Got Ripe Bananas?

What to do with ripe bananas?
Make a smoothie.  

Do you have any ripe bananas at your house?  The concept of a ripe banana varies from person to person.  Once we were camping with some Canadians.  We were given a big bunch of green bananas.  We were waiting for them to ripen, because we don't like green bananas.  We never did eat one of those bananas because the Canadians ate them all while they were, what we consider, unripe green.  That's how they liked them! I'm not saying that all Canadians prefer green bananas, but that bunch we were camping with ate the whole green bunch of bananas.  They were worried that the bananas would go bad because we were not eating any of them.                                                                           
 These days I like to peel ripe bananas, slice them into 1/4 inch slices, and put them into a one pint plastic container with a snug fitting lid. I use a cottage cheese container, (from the pre-raw vegan times), that has been washed and dried (is this too obvious?).  Usually 2 bananas will fit into a pint container.  Snap the lid onto the container and put it into your freezer to freeze the bananas.  Then, when you want to make a smoothie, you have wonderful, sweet, frozen bananas to make the smoothie cold, creamy, and sweet.  You can add some other fruit, such as berries, for color and added flavor, or not.
You may need to add liquid of choice unless your fruit is juicy and / or your blender is heavy duty (got $400 blender?). The liquid can be water, milk, cream, fruit juice...What else have you got?  I use pure water -- enough to facilitate blending -- about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.  You don't want too much liquid or the whole thing will be too watery.  Start with 1/4 cup and add more if the blender is working too hard.  Ice cubes or crushed ice optional.
You can make a nice smooth, sweet, frozen desert by just blending the frozen bananas with a bit of milk (dairy, soy, or almond) water, or cream.  Just add enough to create a thick, custard-like consistency.  Sometimes just a pinch of cinnamon blended in adds an interesting and more complex taste.
You can always mash the ripe bananas with a fork.  The riper they are, the easier they are to mash.  Leave chunks, or make it smooth.  Add some other fruit, cut into small pieces -- strawberry, sweet orange, mango, peach -- try adding whatever you have available.  Garnish with some green such as a mint leaf.  Sprinkle with cacao powder or carob.  Put a shelled walnut in the middle.  I actually think this would be good garnished with some lettuce leaf.  (see Got Greens? blog)
I have had bananas almost every day for the past 10 days.  Most days I had 4 frozen bananas in smoothies!  Today I had only one, because I had only one frozen banana in the freezer.  I need to peel, slice, and freeze another batch of ripe bananas.  I promise not to eat more than 2 per day.  It is my summer treat.  Yin to all you macrobiotics.  So, don't throw out your very ripe bananas.  Freeze them.
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Still raw vegan, Southwest Desert Blogger, C. (c)2011