More Brown Bananas

As promised I’m back with more things to do with brown bananas. This time I had a whole heap of them from work! I sold about 1/3 of our over ripe ones as “Banana Bread Bananas” for ridiculously cheap – I’d seen it done before, so keep your eye out – but the rest I had to take home, oh, poor me.

What the heck was I gonna do with 10 brown bananas!? Well, luckily I have a list. As, I've said before, I ALWAYS end up with brown bananas, so I just started going down my list, and made the first four things, after banana bread of course:

• Banana bread – made last week – so not this time
• Frozen bananas – to use at a later date
• Banana pancakes – and make some extra for easy breakfasts
• Fruit roll ups – Awesome!
• Smoothie

Easy peasy.  First, I froze the bananas two ways. I put some whole, sealed in labeled ziplock bags. These are great for making banana bread or banana pancakes in a pinch. Admit it, sometimes you just have a craving for some :) Then, I sliced a few more and put them on parchment paper, on a pan, not touching, then in the freezer. Once frozen, just move them into a container, and keep frozen. Use them in smoothies instead of adding ice or dip them in chocolate or peanut butter for a quick mid-summer snack.

To make banana pancakes (base recipe found here):

Banana Pancakes

Makes seven 5-inch pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbls oil
• 2 small ripe bananas (or one large one), mashed
• ½ tsp vanila

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and bananas.
2. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium low heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan and flatten the batter out a bit. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.
4. Substitutions: use some or all whole wheat flour. I didn’t have quite enough milk, so I used half sour cream. Could also use, butter milk or soy milk (use just a little less than a cup for soy). Could use melted butter or coconut oil instead of the vegetable oil.

The batter is thick and these pancakes take a while to cook – they need to cook slowly, and are a soft fluffy texture when they’re done. The insides will seem not cooked enough when you flip them, but just be patient, their delicious.

I always make a few extra, and as I froze the sliced bananas, just put the cooled extras on a parchment paper lined sheet pan, freeze solid, then transfer to a ziplock. To reheat, just throw the frozen pancakes in the toaster oven and toast at the medium dark brown setting. They come out perfect.

Lastly, fruit roll ups. To make them, you need to dust off your dehydrator and get some special rollup trays (found here). I decided to make strawberry banana ones today:

Strawberry Banana Fruit Rolls
Ingredients:

• Big handful of strawberries, washed and husked
• 2 super ripe bananas

Directions:

1. Blend strawberries and bananas together, till really smooth.
2. Pour the mixture onto the special trays. Smooth out till it’s in an even ¼-3/8 inch layer.
3. Turn on dehydrator, and rotate trays occasionally, for about 3-4 hours, or until the fruit is dried, but slightly tacky to the touch.
4. Remove them while still warm, and roll up in parchment paper.
5. Substitutions: use any berry instead of strawberries, like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.

At this point I only had one banana left, so I just made myself a quick smoothie for breakfast, with all the other frozen fruit I had in my collection.

And that was that, 10 more bananas saved from the doom of the garbage can – and me stocked up on quick easy breakfasts and snacks for a while! Also, I know it seems that this would take up a bunch of freezer space, but it really doesn't. Especially, if you bake or make smoothies often.

Those 4 bananas that I cut up and froze, will really only make me maybe a weeks worth of smoothies... Then I'll be on the hunt for more!

More brown banana recipes to come later!

One Squash – Many, Many Meals - Day 2

It’s two days after making those delicious ravioli – and I have a whole, half of roasted butternut squash in my fridge. Its time to use it!

Looking in the fridge – I still have some of that super thin, sweet Pacific Butternut Squash soup and a tub of white miso. I bought the miso to make my favorite soup – squash/coconut/leek/miso soup… but I never got any leeks. Hmmm…..

Happy middle ground – making a hybrid, better Pacific soup.

