By All Means … Go Bananas

Bananas have been used for many things, such as movie props (people slipped on them as we howled with laughter). Woody Allen used them for a title in one of his movies. They were utilized to write silly songs … this great fruit is much more than something to laugh at!

Banana's have been touched on to define certain emotional outbursts, and have been frozen, dipped in chocolate, and had their peels smoked by a particular type of people in the 1960's. Jokes, certain references and the smell of one left in our book bags for a week have carved the banana into our thoughts forever. Yet, with all of this fantastic press this fruit has gotten through the years, we still forget to just eat them plain and simple.

If you're rushing out of the house in the morning and need something to eat real fast, check out with a banana. If you crave something sweet to pick you up in the afternoon, try letting a banana raise you to new heights. If you have imbibed too much alcohol the night before and wish you hadn't, a banana is your best friend.

On an average, like most fruits and vegetables, the banana contributes 1% of our daily intake of fat, 7% of protein, 10% of calories, 20% niacin, thiamine and iron, 25% magnesium and 35% of vitamin B6. One medium size raw banana contains about 100 calories and about 32 grams of carbohydrates, making it a very useful and healthy energy source. Bananas are soothing to the digestive tract and the large amount of potassium in one banana, about 300 mg., will replace the huge amount lost when we drink too much as well as the potassium deficiencies brought on by certain medications.

Even though just eating a banana plain is pretty good, eating a sliced banana on cereal can be positively blissful. It gets soggy in fruit salad but on a peanut butter sandwich it is the wind beneath the breadth.

Making your own banana bread lets you decide what's in it.

Basic Banana Bread Recipe
Makes one loaf

2 cups of sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar or blackstrap molasses
2 eggs, beaten
3 medium ripe bananas
½ cup milk, yogurt, buttermilk, soymilk, or rice milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar or molasses. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, bananas, milk, butter mixture and the rest of your ingredients.* When well-blended, pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out dry.

*You can add spices to this basic banana bread recipe, such as cinnamon, ground cloves and freshly grated nutmeg. You can add more vitamins in the form of shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, dried apricots, figs dates, cranberries, currents or nuts. In summer, try one with fresh peaches and cinnamon. In fall, try apples. Mash the bananas thoroughly or leave them in small chunks. Make two loaves and freeze one or give one as a gift.

Enjoy!