Cooking 101…..

 

 

Have you ever wanted to make something that called for ripe bananas and all the bananas in your pantry were green? When I first started cooking I would wait for what seemed like forever for them to ripen and by the time they did the moment had passed and I just wasn’t in the mood any more. I read years back that if you put bananas in a brown paper bag the gasses that the bananas omit will ripen them faster. I tried it after I read about it and they still didn’t ripen fast enough. We go through about 6-8 pounds of bananas a week in our house, but they are either green, or eaten before they are quite ripe enough to use.

 

 

Yesterday I decided that I wanted to make some banana muffins, but I didn’t have any that were ripe enough. After scouring the internet, and reading article after article I decided to try the microwave method. I ran across one article that was step by step, I want to say it was Wikihow, but I’m not sure. It said to poke a few holes in a banana with the peel on and put it in the microwave. I thought, “Great, I won’t have to dirty an extra bowl”. I will tell you this, DO NOT PUT YOUR UNPEELED BANANA IN THE MICROWAVE! The end caught fire, and my microwave still smells like smoke.(I think in the back of my mind I knew better when I did it…)

 

 

After trying to cover up the smoke smell with Febreeze, and the kitchen fan, I decided that dirtying another bowl wasn’t such a bad idea. So, I PEELED the same banana and cut it up and placed it in a bowl. I microwaved the banana on high for 1:00 (The second one took 1:30). When I pulled the bowl out it was steaming, and sort of soupy, kind of like baby food. You could smell the difference, just like you had an over ripe banana. The longer you let it sit, the darker it will become, and the sweeter the smell will get. I made banana muffins (look for them in the near future!) with it and the banana flavor was very pronounced and amazingly sweet. I didn’t have to wait forever for them to ripen, and I learned a valuable lesson in the process. 😉

How do you ripen your bananas in a hurry?

What is your favorite banana recipe?

 

 

Step 1: PEEL a banana

 

Step 2: Cut it into about 8-10 pieces

 

Step 3: Place in a microwave safe bowl

 

Step 4: Microwave on high for 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds

 

Step 5: Remove the bowl from the microwave and mash the bananas with a fork

 

Step 6: Allow the bananas to cool

 

Step 7: Use in your favorite baked good, or you can even use it as baby food!