Go Bananas!

Bananas are one of Ireland's biggest food waste offenders. We love alchemising them into chocolatey treats, a speedy sesame breakfast, and Brazilian bean bowls

Hello squadron!

Welcome to another session fabulising food waste. I have a blackened banana bonanza this week. We now know that approximately 61% of food waste comes from households like mine and yours. And not from supermarkets or service industry. Astonishing, right? But get this - food waste now accounts for more emissions than the airline industry. Yes, food is the problem. But it's also the fix.

This is not about penury my friends. It's about mindfulness. Food waste rots our planet and our attitude (that’s why

The Editors

call it Resource Waste). It's a lose-lose situation. I really don't want to be that person tossing away resources that have already contributed to carbon emissions. Let's begin with spotty bananas, and end with a feast!

I was tempted to offer a new-age banana bread recipe today, but it’s just too hard to better this one. Buckwheat flour and bananas go criminally well together, especially when a few chunks of dark chocolate are speckled into the mix. So be sure to try the recipe out, and send me some telepathic fist bumps.

Instead, first up today, we have criminally tasty snacks made from nut butter and frozen creamy banana. Bonkers easy. Use your favourite nutbutter (I’m obsessed with Nobo, made around the corner from me but available nationwide via online orders) and make an extra big batch. Flaky sea salt brings it to celestial status.

Next up? The 15-minute Brazilian bean bowl. Each spoonful is like a dance-off for your plumbing (thank you Short Chain Fatty Acids!) It’s a handy midweek recipe to pepper on top of rice bowls with added kimchi for example, or simple soft boiled eggs. I have a variation of this at least once a week. Easy meals, such as this one, help to serenade my adrenal glands when the chaos dials up.

And then we're finishing with a 5-second speedy breakfast. It’s a middle-eastern childhood fave, using tahini, sea salt, walnuts and blackened bananas. Vroom vroom!

If you want to make an excellent plant fertiliser pumped with potassium (K), pop your banana peels in an outdoor bucket of water for a few days. Want to learn more about the science? Here's a short link to get you grooving. Oh, and how could I forget? Cuan Greene of

Ómós

recommends this banana peel caramel with added rum. Sounds like a genius way to use up organic banana skins. Let me know if you try it!

What’s your favourite way of using up blackening bananas? Do tell …

Until next week!

Love, light and monkey money,

Susan Jane