By Fredrica Syren, aka Green mom:
I for one do not shy away from brown and overripe bananas. While average consumers turn up their noses at brown spotty bananas at the grocery store, I do a little happy dance. Overripe bananas are great and should never be thrown away because there are so many uses for them. Here are a few suggestions:
Smoothie base—What is a great smoothie without a ripe banana? Freeze overripe bananas in small pieces, and use in smoothies to make them perfectly creamy and sweet.
Banana ice cream—Throw frozen overripe bananas into a vitamixer or a food processor with a little milk, and blend until it’s smooth and fluffy. Voila! You have the world’s best, healthy soft serve vegan ice cream (known as “nice cream”). It’s a crowd pleaser for sure, and you can add all kids of flavors like cocoa powder, peanut butter for this amazing nice cream, frozen strawberries or (my personal favorite) frozen mangos.
Banana bread—On a cold morning, nothing tastes better than a cup of coffee and a slice of banana bread. And overripe bananas make great banana bread.
Frozen banana pops—This is such easy to make treat that my kids absolutely love.
Face mask—No, you read that right. Banana is filled with minerals, making it perfect for a creamy and great facemask that will make your skin sing. It works great on dry, mature and oily skin alike. Here are three great recipes.
