The trouble with Bananas

As Gilda Radners said, "it's always something!"

Our beloved banana does have a major drawback to work with, it turns brown after a while. Not looking super appealing. So you need to keep that in mind when planning meals or snacks. I do not like to include bananas in my fruit salad for this very reason.

All things considered, this is a relatively minor inconvenience. Instead of recipes, I am just going to list a couple of banana tips today.

Tip #1 overly ripened bananas are great for banana bread. You can use right away, or remove from peel and freeze.

Tip #2 Bananas are great thickeners for cold drinks. Peel and slice bananas into coins. Fast freeze for later use in smoothies. Our favorite smoothie has frozen bananas, peanut butter and apple juice. Yummy! Seriously yummy!

Tip #3 Bananas can be cut in many interesting ways with the peel on. Now I am not tryign to get you to fashion a banana into a bust of Lincoln or anything. But kids and adults like interesting diagonal cuts. This also makes these small bite-sized snacks easier to pick up.

Tip #4 Dip it! Some kids (and my husband) cannot resist a good dip. One of my wee ones will eat just about anything if she can dip it into something. Little pieces are great for dipping. or you can skewer with some other fruit for a shish kabab which is Latin for "fruit salad in disguise." After the dip, there is nothing better than double dipping. Have seeds or chopped nuts for a final delicious dip. I mix wheat germ in with my chopped nuts for an extra healthy coating.

Tip #5 Stick up! Peel and cut banana in half. Put on a pop stick (like a corn dog). Freeze. Great summer snack.

So what is your favorite banana tip?

Thanks for stopping by and visiting us today.
Healthy eating!