3 Banana Snack Ideas

Bananas. Mother Earth's solution for your daily intake of potassium and fiber, all zipped up into a funny lookin' yellow suit. But what if you're tired of eating bananas the same way every day? You probably don't drink 100% banana juice or eat bananasauce, so what options are there to get creative with this funny fruit? Here are three ideas on how to make bananas a little more interesting:

#1 - Sticky Slices

Start by preheating your oven to 350 and peeling your banana. If you're doing it from the long stem (where it's attached to other bananas), take some advice from the monkeys: if you squeeze it from the opposite end, it's much easier to remove!

Slice your banana and place the slices on a cookie sheet.

Sprinkle cinnamon over the slices and drizzle with honey.

Pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. When they come out, the honey will probably have gotten everywhere, just to warn you...

Don't expect these to be crunchy. They're mushy but very flavorful. Once cooled a bit, they'd be a great treat for a baby or toddler because they're great finger food!

#2 - Banana Bites

Speaking of finger food, if you prefer yours cold rather than hot, here's an option. Slice up your banana so the pieces are 1/2" thick.

Take some peanut butter and slather between two slices of banana. I found 1 banana = 16 slices or 8 banana bites.

And, if you really want to be devilish, dip it in some melted chocolate.

Place them in the freezer for 2 hours and stick 'em in a plastic bag for tasty treats later on!

#3 - Almond-Banana Smoothie

Lastly, if you don't like the texture of bananas, a smoothie might be your best bet. To make a delicious almond-banana smoothie, you'll need: 

2 sliced bananas

2 Cups of almond milk

2 Cups of ice

2 Tablespoons of packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Nutmeg (optional)

Start by blending the first five ingredients until smooth. This is enough for four 8oz. glasses, which you can then sprinkle some nutmeg on top, if you like. It's savory, it's sweet, and it's ridiculously good.

TOTAL COSTS: Varies per snack idea

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Varies

Anywhere from less than 5 minutes to 2 hours

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): All of these were 1 out of 5

I tried to find three creative but also easy banana ideas that any parent, college kid, babysitter, health nut, etc. could execute. My favorite? The smoothie!

No-Bake Gluten-Free Energy Balls

Today's post is a fast and easy one because you don't have to bake anything, it requires very few ingredients, and what you're about to devour isn't full of crazy preservatives so they're, dare I say, healthy! But be warned: they're very addicting. I won't tell you how many I ate in one day...

So here's what you'll need to make 8 energy balls:

* 1 cup of dry oats (which helps lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease)
* 1/2 cup of peanut butter (which has potassium, Vitamin E, and magnesium)
* 1/3 cup of honey (which is a natural source of carbohydrates which provide energy!)
* 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (which improves your vascular functions and improves insulin sensitivity, though I suppose you could use raisins instead if you don't want chocolate)
* 1 teaspoon of vanilla (which, according to WebMD, can help stop tooth decay!)

So first, get a big bowl and add all the ingredients together. I recommend wearing gloves because this is going to get messy.

Once the dough is formed, then you're ready to make your energy balls! I decided to put them on a piece of parchment paper and put them in the fridge to harden. If you don't put them in the fridge, they'll stay very chewy but also greasy and a bit messy.

Mine didn't last very long in the fridge... not because they went bad, but because I ate them too quickly! Seriously, they're addicting. I recommend leaving them in the fridge, though, as the peanut butter tends to melt a bit once it reaches room temperature (or as soon as it's in your hand). Still, they're easy to make, they're good for you, and you don't have to turn on the oven on a hot summer's day - doesn't get much better than that!

TOTAL COSTS: About $12
$1.99 for oats
$2.79 for peanut butter
$4.29 for honey
$2.50 for chocolate chips
I used my own recipe for the homemade vanilla

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Less than 10 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
These would be a great treat to make with your kids - they're as easy as baking cookies, minus the baking part! Now if you're excuse me, I have to go make some more... omm nom nom...

DIY Electrolyte Energy Drinks!

I'm not really a health-conscious person. I should be, but I'm not. Honestly, I'm too lazy. They say high fructose corn syrup is bad for you, but I consume it anyway because I don't read labels. Sugar is getting thrown out the door for Stevia and Splenda. And what the heck is agave? Is that just a fancy word for honey? Needless to say, nutrition is not my forte so when I saw you could make your own energy drinks from these two posts, one from MommyPotamus and one from EverydayRoots, I figured, "Eh... why not?" I'm no stranger to Gatorade or Powerade, so I thought I would try three drinks to see if they can measure up.

Spoiler alert: I only liked one. 

These are the three different drinks I tried:

The Orange and Lemon Zest

* 3-4 cups of water
* 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2 oranges)
* 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
* 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
* 2 Tablespoons of honey or maple syrup (feel free to add more)












Lemon-Lime Coconut Fizz
* 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes)
* 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
* 1 1/2 cups of fresh water
* 2 Tablespoons of honey
* 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
* (optional) 2 cups of coconut water









Strawberry Coconut Foam

 * Original recipe calls for 3 cups of coconut water but I only used 1/4 cup
* 1 cup of strawberries
* 1 cup of water
* 1 cup of ice
* 2 Tablespoons of honey
* 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt






My least favorite was the one I thought I'd like the most - the orange and lemon zest drink. While oranges are a good source of electrolytes, I didn't use the blender, which resulted in all the honey sticking to the bottom. Big mistake. It tastes good at first but starts to sour in the aftertaste. My husband, on the other hand, said it wasn't half bad. So use a blender, add some ice, and play around with the ingredients and measurements. If you come up with a better recipe with oranges, I'm all ears!

