In all my years of dumpster diving, I’ve never been in a market quite as reliable as Grand Rapids. As a result, I always seem to have an odd abundance of usable dumpster-rescued food items that need to be eaten. As the diver never knows what treats lie in store each night, the contents of the magical mystery pantry often require creative thinking in order to prepare novel and tasty food dishes.

In this episode of Dumpster Kitchen, I tried to solve the problem of 120 corn tortillas and a bunch of (slightly bruised) organic bananas. A sweet breakfast treat seemed on hand…

Ty’s Creamy Banana Breakfast Tacos

Ingredient List:

• Oil
• Bananas*
• Milk
• Honey
• Cinnamon
• Almonds
• Corn Tortillas*

*Denotes dumpster-dived ingredients

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Step 1:

In a small skillet, pour enough oil to coat the bottom and turn to medium heat. Slice up the bananas into 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices and place in heated oil (I used vegetable oil). One small banana will fill one 6″ tortilla.

Step 2:

Continue to cook the banana slices for a few minutes until they start to emit a sweet buttery smell. Flip the slices over and continue cooking the other side for a few additional minutes. Less-ripe sections of the banana will remain firm, while the bruised sections become squashy–don’t be alarmed, this just adds to the texture of the dish as a whole.

Step 3:

Add milk, honey, and cinnamon to the frying pan. With the skillet still on medium heat, add enough milk to form a shallow layer across the bottom of the pan. Drizzle in one spoonful of honey (as a sweetener–though the bananas naturally become sweeter as they are fried). Sprinkle in some cinnamon for spice. Heat the milk and continuing stirring until the milky mixture is reduced to the consistency of pancake batter.

*Note: substituting yogurt for milk eliminates the reduction process, but I used milk here because it is a frequent dumpster find.

Step 4:

Add in the coarsely chopped almonds (for both taste and texture). The resulting mixture now looks and tastes like banana muffin batter

Step 5:

Spoon a generous amount of the banana mixture onto a 6″ corn tortilla. The resulting breakfast tacos are a sweet morning treat. Serve with a slice of dumpster-dived orange.