Enjoy these healthy banana recipes made for those of us who don’t like bananas! The health benefits of bananas are great, so I committed to eating one a day after posting about the health benefits of bananas on my FaceBook page last week. I really don’t like bananas, but the health benefits of bananas are at least as high as what you believe about apples.
As part of my ageless lifestyle after 50, I’m always on a quest to improve my health and make sure I have a healthy, ageless body. For me that includes introducing food, herbs and spices into my diet that I may not care for all the much. What I’ve noticed is that it doesn’t take long for me to grow to like what I used to hate to eat!
If you’re interested in improving your health, I suggest you try having a banana every day for a week or two and see how it goes.
I’ve used a frozen banana, one that was very ripe, two that were just yellow and another that was still a little green around the edges.
Day 1
The frozen banana become peanut butter cinnamon ‘ice cream’ by simply taking the slices of frozen banana and blending them with 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a teaspoon of cinnamon. That’s a lot of cinnamon, but I’ve built up to that for the health benefits of the spice. Add as little as you like, or none at all. I added a little almond milk to get it to blend better. Then I put it in a bowl in the freezer for about 1/2 hour to make it a little more solid.
30 minutes doesn’t make all that much of a difference, but I couldn’t wait any longer to eat it. If you like it more like ice cream, you’ll want to put it in the freezer for at least an hour. I also added some dark chocolate chips. In the past I’ve added coconut and sliced almonds to my fake ice cream.
Check out my healthy ice cream board on Pinterest for more ideas!
A Tip about Different Stages of Bananas: the greener the banana, the less banana taste when you’re making it into something you don’t want to taste like banana. There are health benefits to each stage of bananas, so try to use them at a variety of stages. For example, the ones with brown spots will help you get rid of your brown spots!
Day 2
I used a very ripe banana chopped into my oatmeal. Here I used a teaspoon of cinnamon, plus coconut and almonds. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It didn’t have an overly banana taste.
Day 3
I ate an average yellow banana as an afternoon snack, after a big breakfast and no lunch. I still don’t like bananas!
Day 4
I put an average banana in my green smoothie for breakfast. Normally I don’t add a banana because they are too filling for me. I did this because I had added too much lemon and rosemary and my green drink tasted like furniture polish! I discovered bananas will mask an overpowering taste.
Day 5
I used a large banana that was a little green for a dessert. I sliced and chilled this one. When I was ready to eat it I gave each slice a little dollop of Nutella and topped them with a big raspberry. Thick slices of banana cuts down on the amount of Nutella, so you decide which you prefer. The combination is really good. I think in this recipe it would be good to use a riper banana to get a sweeter taste, if you like the taste, since it is dessert!
A Tip on Flavor of Bananas: The largest bananas are called machos here in Mexico. I won’t comment any further on that. The guy at my produce market told me they are the least sweet and the least banana flavor. As you move through to smaller bananas they get sweeter and more banana-y. By the time of you get down to the little baby bananas that are only a few inches long, they are really sweet.
*Extra Day Idea 1
Those little baby bananas are great for dessert. You can fry the slices, or just cut lengthwise in half, in coconut oil for a couple minutes until the start to turn brown and caramelize. Eat them alone or with your favorite topping!
*Extra Day Idea 2
Lime squeezed over slices with Tajin (a spicy/hot combo of spices sold in the Latin food section)
Favorite Ways to Plus Bananas for Non-Banana Lovers:
Peanut Butter
Nutella
Chocolate
Cinnamon
Ginger
Turmeric
Coconut
Almonds or any kind of nuts
Raspberries
Mango
Papaya
Feel free to leave a comment with your favorite way of eating bananas!
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