The one I thought was ok was the lemon-lime coconut fizz. Coconut water contains 13x more potassium than Gatorade, so this is a great alternative to the sports drink. However, if you don't like the taste of coconut water, you can always water it down and it'll be more of a limeade/lemonade.

My favorite? The strawberry coconut foam! Strawberries are a good source of Vitamin C and potassium and adding the honey and ice made it a delicious smoothie for a summer afternoon. This is the only one I'd make again but of course with any food or drink, it's all up to personal tastes. In the end, they're all good for you so you can't go wrong!

TOTAL COSTS: Depends on the drink
$.99/lb. for oranges
$2.00 for four lemons
$.99 for sea salt
$4.69 for honey
$1 for two limes
$1.99 for coconut water
$ 2.50 for strawberries

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 15 minutes/drink
Most of my time was spent squeezing juices out by hand so if you have an appliance to speed up the process, definitely use it!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
They're not difficult to make so you can't use that as an excuse not to give these a try. They don't take too long either, so there goes that excuse as well. And if you have picky taste buds, just pick the ingredients you like the most and mix those together! You really can't do wrong (well, maybe lime and strawberry... hmmm...)

Vanilla Almond Granola

Let me start off by saying, mine did not turn out like the original. At all. Still, this vanilla almond granola is delicious and would make a great treat for cereal, trail mix, etc. I found the original post from MyGlutenFreeKitchen (they used gluten-free oats but I used old-fashioned). Along with 4 cups of oats, you'll need:


* 1 cup of sliced or slivered almonds (you can buy them pre-sliced)
* 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon of salt
* 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
* 1/3 cup of butter or vegetable oil
* 1/4 cup of honey
* 2 Tablespoons of sugar
* 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract (not imitation extract)

Start by preheating your oven to 300 degrees and laying parchment paper down on 2 cookie sheets.

Combine the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, honey, and sugar. Whisk together until the sugar has completely dissolved. After about 30 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and add your vanilla.

Pour the butter/honey/sugar/vanilla mixture into the bowl of oats and stir thoroughly. Pour the oats onto your cookie sheets and bake. Now the original post says to bake for 25-30 minutes but after 20 minutes, my almonds were burning so I took them out. Be sure to stir them a couple times on the pans while they're in the oven so they're all baked evenly.

Now this is where my granola didn't follow orders... while it's cooling, it's supposed to clump up. If you stir often while it's cooling, it'll supposedly form smaller clumps. Mine didn't clump at all so I decided to add pretzel sticks, peanuts, and chocolate chips to make it trail mix. Perhaps you'll have better luck with the clumping but either way, it's still delicious!

TOTAL COSTS: About $25

$1.99 for oats

$3.99 for almonds

$.99 for salt

$4.79 for cinnamon

$.99 for butter

$4.29 for honey

$2.69 for sugar

$4.99 for vanilla

I made my own brown sugar - see my instructions here

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 1 hour

20 minutes to prep

20 minutes to bake

20 minutes to cool

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5

When I think of granola, I think of clumps of oats. I managed to get maybe 3 or 4 clumps in the entire batch. Perhaps it requires more of the butter/honey/sugar/vanilla mixture, maybe less time stirring while in the oven or while it's cooling, maybe less time in the oven, it's hard to say. There are a lot of different variables here so be prepared to do a little trial and error!

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bars or "Why Didn't I Make These Sooner?!" Bars

I don't say this about many things, but I wish I had seen this recipe from MoneySavingMom years ago. It has absolutely everything a high school kid for a bake sale, a poor college kid, a mom, and ME could ever want: simplicity, no oven, and chocolate + peanut butter = the ultimate marriage of flavors. If you have a dinner party tomorrow night and want an easy dessert or maybe you just want to treat yourself, grab a pan, a measuring cup, and these ingredients and be prepared to have your mouth salivate in 3... 2... 1...

* 1 Cup of peanut butter (make sure you have an almost full jar, as you'll use almost 3/4 of the contents!)

* 1/2 Cup of honey

* 1/2 Cup of coconut oil (or butter, if you prefer)

* 2 Cups of old fashion oats

* 1 Cup of shredded coconut

* 1/2 Cup of chopped nuts (I used walnuts), raisins, or dried cranberries

* 1 1/4 Cups of chocolate chips (photo shows mini but I used semi-sweet regular chocolate chips)

* 1 teaspoon of vanilla

In a medium saucepan, melt the peanut butter, honey and coconut oil (or butter). Make sure it doesn't burn by stirring frequently (took mine about 4 minutes to melt completely).

Once it has melted, take the pan off the heat and add the oats, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, nuts/raisins, and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted.

Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan and set in your fridge to harden.

How long you ask? Good question. I found after two hours it wasn't quite hard enough, 5 hours was better, but overnight would be ideal. If you do leave them to harden overnight, be prepared to get a workout - these suckers were so thick they were difficult to cut out but so worth it!

There are so many different variations you could do - you could replace or add gluten free oats, flax seed, almond butter, salt, etc. Someone in the original post's comments said this makes 24 bars at 240 calories/piece, but really, who's counting? Just cut them up and enjoy. Life's too short to skip dessert.

TOTAL COSTS: About $30 if you don't have any of the ingredients

$2.69 for peanut butter

$4.29 for honey

$5.99 for coconut oil at Whole Foods (though really, you could use $1 butter from the store)

$1.99 for oats

$2.50 for shredded coconut

$5.99 for chopped nuts

$2.50 for chocolate chips

$4.99 for vanilla

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 20 minutes + at least 2 hours to cool

I still recommend you let these harden overnight but if you can't wait, I completely understand!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5

The "hard" part might be making sure the peanut butter mixture doesn't burn but that's just a matter of keeping your eye on the pan and stirring. Really, it's not hard at all and I encourage everyone to make these!