Bananas....B.A.N.A.N.A.S

Is it wrong that I self check my spelling of bananas by singing the Gwen Stefani song in my head?  I hope she got it right, hmmm.

First of all, I just want to thank everyone for the amount of LOVE you've shown me since announcing the blog rebirth.  I have felt so grateful and inspired the last few days thanks to all of you.  Now here's my challenge: let's all pick someone else to make feel the same way.  Somebody else who just had a baby, started a new job, retired, is going through a transition, or just needs a show of support.  Call them up and say "hey I've been thinking about you, let's get together".  No matter how you think they will react, just do it, it is exactly what they are needing right now.  It will make a difference, it did to me. 

I think there will need to be a segment of this blog entitled, "last to know".  I am always learning new tricks which I am certain that everyone else has known about for a long time.  But maybe there is some other girl or boy out there who has spent a lot of their life pondering whether northbound or southbound is the best way to hike the Appalachian Trail, or whether my mom knows what the Doobie Brothers meant by Doobie, and never really worried about things like what you can do with a Bounce sheet or white vinegar.... until now.  These "last to know" segments are for you, or me.

I only like green bananas.  There she goes again, b.a.n.a.n.a.s.  If there is even a hint of a brown spot going on, I'm done.  I always have great ambitions to turn every aging banana into a loaf of nut bread, but then you don't have enough of them at the same time, there are bugs in your flour etc..  Then I read that you can simply peel an aging banana, throw it in a ziplock and freeze it.  Take them out whenever you actually have time, and fresh flour, and make some nut bread...OR.... take one out and put it, still frozen, into a smoothie!  Guess what?  It works!
  
We have been blending up smoothie after smoothie at our house recently.  Warren thinks it's so neat to drink out of his own cup with a straw. I use them to get good stuff into the little man, and to clean out the fridge.  This smoothie is a variation of one I used to make when I worked at a high end gym in New York a few lifetimes ago....

 

CHAI LATTE SMOOTHIE

 

If you have spotty bananas

 

 

you've frozen ahead of time

 





 

 

 

take one or two out, slice it, throw it in a blender and add:

 

1/2 c. Chai Latte Concentrate (I got this one at Publix)

1 c. almond, rice, soy, or lowfat milk

2-3 heaping Tb. of almond or peanut butter

1/4 t. vanilla or almond extract

 1 c. crushed ice

 

Blend it all up.  This amount makes me one big and two little glasses.

 

 



 

 

and one happy little guy....

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, I use a Ninja blender.  It doesn't have a huge canister, so is not a great choice for big batches of say.... strawberry margaritas, but it does bring ice to it's knees in a way that only a ninja could. It's also easy to clean and costs only $40.   Find it here.