Hybrid Squash Soup 
Ingredients:

• 1/3 carton (or one can) pre-made squash soup 
• ½ roasted butternut squash, chopped into small pieces 
• ½ tsp onion powder 
• 1 tbls grated ginger 
• Salt and pepper, to taste 
• 2 tbls white miso 

Directions:

1. Put everything, but the miso, in a pot. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Take off heat, add miso. Using an immersion blender, blend to almost smooth. Garnish with green onions (which I didn’t have… but I think would round the soup out perfectly). 
2. Substitutions: if you don’t have the soup, use a can of coconut milk and a dash of cinnamon or another notoriously thin packaged squash soup. Use dried ginger, instead of fresh. The miso is what makes this soup awesome… but its totally still soup without it :) 

I like making things that I’ve had to eat for a few days taste just a little different. Makes me feel like I’m not eating leftovers… again!

One Squash – Many, Many Meals

I was at work the other day I saw the most beautiful butternut squash! I had no plan for it, I just had to own it. Now its a few days later and the question remains… What to make into for dinner… Looking in my fridge – I found some old wanton wrappers I bought a few weeks ago at the Asian market, some second-hand ricotta cheese (my friend bought it, and hated it! Score for me!) and some wilty spinach. Hmmmm…. RAVIOLI!

After web searching a bunch of butternut squash ravioli recipe – I looked in my fridge again, pulled out even more stuff, and made up my own. Here it is:

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mashed, roasted butternut squash
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pinch chili powder
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• about 1/4 cup squash soup (or omit… though read below)
• 1 egg (yolk and white separated)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• about a 2/3 (14 ounce) package wonton wrappers
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 clove garlic, cut in quarters
• chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp of dried sage
• 1 cup baby spinach, chopped

Directions:

1. Mush together the butternut squash, salt, black pepper, chili powder, ricotta, soup, egg yolk, and Parmesan cheese. Mixing until the filling is well combined.
2. Get the wonton wrappers, the egg white and a cutting board. Put a wrapper on the cutting board, wet your finger with the egg white, and run it all along the outer edge of the wonton skin to moisten. Place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of the wonton. Then fold the wonton in half, matching up the tips, and press the edges to seal. Do over and over again until you run out of something (if it’s the egg white, use water instead).
3. When all the ravioli are made, put a pot of water on to boil, then put a frying pan over medium heat, with the butter and garlic. Add the sage to the pan just as the butter completely melts. As the butter turns golden add the spinach, as soon as it wilts take the pan off the heat.
4. Drop the raviolis into the boiling water, a few at a time, and cook until they float to the top, then plus a minute, about 3 minutes total. Drain the raviolis, then put them in the pan with the butter. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and sauté the raviolis for about a minute a side.  
5. Put everything on a plate and swoon at your great use of fridge contents!

Substitutions: use any kind of squash (if using spaghetti squash, just blend it first). Use mascarpone or greek yogurt instead of ricotta. Omit the egg if necessary and use water to seal the wrappers. Use any (or no) greens at the end. If the filling seems a little dry, and you don’t have soup, try a dash of cinnamon (a VERY SMALL AMOUNT) and a splash of milk. 

Ok... the downside (for me anyways) – this recipe makes like 26 ravioli AND only used half the squash… I personally can only eat 8 ravioli at a time – so I froze the rest. Just put all the fresh leftovers (uncooked) in one layer, on a pan lined with parchment paper, and freeze. Once frozen solid, move them to an airtight bag. To re-cook, just take out the number you want an half hour or so before dinner, let them thaw, then cook as above, plus maybe a minute.

I’ll figure out what to do with the leftover squash a little later… I’m thinking soup. OH! The soup addition! Its amazing! The Pacific soup I used is really thin and has a hint of cinnamon and sweetness. It was a delicious addition. I actually got the idea because the carton of soup suggested it (and it was a good way to use up just a little more of the carton). 

Until next time! Chow! Heheh.

When Life Gives You Lime Rinds…

Make a cleaning solution!

Last night, I was craving mojitos. Yes, that delicious rum/lime/mint concoction, generally reserved for warm days on the beach. Luckily, it WAS a nice day and I had all the ingredients around the kitchen, with the exception of the rum, but my husband and Smart & Final had that covered. 

