Food / Conscious Living - 4 Things to do with Ripe Bananas.
A little something different from me this week. As you may know, conscious living is something I’m always working on - I’m certainly far from perfect but I’m always trying to make better choices when it comes to our environment. I started the beginning of this year vowing to plan my food better and I’m really enjoying finding ways to cut my food spend down, reduce waste and nourish myself.
This week is the WRAP Food Waste Action Week and it got me thinking about things I do with food that at first felt like a forced regime and is now just habit. So it gave me an idea for a series of posts and this one is a simple one on what to do with bananas that are very ripe and slightly on the turn.
I will say I’m not the biggest banana fan - I’ll eat one if I’m hungry and it’s there but I wouldn’t choose a banana over say… an apple. And Banoffee cake? You can keep it! But I really don’t mind it mixed in stuff and weirdly love a banana bread. I often buy a bunch and use a few and the rest hang in the kitchen and get riper and riper until I catch them just before it’s too late and do one of the following:
Freeze for smoothies.
This is the simplest way to deal with ripe bananas, simple peel them, rip them in half and freeze them in a tub or bag (I love D2W biodegradable freezer bags) and freeze. Then, in the mornings chuck two halves in a blender jug, add oats, oat milk, chia seeds and other fruit and whizz up for a super quick breakfast.
Check out Emma Hatchers kale and orange smoothie here.
Use as an egg replacement in a cake or pancakes.
I’m discovering not eating dairy and animal products doesn't mean you have to miss out. Half a banana is an equal binder to one egg so make a batch of cookies or a cake with your bananas. The ripeness will mean they’ll do a super binding job!
Make a banana cake.
Ok, so this is an obvious suggestion but I just love having a banana loaf knocking about, when your neighbour comes for an impromptu cup of tea or you need a comforting mid morning snack it’s the perfect thing. I have sworn by this recipe for years but recently made it without eggs - I just did a straight swap for soaked linseed using 1 tbsp per egg (so three) and used coconut oil instead of butter. I also added 2 heaped tsp of cocoa for a super pick me up as it was one of those weeks!
Make chocolate bananas.
Slit down the middle of the bananas, poke squares of good quality dark chocolate in a line up the slit and cover in foil. Griddle for 5-10 mins on each side or nestle in the embers of an almost spent fire or bbq and you’ll have beautifully caramelised chocolatey goo to scoop out and eat straight from the spoon (don’t burn your mouth!). You can also put these in the oven.
