Bananas: Simply Delicious

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Fun fact: What is a bunch of bananas called? A hand. And how about each piece of fruit? A finger! Go ahead: Tell your kids to have some fingers for a snack and watch their reaction.

And yet, seriously, what’s not to love about a banana? It’s simple, nutritious, and easy to carry and peel. And who doesn’t love banana bread? Yet perhaps like me, you’re looking for ways to enjoy this fruit without the fat and calories of granny’s favorite dessert?

Bananas are an excellent way to easily boost kids’ intake of 5-A-Day. And I’m all for simple. Good healthy eating doesn’t have to be hard to accomplish.

And kids sure could use some help in boosting their fruit and vegetable intake: According to the Produce for Better Health Foundation, a non-profit group, kids eat about 1.3 servings of fruit a day. And it would be best if they doubled that amount.

That might not be too hard, since most kids love bananas; they recently placed second in a survey of kids’ favorite fruits by NPD Group, a market research group. Their order of favorites? Apples were first, followed by bananas, grapes, peaches, oranges, berries, pears and pineapple.

After all, the United States consumes 60 percent of the world’s banana crop. With an amazingly high yield per acre, they are America’s most inexpensive fruit.

When I recently visited my nephews in Mount Healthy (how’s that for a town name with inspiration?), I learned a delicious new way to make soup, thanks to my nephew: Banana soup. Slice one banana into a bowl and top with orange juice. Easy and delicious—and kids love it.

It was so simple I wondered why we hadn’t ever thought of it—and yet it’s easy to overlook simple delicious treats in our complicated world.

Simple ideas and solutions abound when we slow down enough to notice them. For example, just the other day while traveling in the car, we were listening to an excellent story CD, Behind the Curtain, by Peter Abrahams, and one of the characters mentioned how she loved the way her friend’s mom made her PBJ sandwiches with banana slices in them.

A-ha! Another great way to boost that 5-A-Day.

Bananas are sweet and highly nutritious—they were even my kids’ first food as babies. They are high in sugar content (17 to 19 percent), which is evidenced as they turn from green to yellow to brown: The more brown spots, the higher a banana’s sugar content.

But what else makes them so great?

Here’s an impressive bio:

* Bananas are easily digestible
* They are soothing to the mucus lining of the stomach
* Bananas have twice the vitamin C of apples
* They are richer in minerals than any other soft fruit except strawberries

And best of all, they’re economical and easy to grab at the grocery store. I’ve been trying to balance all those boxed and prepared foods with fresh produce and fruit. And bananas help make it easier.

Here are some simple snack ideas to get you and your kids using more bananas this week:

Snack ideas:

* Bananas slices in PBJ sandwich
* Banana halves or slices with peanut, almond or soy butter
* Bananas sliced on top of cereal
* Oatmeal with sliced bananas and brown sugar
* Banana Soup: Slice one banana in bowl and top with OJ
* Top strawberry or vanilla yogurt with a sliced banana and nuts
* Toss extra-ripe bananas in a freezer bag and save for banana bread. Thaw and drain when ready-to-use.
* Use frozen bananas in this easy fruit sorbet recipe: http://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/christine-gable/347-easy-sorbet/
* Peel bananas, cut in half and push popsicle stick in end. Freeze. Dunk or drizzle with chocolate magic shell topping for a delectable dessert.