Banana Crazy!

            Here at our house we love bananas. That is my main reason for wanting to grow them myself but until my banana crops come in I have to be content with the marked down bags of bananas at the grocery store. These bananas are often still in great shape but have to be used within a reasonable amount of time. Banana bread is of course the easy solution and we love it so I end up making banana bread quite often. I use just a regular recipe from my Betty Crocker Cookbook. You can also make banana bread in your breadmaker. Here is a recipe I have used to make banana bread in the breadmaker.

Bread Machine Banana Bread

  • 1 cup water

  • 2/3 cups bananas (about 2 medium)

  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened

  • 2 egg whites

  • 4 cups bread flour

  • ¼ cup sugar

  • 1 ½ teaspoon salt

  • 2 teaspoons yeast

            Put ingredients in your breadmaker according to your breadmaker instructions. Set on the sweet bread cycle.

            We of course we also love to eat dehydrated banana chips. Just cut into round slices about a ¼ -1/2 inch thick, dip in lemon juice and dehydrate until dry. These make great healthy snacks for the kids.

            For breakfast you might try banana muffins. They taste a lot like banana bread only in muffin form and make a wonderful filling breakfast food.

Banana Muffins

  • 1 ½ cups bananas mashed

  • ½ cup sugar

  • 1 egg

  • 1 cup flour

  • ½ tsp. Baking soda

  • ¼ cup oil

            Grease or line 12 muffin cups. In large bowl, combine all ingredients, stirring until just moistened. Pour batter into muffin cups, then bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until light brown and done.

              Let’s not forget dessert. Besides the wonderful (and very fattening) banana split you can also make banana cake and cookies. My daughter just made us a big batch of banana cookies and they sure aren’t going to be around long!

Banana Cookies

 

  • 2 ¼ cups flour

  • ½ tsp. Salt

  • 2 tsp. Baking power

  • 1/3 cup shortening

  • 1 cup sugar

  • 1 egg

  • ½ tsp. Vanilla extract

  • ½ tsp. Lemon juice

  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed

  • ½ cup ground nuts (any kind or mixed)

            Preheat oven to 350*. Lightly grease baking sheets. In large bowl cream shortening and sugar together. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice then add bananas and nuts. Gradually add flour, baking powder and salt. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes.

Banana Cake

  • 1 ½ cups flour

  • 1 cup sugar

  • ½ tsp. Baking soda

  • ½ tsp. Baking powder

  • 1 egg

  • 1/3 cup oil

  • 3 large bananas mashed

            Preheat oven 350*.  Grease and flour and 8x8 inch glass baking dish. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into baking dish. Bake for 45-60 minutes.

            You might also try our favorite beverage banana smoothies. Your older children can probably make this themselves and the younger ones will enjoy helping by peeling bananas and pushing the blender buttons.

 

Banana Smoothies

            Fill you blender full of bananas (not mashed or anything, just broken up into a couple pieces). Add milk until it is about half way up the blender. Add a little sugar. Blend for a bit. Then add ice cubes and blend until it is the consistency that you like.

            There are lots and lots of recipes for bananas but these are easy and don’t take a lot of ingredients or time something that is very important in most households. So next time you see those bags of reduced bananas don’t hesitate to pick up a couple of them. You’ll be eating some great tasting, healthy food until they are gone!

              Rebecca Whitford