ECO-BAKING: Banana Bread and Beyond

I buy bananas every week, but sometimes I don't eat them before they get brown, over ripe and unappealing.

Of course, you can always compost them. I know you compost the peels.

Ask yourself before you compost, is there something you can cook or bake. The best way to reduce food waste is to not to waste it!

Here are a few of my favorite food salvage recipes.

Coconut & Dark Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 ¹/₂ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 overripe bananas, mashed
• 1 stick butter
• ³/₄ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ¹/₄ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ¹/₄ cup shredded coconut
• ¹/₂ cup dark chocolate chips, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of one 5x10 loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sea salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a small mixer bowl, add the butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the mashed bananas, vanilla extract, oatmeal, coconut, and dark chocolate chips. Add the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Bake for 1 hour.
4. For the butter: in a small mixer bowl, add the butter, scraped vanilla beans, vanilla extract and honey. Beat until the butter is smooth and creamy and all the ingredients are well incorporated.

A few things you might not know about food waste

1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year. A European or North American consumer wastes almost 100 kilograms of food annually, which is more than his or her weight (70 kilograms). Food waste generates 3.3 billions tons of carbon dioxide, which accelerates global climate change.

With trash, we talk about "reduce, reuse, recycle". If we use the same concept with food, reducing would be to buy less. Do that. Recycling would be composting. Do that too. 

Get creative in the kitchen and "reuse" your food. (Only if the food is not rotten or rancid.)

Basic and Easy Options to "Reuse" Food:

• Vegetables and Herbs > Soup
• Bones and Carcasses > Broth
• Vegetables and Meat > Stir Fry
• Bread and Pastries > Bread Pudding
• Bread > Croutons
• Vegetables and Meat > Fried Rice