Anyways – we had to juice some limes to make the drinks – and afterwards I was staring at 6 lime halves, void of their juice. As my husband went to clear the counter, I had to stop him from throwing them  – helloooooo I’m sure they have a use!

This morning, I saw them on the counter again, and it struck me! A while back, I had convinced myself that I wanted to make all the cleaning supplies for our house. You know, laundry detergent, hand soap, all-purpose cleaner. During my research, I had been trying to use pinterest (which, I’m still no good at) and I saw many, many pictures of lemon rinds in jars of vinegar. I hadn’t had enough lemons to try it at that point, so I filed the idea in the back of my brain.

So, now, I have a pile of lime rinds – so why not use them? I like the smell of limes better then lemons and as a citrus they have all the same cleaning power! 

So, here is the recipe – it only makes about a cup of cleaning solution – but I think fresher is better, so I like making only a little at a time. But scale up as you like!

Lime-Vinegar Cleaning Stuff

Ingredients:

• Rind cut from 3 limes
• 1/3 cup of white vinegar
• Water
• Castile soap (optional)

Directions:

1. Put everything in a jar. Put a lid on the jar. Let sit for 3 weeks, shaking the jar occasionally. After three weeks, strain out the rinds, mix with 3/4 cup water and put into a spray bottle. If you want, add a drop or two of castile soap.

That’s it! An all purpose, all natural cleaner. I wouldn’t necessarily use it on windows or mirrors (there is a bit of streaking) but its great for cutting grease on stove tops, wiping down the bathroom and cleaning finger prints off cupboards.

Rotten Tomatoes

Ok, not quite rotten, but pretty darn ugly. While at work the other day, I was doing my daily rounds of produce inspection, and I looked down at our organic Roma tomatoes and uuuhhhh ohhhh. Rotten tomatoes. 

I went through the whole bucket of them, about half of them were still perfect and beautiful, and a third were so disgusting or fuzzy they had to be thrown out. But, the other little bit – well – I donno, maybe had potential. Either, the tops were rotty, or there were big ole bruises, or they had weird black spots on them. I figured no one would buy them, but I kept them out for the last few hours. No one did, so I bagged them up at the end of the day and took them home. 

 

When I got home, I did a bit of research, and found out tomatoes are rather easy to can. In fact, the recipe in my Ball canning book was only like 10 lines long… At first I was thinking tomato sauce. I mean, my tomatoes were pretty ugly, I didn’t want that to show through the clear jar. But then, I realized my 16 romas did not equal the 45 pounds the recipe called for… I also didn’t want to can them whole – cause again… they weren’t gonna be whole when I cut the bad parts off. So chopped it was.

 

Here is the recipe I used - straight out of the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving also found here.

Tomatoes – Packed in Own Juice

Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 lb ripe tomatoes (about 8 to 11 medium) per quart 
• Ball® Citric Acid or bottled lemon juice
• Salt, optional
• Glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:

1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside
2. Process filled jars in a boiling water canner 1 hour and 25 minutes for pints and quarts, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.
3. Wash tomatoes. Dip in boiling water 30 to 60 seconds. Immediately dip in cold water. Slip off skins. Trim away any green areas and cut out core. Leave tomatoes whole or cut into halves or quarters. (I diced mine… Cause they were weird shapes after trimming the gross off. I also squeezed out most of the seeds)
4. Add ½ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot quart jar. Add ¼ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot pint jar
5. Pack tomatoes in hot jars until space between tomatoes fills with juice leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add 1 teaspoon salt to each quart jar, 1/2 teaspoon to each pint jar, if desired. (I only put a pinch) Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.
   
   
   
    

It was really easy actually. And most of the weird looking parts of the tomato came off with the skin! The deeper defects, I just cut off. Using my 16 romas, I was able to make 2 pints and 1 half pint jars. The tomatoes are beautiful in their jars, bright and real looking. They look wayyy better than commercial canned tomatoes!! 

 

The best part is – canning these old, ugly tomatoes gave them a second chance!