July 30th...Snacks: Healthy Banana chips!

So I'm looking in my fruit bowl at my over ripe collection of bananas and wondering what to do with them all?  Then I remembered that I ask the my clients in the gym to send me some of their favorite snack ideas.  Rebecca had brought in these homemade banana chips and they were sooo good!  So here's my first attempt at Banana chips!  But first I'm going to tell you HOW bananas chips CAN BE a healthy snack...bananas are a great source of potassium and fiber.  Why is this good for me?  Potassium, is a simple mineral with a crucial job: helping your heart beat.  A hundred thousand times a day, potassium helps trigger your heart to squeeze blood through your body.  Potassium is a critical electrolyte  which allows our muscles to move, our nerves to fire and our kidneys to filter blood.  Fiber, I could go on and on about how great fiber is for you, but all you have to know is that it keeps you having regular poops!  Good enough reason for me!  

  

 All you need is lemon juice and bananas!  Be careful, many store bought banana chips are deep fried and covered in sugar!  READ YOUR LABELS!

 Peel and dice bananas up into thin pieces, quickly toss them in lemon juice.  The picture shows 3 bananas but I ended up using 4...

Then place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Set oven to about 200-225 degrees  depending on your oven.  Bake for 1 hour and 45 mins.  I thought I'd be creative and sprinkle some of the banana chips with Cinnamon and Mango-Curry seasoning, just to mix things up a bit...

OK so here I am 2 hours and 10 mins. later. I turned up the oven to 225 degrees after 1 hour and 45 mins.  I've had some samples to test the crispiness of the chips and I have to say YUM...but this is crazy!  Good thing I have stuff to do around the house today, because these chips are taking way too long for my liking.  In the picture above I've decided to flip the chips over and put them on a new sheet of parchment paper.  In hindsight, maybe brushing on lemon juice lightly, would have been better than a quick toss in the juice...maybe I made them too wet that is why they're taking so long!

And here you go!  OK, OK they were worth the wait...just barely.  The mango-curry is pretty awesome tasting.  JUST REMEMBER to not eat the whole pan...about 20 chips is equal to one banana, 80 calories.  These would be great added to some Greek yogurt!