Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Banana Pops: #Summer Recipe Fun


What do you do with 15 lbs. of over ripe bananas that your Mom gives you? Make ice cream and popsicles of course…  I made a batch of banana ice cream i.e. frozen banana puree and a batch of banana pops.

This is one of those summer recipes that couldn’t be easier.  I peel and put the bananas in the blender and puree until smooth. I then fill the popsicle molds and insert sticks. I found a new mold at our local Grocery Outlet for less than $1.00 so I picked up an extra.  Since I only had 2 molds and 15 lbs. of bananas I filled 2 Gladd plastic containers with the remaining puree and froze it as well. Now we have banana ice cream as well.  When the boys want a treat I can scoop out a little of frozen bananas and top with fresh berries or if we are feeling like an extra treat top it with a little chocolate sauce.   

This is one of those blessing treats as most people just throw ripe bananas out. Of course you can always make banana bread or muffins but during the summer the boys really look forward to frozen treats and this is a healthy fun and inexpensive treat.  I’m still using a jumbo box of craft sticks from our classroom supplies so there is really no cost involved other than the new mold I bought for $0.99, if I was feeling really green I would make the boys save the sticks and reuse, but lately I have been letting them use the sticks as fire starter for backyard campfires (I guess that is kind of green….)

Options to add to the banana pops:  add 1 cup of yougurt to the blender before you fill it with bananas for extra protein and calcium.  Add strawberries to the mix for a sweet treat.
You can also freeze the puree in ice cube trays and then store in a large freezer bag for smoothies.  The options are endless.  I would recommend watching your local Dollar Store or other discount store and picking up a couple extra ice cube trays and popsicle molds just to have one hand for making fun summer treats all year round.


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