One thing you can guarantee about kids is that they are contrary. One week they love something, the next they won’t touch it with a barge-pole. Such is the case, in our house, with bananas. My girls always used to enjoy a banana or two, but now they are met with scorn and disdain. Trouble is, I keep buying them on autopilot, so every week or so I find myself lumbered with squishy, overripe bananas and a lack of ideas for what to do with them.  

A few weeks ago I put out a cry for help on Twitter for recipe ideas for my surplus bananas and half an hour later I had a long list of suggestions. At the time I joked that “I could feel a blog post coming on”. So, as promised, here it is - my 10 Uses for Squishy Bananas.

One of my favourite websites for leftover ideas is Love Food Hate Waste. They have a recipe section which is split into different pages for each main ingredient. Their Banana section is full of ideas, my favourite of which is Banana & Peanut Milkshake.  They also have a lovely recipe for Banana & Walnut Loaf, with added vanilla and cinnamon, which can be adapted to make mini muffins.

Another favourite online cookery website of mine is the BBC Good Food site. The site contains over 5,000 recipes so is always a great resource if you are lacking in culinary inspiration. And their recipe for Caramel Banana Blondies has got to be work a try!

For basic, child-friendly dinners and recipes to cook with your children you can’t beat Netmums. Most of the recipes have been submitted by mums, or tested by them, and they have a great receipe for Banana Flapjack which is perfect for school lunchboxes. They also have a great page of Smoothie Ideas, all of which contain bananas.

Think a Banana Split is just a banana cut in half, a scoop of ice cream and a smattering of chocolate sauce, then think again! Food Network has a whole collection of banana split recipes so you need never get bored, including a Banana Split Brownie Pizza!

If I’m after a recipe that’s a bit special I normally reach for my Nigella cookbooks and as squishy banana recipes go, her Banana & Butterscotch Muffins are a little posher than your average muffin! You can use the same recipe but substitute the butterscotch for chocolate chips or cranberries – so 3 for the price of 1 with that recipe! And as an idea for a dessert, or breakfast with a difference, how about trying Nigella’s recipe for Banana Pancakes – yum.

Now you can’t think of bananas without thinking of Banoffee Pie (well I can’t!). There are lots of recipes out there but one very simple one that I have tried is Cheats Chocolate Banoffee Pie using Carnation Caramel, and it is delicious.

And finally, if none of my suggestions have whetted your appetite, then you need to visit  www.bananarecipes.net – a website dedicated solely to all things banana. If you can’t find something on their site to transform your squishy bananas, then quite frankly, you must be a lost cause!!

If you have any other great banana recipes then please do share and leave us a comment.

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