What can you do with frozen bananas?

The other day when I was at the farm they had a bunch of bananas on sale because they were getting over-ripe.  Perfect!  As Beck was gleefully filling our basket I explained that we couldn’t take all of them because they wouldn’t fit in our freezer. (I need a bigger freezer.) Another mom heard me and asked, “What can you do with frozen bananas?”  In case any of my dear readers do not know the answer to that question here are a few ideas.  If you have more please post them in the comment section.  I now have a lot of frozen bananas.

First of all, freezing bananas is about the easiest thing you can do in the kitchen.  You simply peel them and put them in a ziploc bag then put the bag in the freezer.   The frozen bananas can then be used in smoothies, which is what I do most of the time.  You can also thaw them and use them in baking.  Think beyond the typical banana bread- mashed bananas can be used as a substitute for part of the oil in many baking recipes and can also be used instead of eggs.  One example is Alisa’s Cinnamon Roll Recipe on One Frugal Foodie.  Delicious!  Of course, frozen bananas can also be dipped in chocolate and eaten as a treat.

This week’s CSA basket

I got the most amazing CSA basket this week from South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano.

It contained Carrots, Basil, Lemon Cucumbers, Purple Long Beans, Green Beans, Beets, Grapefruit,  Valencia Oranges, Nectarines, Peach, Pluots, Cabbage, Apples, Corn, Reid Avocado, Grapes, Lettuce, Yellow Tomatoes, Lemons, Heirloom Tomatoes, Parsley.

Last night we had a salad made from the purple long beans, sliced red onion, some halved yellow tomatoes, a sliced lemon cucumber and some chopped purple basil tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar served with corn-on-the-cob and warm crusty bread.  Delicious!

Of course the grapes are half gone and the peaches are disappearing rather quickly.

Summer Salad

My sister’s apricot tree made the cutest little apricots this year, most of them 1 – 2 inches in diameter.  Perfect for a three year old to eat by the handful; they also inspired me to highlight them in a salad with some more of summer’s bounty.  If you don’t have cute little apricots, you can cut up any stone fruit instead.

Apricot Berry Salad

1 head red and/or green leafy lettuce
handful of mint
handful of cilantro
1 -2 cups apricots
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blackberries

Rinse and dry the greens and fruits. Tear lettuce into bite size pieces and put in salad bowl.  Tear large mint leaves in half and add them and the cilantro to the bowl.  Tear apricots in half and remove pit.  If they are large or you are using another stone fruit cut them into smaller pieces.  Add to bowl and top with the berries.

All this salad needs for dressing is a bit of fruity olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a few grinds of black pepper.

Apricot Muffins

I made these muffins a few weeks ago on my apricot binge, but am just now getting to posting the recipe.  You could easily use any stone fruit and get tasty results.  These little muffins are great to pack along as a healthy snack.

Apricot Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 Tbs flaxseed meal
2 cups very ripe, mashed apricots
1 egg equivalent (I used 1 ½ tsp Ener-g egg replacer powder beaten with 2 Tbs water)
2 Tbs oil
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Mix flours, sugars, salt, baking soda and spices in a bowl and set aside. Put mashed apricots in a large bowl. Add beaten egg replacer and oil. Stir in the almonds then stir in the flour mixture. Pour into lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 for approximately 20 min. Cool muffins in pan 5 min; remove from pan and finish cooling on wire rack. Makes approximately 24 muffins.

If you would like to make this as a bread, just pour the batter into a greased 9×5  bread pan and cook for 45-50 minutes. The fruit tends to make the batter a little heavy though, so don’t expect a light and fluffy bread.  It still would be great toasted with a bit of jam.

Peach Pancakes

I cannot control myself around stone fruit this year.  Yesterday I went to the farmer’s market and brought home 5 pounds of huge yellow peaches and nectarines.  So this morning, I decided to put one in Beck’s new favorite breakfast, big pancakes.

Peach Pancakes

1 cup white whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg or egg replacer

1 cup rice milk

2 tablespoons oil

1 medium peach or 1/2 a large one, chopped into small pieces.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, ginger and salt and set aside.  In another bowl mix together the milk, egg (or substitute) and the oil.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.  The batter should still have small lumps in it.  Gently stir in the peach.

Pour a large scoop full of batter (about 1/4 -1/2 cup) onto a hot greased griddle or skillet.  Cook over medium heat till the top surface bubbles and the bottom is golden brown.  Flip and cook the other side till it is golden brown.

Serve with strawberry preserves to make Beck happy.

PVC Free School and Office Supplies

It’s back to school time!  This year is special for me because my little Beck is starting preschool.  I have found a wonderful Montessori school that he will be attending Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  I can’t believe he is getting so big.  It definitely makes me think more about homeschooling him so I can squeeze in those extra few hours while he is still young.  He will love school though, and I will appreciate the time to run errands without having to convince him that being buckled into his car seat is really the way to go.

Of course, this means back to school supplies.  I will be talking about waste-free lunches more later, today let’s look at school supplies.  When your kiddo is chewing on their PVC coated pen or  raincoat they are sucking down phalates, lead and cadmium. That all-pervasive chemical, PVC, is all over your little rugrat’s treasures if you are not careful.  To review- PVC emits toxic chemicals during its production, off-gasses nasty things throughout its useful life (which typically isn’t even that long), then emits toxic chemicals again when it is disposed of.  It doesn’t biodegrade of course, so it is either left in a landfill to leach for future generations, burned so the toxins can go into the air, or left floating in the ocean for the birds and sea life to nibble on.  What great choices!

Fortunately, there are ways to avoid PVC. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) has put together a handy Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies. With everything from backpacks and rain coats to art supplies and paperclips, you can easily be PVC-free!  Not just for the kiddos, many office supplies are listed so there is no excuse not to download the guide.  Not to worry, the suggested alternatives are not all weird, obscure and expensive; in fact, many can be found at stores like Staples and Target or my mother-in-law’s favorite, LL Bean.  Available as both a mini wallet guide and the extensive guide, I strongly encourage everyone to take a look and make an effort to avoid PVC.