Ripe Bananas

160 million bananas are thrown away each year in Britain according to a study carried out by Sainsbury’s.

This is totally staggering! 

In our family we too only like the yellow blemish-free banana, but there’s so much you can do with bananas that have turned brown.  They could be made into banana bread, which is delicious, but often the time that the bananas turn brown is not the time that I have time to start baking. Instead, in my house ripe bananas are peeled, sliced up and stored in the freezer ready to be added to a smoothie or even better, turned into the most delicious and ever so simple pudding…

Healthy banana 'ice cream'

1 peeled & frozen banana
1 handful frozen raspberries

Place ingredients in a high-speed blender or nutribullet and simply blend. Sometimes you might need to wait a few minutes for the banana to soften or you could add a splash of coconut milk or coconut water to loosen. These two ingredients then turn into the most delicious raspberry ice cream!

You could of course replace the raspberries with blueberries or strawberries or even just bananas on their own. It’s also very delicious with just banana and a tablespoon of cacao powder!

Banana cookies

Another great way to use up ripe bananas is to make these three ingredient cookies. My daughter loves this as an after school snack. It’s also nut free so can be taken into school for packed lunches. I simply mash a banana and then add some oats until the mixture becomes less sloppy, then add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Quantities are difficult as it all depends on the size and ripeness of the banana. I then make this mixture into cookie shapes and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. So simple that even my 8 year old daughter can make herself!

Now please, no more throwing away those bananas.