Chanana Balls (Cheese-Banana Balls). You heard me.

Really more blobular than ball-like, this is the culinary creation of my 7-year-old daughter Madeline. She announced one morning that she had an idea for a recipe and wanted to make it into a blog post. Not wanting to be a dream squasher, I said okay, braced myself and hoped for the best. Actually, I really just hoped for not gross (since I knew I'd be required to taste this concoction). I didn't get really nervous until I saw her reach for a banana and put it down next to the cheddar cheese. But it wasn't as nasty as it sounds. And that's all I'm going to say about it (she's seven, she can read).

CHANANA BALLS

 Yield: 6 blobules

1 banana, peeled

1 7-year-old size fistful of shredded cheddar cheese

1 slice american cheese, ripped into pieces

pinch of salt

1.      Have your mom preheat the oven to 375º F.

2.      Have your mom slice the banana in half lengthwise and then thinly slice into half circles.

3.      Mash everything together in a bowl.

4.      Try to eat the salt directly out of the salt bowl until your mom tells you for the fiftieth time not to eat salt and puts it away. Glare at her.

5.      Mold banana abomination mixture into 6 “balls” and place them on a sheetpan.

6.      Have your mom put them in the oven. Bake until the cheese starts to melt, about 5-7 minutes.

7.      Let cool for a few minutes. Eat immediately, before the banana starts to turn grayish-brown (you wouldn’t want them to look unappetizing). 

Copyright © by Madeline Cleland. No rights reserved.

raw chanana balls

raw chanana ball up close

baked chanana balls

Covered in dinosaur tattoos and sporting an mp3 player & headphones,
our young chef couldn't be more proud (or fearless, if you ask me).

She's really doing it.

The first taste of the first ever chanana
ball (I'm just assuming here).

thumbs up

Actually, she loved them so much that she made a second
batch a few days later. And I would like to point out that I
ate one from the second batch too, which I believe gives me
another check in the good mother column (I need those to counter
balance the all those checks I racked up in the insanely-irritable-
sleep-deprived-bitch column when she was younger).

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