Whenever we have three bananas which have gone brown, everyone in the fam gets excited. Three brown bananas means mommy will soon be baking banana bread! (For the record, I use the recipe out of Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe collection, with one secret ingredient: substitute sour cream for the yogurt. SLURP!)
But what do I do if I only have one squishy banana? This happens a lot, and I have been stumped as to the best use for this one banana. I can always save them in the freezer for future banana bread awesomeness, but using frozen bananas instead of fresh COMPLETELY changes the texture of the bread.
And then: I realized. One squishy banana = smoothie!
1.) Freeze the banana for at least a few hours.
2.) Chop it into smallish pieces, and blend with some orange juice, some yogurt, and some fresh fruit of a flavor compatible with the yogurt. (A lot of smoothie directions say to use plain yogurt, but if you are making a strawberry smoothie and strawberry yogurt is what you have, then why not?)
3.) If the smoothie is too thick, add more orange juice; if it's too thin, add more fruit; if it's not cold enough, add some ice cubes.
Voila. One squishy banana saved from waste!
(And one more banana peel to add to the compost bin!)
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Wonder if you can fry bananas like you can plantains? We made some fried plantains on Easter that were wonderful.
ReplyDeleteSmoothies and banana bread... sounds good. The problem at my house is that bananas don't last long enough to get squishy. Maybe I should buy some extra ones specifically for bread.
ReplyDelete@Alyclepal: I found some "banana fritter" recipes, but they called for firm bananas, not squishy ones.
ReplyDelete@davesbooks: Sometimes stores sell older bananas at a discounted price - a fine idea, if you're going to use them right away in recipes!
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