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!
