Banana Cereal Pops
The storms this past week in Minnesota were disastrous. Thousands of people went days without power. Days! We’ve all lost electricity but going five days without something that we rely so heavily on is a different story. Trees falling on houses, cars…
Just imagine – no air conditioning, complete darkness, no appliances, hopefully you have a hot water tank; otherwise some were without hot water, no stove, no microwave, no t.v….air conditioning, and most people lost a lot, if not all, of their perishable foods.
No melting Candiquik or making these delicious banana pops rolled in strawberry-cornflake cereal. Okay, okay…you might live without them.
I was lucky enough to be one of the few that actually had power throughout the weekend. Let’s just say, I would have been one crabby individual come Monday morning otherwise.
I found this link on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s site that offers tips for handling foods following a power outage; always a good resource to keep on hand, just in the case this happens to you.
Here are some of the main tips:
Foods in the refrigerator should be safe as long as the power was out for less than 4 hours. Keep the door closed as much as possible to keep the cold air inside.
Discard any perishable food (such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs or leftovers) that has been above 40° F for two hours or more. I can’t imagine having to throw out my freezer full of food!
If you’re not sure of the temperature of the food in the freezer, here is a good way to tell if it is still safe: if the food still contains ice crystals, it is safe to refreeze or cook.
Have a thermometer to use for your refrigerator/freezer.
Keep a few (or more!) days’ worth of ready-to-eat foods that do not require cooking or cooling. And again, when the power goes out keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible.
Have a couple large coolers that you can transfer any perishable foods into should this occur.
A generator never hurts! I know Home Depot was selling out of them this past week!
And a couple ways to ensure you are prepared for a power outage:
The only THREE ingredients you will need for these:
1 package Vanilla Candiquik coating
Special K Red Berries cereal, crushed
6 Bananas
Directions:
1. Peel and cut bananas into 4-5″ pieces. Press each banana piece onto a popsicle stick (or lollipop stick/skewer/etc.) and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
2. Melt Candiquik in tray according to package directions. Oh yeah, did I mention you won’t have to clean ANY dishes? Just throw the tray out when you are done.
3. Holding the banana pop, dip directly into the tray of Vanilla Candiquik and use a spoon to completely cover the banana. Immediately roll the banana pop in the crushed cereal. Place on wax paper.
Done and done.
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