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!

The Fudgiest Brownies You've Ever Tasted... with Avocado??

"Brownies with an avocado in them? Are they going to be green?", I asked myself. This post from SouthernInLaw makes them sound delicious but c'mon, lets be honest, it also sounds slightly disgusting. No one dips a Hershey's bar into guacamole for a reason. However, just because it sounds odd, doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. I gave this one a shot and if you're a chocoholic, you're in for helluva treat. If you don't have that much of a sweet tooth, this might not be the recipe for you. But it's gluten free, low fat, low in sugar, and grain free so for all of those with specific dietary needs, this might be a good dessert option!

To make these you'll need:

1 ripe avocado
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon of water
3.5 oz of dark chocolate (bar or chocolate chips, up to you!)
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder
1/4-1/2 cup of sugar (I used 1/2 cup and should have used more, however if you want this to not be as sweet, then go for 1/4 cup)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Pinch of salt


Not sure if you picked a ripe avocado? Take off the tip - if it's green underneath, it's ripe. If it's brown, it's not. Also, give a squeeze. If it gives a little but doesn't leave an impression on the avocado, that's another sign it's ready to be cut open!

Start by preheating your oven to 355 and either in a food processor or mixer, combine your avocado, eggs, vanilla, and water until all lumps are gone.

In a separate bowl, melt your dark chocolate in the microwave (mine took about 1 minute), add to your avocado puree and mix until just combined.. I think next time I make this I'm going to try with milk or semi-sweet chocolate, as it was more bitter than sweet.

Next, add in your cocoa (I think the recipe is asking for a lot but that's just me), sugar (again, up to you on how sweet you want to make these), baking soda, and salt. Be careful adding the cocoa powder, as it can make quite a mess if it's all dumped in at once!

If you think it's too thick, add another Tablespoon of water. I didn't and yeah, these puppies were definitely thick!

Pour the mixture into a greased up 8"x8" pan and smooth the mixture out before baking for 20-25 minutes. Be sure to do the toothpick test (stick a toothpick in and if it comes out clean, it's all done!)

Let it cool in the pan before removing and let it chill in the fridge before serving. I've got to say, these are the fudgiest brownies I've ever had! Not cakey, very dense. You can't taste the avocado at all (and they're certainly not green) but my gosh are they chocolatey. Not for the faint of heart, these brownies are most certainly thicker than your average brownie but in small amounts, definitely fulfill your sweet tooth cravings!

And as my mother would say, "Have a glass of milk with that!"

TOTAL COSTS: About $18 (if you don't have any ingredients - prices from Vons)
$1.99 for an avocado
$2.79 for eggs
$3.49 for bag of dark chocolate chips
$3.99 for cocoa powder
$2.69 for sugar
$1.59 for baking soda
$.99 for salt
Homemade vanilla extract from scratch

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 50 minutes + overnight
30 minutes to prep
20 minutes to bake
Cool and chill overnight

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
The hardest thing is picking an avocado that's ripe enough! Other than that, it's just a matter of throwing things in a bowl and then into a pan. Simple enough for even the non-baker in your family to accomplish.