This banana cake (Addicted to Dates) has lots of banana, plus brown sugar and cinnamon and is topped with vanilla frosting.
Mash bananas to avoid choking hazards for babies & swallowing difficulties. Due to potassium, some people with kidney disease and some heart/blood pressure conditions should limit intake. Keep these recipes away from pets due to unsafe ingredients like nutmeg, dough and chocolate. Read more on keeping people & pets safe in the kitchen
Bananas are (not local) berries but are portable and easy to eat and due to potassium, make great workout snacks. They are also good to thicken smoothies and popular in many recipes from banana bread to banoffee pie. Due to tryptophan (an amino acid that produces serotonin) they are good for depression and insomnia (try eating half a banana before bed, as a ‘sleeping pill’.
Look for sea-freighted bananas (farm shop ones won’t be wrapped in plastic, unlike supermarkets that wrap them to keep away from the Fair Trade plastic-wrapped ones – at markets, you can find loose organic Fair trade banana! Waste banana products are made into writing paper, banana leaf coffins and banana leather. Use the inside banana peel to polish your shoes, and the mashed flesh as a face mask!
Store bananas in a cool place (not the fridge ot they will go black). If freezing bananas to thicken smoothies, slice them first and freeze on a tray, then keep in a silicone freezer bag for up to 3 months. You can use frozen bananas to make banana ice-cream.
a recipe for banana & teff flour muffins
These banana & teff flour muffins (Doves Farm) can be stored in a tin, to add to packed lunches. Teff flour (from the world’s smallest grain that could be used to sustainably feed starving people) is lovely in muffins, brown sugar. Bananas are natural egg-replacers, just add baking powder, oil and a little vanilla. Silicone cupcake cases are good to use again and again, to replace disposable ones.
American-style banana peanut butter pie
Banana peanut butter pie (Ela Vegan) is an American-style pie (use palm-oil-free peanut butter, most organic versions are okay). The date-sweetened crust is a mix of oats and crushed nuts or seeds. The filling is sweetened with vanilla and maple syrup, layered up with peanut butter/chocolate. No baking required, just chill in the fridge.
