"Who Wants Milkshakes for Breakfast?"

& the Physics of a Frozen Banana

Yes, I asked that question this morning, and NO, I didn't mean this:

Fast Food Does not Equal Good Food

While at the grocery last week I was inspired by an impromptu sale of bananas. It seems like we never have enough fruit in our house and bananas are a favorite that end up running out as soon as they are ripe. Bananas are a good source of fiber, manganese, potassium and vitamin B6. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1846/2

Last week at the grocery, I bought two big bunches and planned to make some yummy banana items this week. This morning, our banana incarnation was Frozen Chai Banana Smoothies, and it all started with freezing four very ripe bananas. 

Organic bananas take awhile to ripen, especially if they were not exposed to ethylene gas the quicken the ripening process, a common practice to get bananas off the trees and to the market quickly. Sometimes from the grocery to a ripened state can take a week or two. Be patient. For this recipe you want your bananas to look like #7 on the chart below. The banana will be much sweeter and it doesn't matter what color it is because its going in a food processor anyway!

Ripe bananas are naturally very sweet on their own

Last night I put four bananas in our freezer. My theory was that when frozen, the banana consistency would still be pliable enough I could wrench the peel off with my bare hands. This morning I discovered that a frozen banana is both rock solid and colder than ice. Because a banana will not melt in your hands like an ice cube will when you hold it, you get a very cold item freezing the feeling out of your hand to the point it feels like it burns. Mistake. If you need frozen bananas, putting them in the freezer, peel and all is a bad idea. I had to microwave the bananas for 90 seconds to soften them enough to pull off the peel but keep them semi frozen for our smoothies. Next time, I'll peel them and cut them into 1 inch sections first, then freeze them for ease. The other make ahead portion of my recipe was to make some chai the night before so I could put it in the fridge and not worry about cooling it quickly in the morning.

Frozen Chai Banana Smoothies

(10 minutes, start to finish if you freeze the bananas and chill the chai overnight)

4 very ripe bananas

1/4 cup whole milk maple yogurt

1/8 cup milk

2 cups strong chai, chilled

1/2 tsp cinnamon

THE NIGHT BEFORE

I took three packets of Oregon Chai Tea Latte Mix and added two cups of hot water, mixed it until dissolved and chilled in my fridge overnight. 

For the bananas, peel and slice four very ripe bananas into one inch section and freeze on parchment or wax paper. Take them out of the freezer a few minutes before you start your smoothies to give them a bit of thaw time.

THE MORNING OF

Put your chilled chai in a food processor and drop in all your bananas. Churn on low until mostly integrated. Stop the food processor and stir with a spoon to check on the banana chunks and redistribute them if they are all clumped together. At that time, add in your yogurt, milk and cinnamon, and blend again until smooth. There were a few small bits of banana in ours, but still it was pretty smooth.

Pour into glasses and serve! This recipe made enough for our family of two adults, one toddler, one preschooler and one kindergartner, so a pretty good distribution in the end for about $1.50 a serving and 2 grams of protein, tons of fiber and calcium per person.