Remember the cup scandal last year, when Bon Appétit tossed all the paper cups for plastic, and students kept swiping them from the cafeteria until there were only 25 left, and The Collegian ran a threat-piece about it, and Chief said “I pity the fool I find with a cup,” and we all laughed?
Well, bananas are a different story. We all learned our lesson with the cup thing, but no one has yet tried to deny us the simple joy of taking home six bananas from dinner. Something about squirreling them away in our little dorm pantries fills us with happy satisfaction, as if in doing so, we imagine we are providing for ourselves.
But who ever actually eats the six bananas in time? Doubtless you have found yourself in the awkward position of finding your two-week-old banana stash puddling in your desk drawer. Or worse— your roommate’s.
In preparation for shocking times as these, I have compiled some quick, semi-dorm-friendly banana recipes to rescue your “stow-away-rotters” and preserve your growing (but fragile) sense of self-reliance.
Bon appétit.
Jill’s Easy Banana Bread
½ cup of shortening
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 ½ cup of mashed bananas (two-ish)
2 cups + 1 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
Cream shortening and sugar; add vanilla, eggs, and mashed bananas. In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients and then gradually add into the banana mixture. Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.
Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
1 cup peanut butter
1 overripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1 cup of oats
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients together and spoon cookie-sized drops onto a parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Once you remove them from the oven, allow them to set for another 10 minutes.
NOTE: The oats are optional. If you choose to leave them out, the cookies will spread, and the setting time will be more critical.
Banana Smoothies
1 peeled, frozen banana
1 cup of milk (I use cashew milk for the nuttiness)
1 cup of frozen peaches or berries or any fruit
1 tsp. vanilla
nutmeg
The key to getting the texture right with this smoothie, without adding yogurt (for all you “lac-tards” out there), is to use frozen fruit. In this case, the soft, rotten bananas in your cupboard won’t work as well, immediately. If you peel and freeze them in a ziplock bag overnight, the next morning they will blend into the desired thickness for your post-run breakfast beverage.