Recently while browsing the shelves at a favorite Natural Grocery store I discovered gold. They have a special place where they put over-ripe organic bananas and clearance them at .30/lb. (Less than half the normal cost). I decided to grab a few...well 8 pounds to be exact which was only about 3 large bunches. They were the bananas that are perfect to eat TODAY but not tomorrow. Well I wasn't about to just stuff my face with 8 pounds of bananas in one sitting but I had an idea.
We make smoothies pretty frequently, especially banana based ones because after a run the potassium is perfect to prevent sore muscles.
Freezing the bite sized banana slices was an excellent way to take advantage of these bananas and also assure that we would always have them on hand for smoothies.
Simply slice about 2 cups worth of bananas and freeze them in Freezer Bags.
When making a smoothie I will grab a frozen bag and zap it for about 30 seconds in the microwave to soften things up a bit making the work easier on the blender.
For a delicious banana pineapple smoothie, add in a blender:
2 Cups Frozen Banana Slices
1 Cup Canned or Fresh Pineapple chunks
~ 1 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk
1/4 Crushed ice
Blend until smooth. You may need to add more Almond milk if things are not blending well. You bet every time I stop at this store I have my eye out on my lovely clearance bananas. This fall I will probably be making a lot of Banana bread for now in the summer heat I'll cool off with a nice low cal shake.
