Most of us can agree on bananas. They're a good, healthy snack by themselves and a yummy complement to peanut butter, nutella, smoothies & more. I usually have some around my apartment but what do you do with them when they start to go bad? Personally I only like to eat the fruit when it is under-ripe to ripe. Once they start getting brown the texture grosses me out. But not to waste!
Here are some good ideas for brown bananas:
1. Cut the banana into small chunks, put it in a bag & freeze it. Next time you want to make a smoothie throw in the frozen banana pieces with some yogurt, juice & and other fruits and blend. Or another tasty option is to put the frozen pieces in the blender with some peanut butter & milk- this is like a "milkshake" with less calories since no ice cream is involved.
2. Mash the banana up and add it to plain oatmeal in the morning with some nuts, brown sugar & a touch of cinnamon to make "banana bread" oatmeal.
3. Bake real banana bread or banana muffins- this is what I did over the weekend using the recipe below. It takes about 40 minutes total & it makes your apartment smell fantastic! These with coffee on a Saturday morning are perfection. Enjoy!
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| MMMuffin |
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Adapted from
this recipe
I love the kitschiness of the chocolate chips but if you're not feeling chocolate for breakfast sub in some chopped nuts.
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (if you use Greek yogurt you may have to add some milk to the batter if it seems too thick)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped nuts)
To make:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tin with paper liners. The recipe makes 10 muffins.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. If the mixture seems too dry add a splash of milk.
- Fold in bananas and chocolate chips (or nuts).
- Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
