Unless you loathe bananas (like my oldest), you are bound to, at some point, have a few rotten ones on your counter (you should never store them in the fridge).
I was reminded about how versatile a product a rotten banana is the other week when I was in the Florida Keys and ordered a banana-orange-mango smoothie at a local health food store. The woman took a bag of frozen banana pieces out of the freezer and used them instead of ice. Of course!
That just got me thinking of all the ways we can use our old bananas instead of throwing them out:
1.Banana Muffins. My littlest used to call them happy cakes.
(I have a new cookbook! 200+ fun, foolproof recipes all made from Scratch. Check it out!)
2. Banana-Coconut Bread. This quick-and-easy recipe is a guaranteed crowd pleaser!
3. Banana Cake. Ummm…YUM.
4. Fresh smoothies. Put a banana in a blender and add all sorts of other good things—ice (unless you have frozen bananas), a liquid of some sort, and any other fruit you wish. It’s hard to go wrong with a frozen smoothie.
5. Frozen bananas for smoothies. Cut them up, put them on a baking tray, and freeze them. When they are frozen, toss them into a plastic bag or jar.
6. Chocolate-dipped frozen bananas. Melt some chocolate chips (organic, of course) and dip the cut-up bananas in the warm chocolate. Then freeze the chocolate-dipped bits on a baking tray. Once frozen, toss them into a plastic bag or jar. Adding some crushed peanuts is a plus.
7. Bananas Foster. For every banana, melt a tablespoon of butter. Slice the bananas up and cook the slices in the butter, then add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar for each banana. Eat plain or on top of ice cream. Add some coconut on top if you wish. Cinnamon if you feel like it. Traditionally, the recipes call for rum, but no rum in my house, so sorry. You don’t need it anyway!
8. Banana icing. See Banana Cake recipe.
9. Feed the birds, butterflies, and babies. If you have a baby around, mash up the banana and feed it to her. If there are no babies near, you can put the bananas outside for the birds and butterflies to eat (provided it’s bird and butterfly season).
10. If all else fails, throw them on the compost pile!
Bananas and avocados – can’t live without them!!
Careful, they are high in sugar content and calories when ripe, and more so when overly ripe. I used to freeze them all of the time for my smoothies. I rarely do that anymore because of the calories. I have been freezing berries forever for smoothies to replace ice, and making the drink watery. Berries are much more healthy for you or green smoothies made with coconut water, coconut milk beverage, or almond beverage. A few pieces of ripened bananas won’t hurt as long as you don’t use them too often. Drink up! Eat up!
My favorite use other than banana bread is banana but pancakes.
don’t forget banana ice cream…http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/2011/08/19/one-ingredient-banana-ice-cream/
Yeah baby, banana ice cream is one of my all-time favorites! Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey is good!
My face is banana-cinnamon oatmeal!
I freeze chunks of banana and make banana “ice cream”. Use a small food processor, add a few chunks of banana add other frozen fruits and a little yogurt, process until smooth, adding more yogurt as needed. This makes a smooth creamy “ice cream”
While I have to duck when I bring out a banana because my House chickens (chicks overwintered in the room with me in a crate at night) because they are spoiled rotten on bananas and yogurt, and anything else we eat….I use the peels of every banana I eat as a “cloth” to moisturize and enzyme-wash my face, neck, shoulders and arms where psoriatic arthritis snuck in on me one day and took away the young looking, smooht skin I was spoiled with all my life. It is a refreshing exfoliation, moisturizer. Also, the tv network gave a demo for a banana & peel, using it to “moisturize’ and polish some dried junk on leather shoes. It will darken them, so be ready for the change, but it will lighten up some later, once the natural water in the banana evaporates from the leather surface. Yes, the birds!! Can’t give a healthier food for birds…especially now that it is nesting time and hens of all types will be needing banana’s potassium, magnesium, enzymes, etc to make eggs with! They will be molting soon and need all that natural nourishment as they fledge their hatchlings. Some folks use banana mush in their soup and hot cereals, where fussy eaters won’t know it was snuck in.
Love the examples Maria! woot woot 🙂
Hello lovely I just reliesad it’s been like a BILLION years since I ‘visited’ you, so thought I’d come say Hi and give you some blog love:) Well, about this post; I don’t really like bananas – I wish I did though – however the banana pops you featured are exactly what my daughter wants for her next party – but frozen ones (sounds good, but how do you display anything frozen on a table in the height of Summer when you live in the sub tropics I ask??? Anyway, I won’t leave it so lobg ’till my next blog visit OK! Jane:)
FUCK YOU AND YOUR RETARDED FAGGOT KIDS
Please remove the “fu” comment from June 2, 2021 ASAP!
If I buy bananas that are a little too ripe, I refrigerate them. Works every time.