I'm Chiquita Banana and I'm here to say

That's right, I'm a Chiquita Mom, sorry no Carmen Miranda style hat though. Ever since my kiddos started on solids bananas have always been a favorite. They still to this day split one every morning, although right now Aaron is on a serious banana kick and eats at least 2 a day. I firmly believe this love of bananas comes from my eating a ton when I was pregnant with them. Being a Chiquita Mom definitely brings some perks, like receiving a Chiquita Mom kit which includes bibs, feeding tools, freezer bags, a reusable grocery tote, recipes cards and a coupon for free bananas.

Bananas are somewhat of a powerhouse in the nutrition department. They are full of three kinds of natural sugar: glucose, fructose and sucrose as well as a significant amount of fiber. They also have manganese and Vitamins A, C, E and K which help give you that energy boost you need in the morning, during the 3 o'clock slump, or before you work out. And, as we all know, bananas are full of potassium which plays an essential role in metabolic and body functions like building muscles, absorbing calcium and maintaining blood pressure.

Bananas are pretty easy to mix into foods as well. We all know about banana nut bread (soooo yummy) and chocolate covered bananas (equally delicious), but have you had banana pancakes? These are a favorite in my house, but they rarely are made because I usually don't have enough bananas left (we go through at least 2 bunches a week). I did learn that you can freeze bananas for up to two months, so I think I'm going to start buying extra and freeze them for these recipes. Ok, back to the banana pancakes. I originally got the recipe from The Sneaky Chef, but I've tweaked it a little and took out the orange puree because I never seem to have it when I make this.

Here's what you need:

• 2 large bananas, mashed, should come out to about 1 cup
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/4 cup milk (possibly more since I took out puree)
• 1/2 cup of The Sneaky Chef Flour Blend
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

What to do:

• In a medium size bowl mix together the banana, egg, maple syrup and milk
• In another bowl mix together the flour blend, baking powder, and salt
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until just blended
• Prepare on griddle, or if you are cool like me, put in the snackmaster
• Serve with some warm maple syrup if you are brave

My kids gobble these up and I love that they are getting a great boost to their morning. This is just one of the many recipes you can make with bananas. You can find all of those on Chiquita's website as well as more information on health, nutrition and all about their bananas.

At the end of the month I'm going to be posting another recipe over at Multiples and More. I'm definitely having a hard time narrowing down what I want to make, so maybe I'll post a few more over here too.

As an added perk, Chiquita is offering to 2 lucky Twice the Love readers a Chiquita Mom kit like the one I received. For a required entry head over to Chiquita's site and tell me what recipe you'd love to try with your kids. This giveaway will close at 9pm EST on Monday, January 10th.

For additional entries (leave separate comments for each entry):

• Follow Twice the Love...Half the Sleep
  
• Like Chiquita Bananas on Facebook
• Like Twice the Love...Half the Sleep on Facebook
• Follow Chiquita Chatter on Twitter
• Tweet about this giveaway, you can tweet once a day until the giveaway ends (be sure to include @chiquitachatter and @amandanethero in your tweet)
  

The winners will be chosen using Random.org and announced on Tuesday, January 11th.

Thank you again to my friends at Chiquita for giving me all of this information and recipes to use!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the product mentioned above for free for review purposes from Chiquita Bananas/Empower MediaMarketing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."