is an act of love. Like love it requires patience, devotion and more than a little bit of faith. As with any wonderful romance, it asks for your humility and leaves no place for pride. And in order for it to thrive you often need to give it space.

elvisscones2Hovering over a lover will kill a romance faster than a Las Vegas wedding. Lack of space leads to lack of oxygen and without oxygen nothing can survive. The same is true for creative projects. Sometimes you have to step away, allowing them the space to breathe.

On a recent marathon day of writing which left me dazed and confused, I staggered into the kitchen after spending way too much time trying to make a passage work, and saw I had the base ingredients for scones. I also had bananas and peanut butter. Deciding to experiment with a new flavor to create an old favorite, I came up with what I am calling, Elvis scones (he was apparently partial to banana peanut butter sandwiches). Delicious and healthy, these scones are a perfect treat to make for the one you love, even (or especially) if that’s just yourself.

I gained great insight that afternoon in my kitchen. One important lesson, something Hemingway talks about in “A Moveable Feast,” a memoir of his early days in Paris, is to walk away from the writing when you still have more to say rather than wringing yourself dry. Then turn your attention to something entirely different, allowing the well of creativity to replenish itself. This way you can return to the page the next day with more to say and a place to start. Taking a break that day and making the scones reinforced that truth.

elvisscones4With love, I offer these scones to you! A lot of the motivation I have to do good work and create wonderful recipes is because I am eager to share with you how delicious and easy it can be to eat well with just a little effort. So, I thank you. Consider these scones my post-Valentine’s Day gift. I have to say, they are even better than the blueberry ones I posted a few weeks ago. So good in fact, I had to freeze most of them in order to not go through them too quickly. They have been a great snack to have with a cup of tea on my writing days.

What is it that  you love? What inspires creativity in you?? Whether it’s related to food, creative endeavors, love or life, I’d love to hear about it. It’d be nice to learn a little more about all of you!

Have a wonderful week! Remember, give love and you will be amazed at all that is returned.

xoxo
B

Elvis Scones (Banana & Peanut Butter)

Ingredients

Makes approximately 10 scones

  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ rounded teaspoon Himalayan Salt
  • 1/3 cup date sugar
  • 2 cups almond milk
  • 3 medium bananas
  • ½ cup organic crunchy peanut butter

 Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and date sugar in a bowl and blend well a fork, break down any chunks of flour or date sugar.
  • In a separate, smaller mixing bowl, using a masher, blend together TWO bananas plus the peanut butter and the almond milk until well blended.
  • Add the liquid mixture to the powder mixture and blend well with a rubber spatula until a soft dough is formed. If it is too dry, add some almond milk, if it is too loose, add some flour until you achieve a soft dough consistency.
  • Cut the third banana in pieces and add to the batter, mixing it into the dough well.
  • Using a ½ cup measuring cup, measure out enough batter to fill the cup and then place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using your hands, mold into a scone shape. Repeat until batter is gone.
  • Bake in oven for about 20 minutes and then check on scones. They may need additional time, so bake in 5 minute intervals, checking to make sure they are cooked through and browned on top. My scones took a total of 35 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve with tea.