Vegetarians in Paradise/Aunt Nettie/Using Overripe Bananas/Cooking Tips

We're delighted to share our Aunt Nettie with you. She's agreed to answer any questions you might ask about food, its preparation, and even clean-up tips. But we have to prepare you. She just might want to come right over to your house and help you fix dinner.

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Richard in Culver City, California, sent Aunt Nettie an SOS desperately seeking advice about what to do with a whole bunch of bananas that were becoming more speckled by the minute. Here's her advice:

Well, Richard, I'm gonna take the worry outa yer day in the wink of an eye. There's lotsa things you can do with bananas that are goin' over. I've seen more ole bananas dumped inta the trash, an' it jes breaks my heart. There's plenty a life still left in them bananas. Banana

First, ya can peel 'em 'n mash 'em to use in a quick banana bread 'er even a corn bread recipe. Mashed bananas over pancakes are mighty good tastin' and ya save some on the calories, too. One of my favorite things to do with mashed bananas is to put a big heap on top my oatmeal or other cooked cereal in the mornin'.

Second, ya can peel 'em, cut 'em inta chunks about 1" long, and put 'em inta the blender with some soy milk, dates, raisins, and a little cinnamon. A tasty shake like that can git yer engine runnin' in the mornin' without a lota fussin'.

Third, peel 'em 'n cut 'em inta chunks about 1" long. Put 'em on a plastic or metal dish, and put 'em into the freezer. Then, when ya feel like ya jes can't do without dessert, pull 'em outa the freezer and put 'em inta the blender with some soft 'r firm silken tofu. Add some maple syrup, vanilla, and a tad a cinnamon. There, now ya got a fancy parfait!

If You Haven't Met Aunt Nettie. . .

Our Aunt Nettie has a head like a hard disk. It's filled with megabytes of information about food and cooking. And she's just itchin' to share her learnin' with city folk who live in mortal fear of the stovetop.

Aunt Nettie grew up on the farm. She did not eat out of a can or reach into the freezer. There was no microwave to pop her food into. Everything she made was from scratch. All the food she ate was natural, without pesticides. It was grown right there on the family farm, and she had to cook to survive. At eighty-three years young she still leaps and bounds around the kitchen and can shake, rattle, and roll those pots and pans with the best of them.

Nowadays, Aunt Nettie just shakes her head and complains, "Nobody cooks anymore. They have no idea about puttin' a meal together." She's on a mission. She wants to help those younguns eat better so they can grow up healthy like her own eight kids.

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