Friday, April 20, 2007

Yes, we have no bananas....

Ah, but we DO have bananas.  When Cliff and I were shopping yesterday, I told him I wanted to "run in" Price Chopper, because when they have very ripe bananas, they put them in bags in a shopping cart, marked 99 cents each; often there's as much as four pounds in a bag.  My granddaughters can eat a lot of bananas, and I love bargains.

The shopping cart was full, and in my excitement, I grabbed four of the fullest bags I could find, realizing it was overkill, but also knowing we're about due for some banana bread.  And the granddaughters can eat a lot of bananas.  Oh yeah, I mentioned that.

These bananas weren't what I'd call over-ripe, but there was a factor I didn't figure in:  Cliff thought we should eat at Fazoli's, so those bananas were in the car with windows rolled up rightly, with sunshine streaming in to heat things up like an oven.

This morning I noticed my just-right bananas were now over-ripe; a couple of them were downright soft.

So I made three loaves of banana-nut bread.  That barely made a dent in the mountain of bananas on the counter.  Then I made a loaf of banana bread with no nuts, for my grandson Arick who hates nuts.  Hmmm, still lots of bananas.  Banana bread freezes well, but I didn't want to get too carried away.

I've had several people tell me you can freeze over-ripe bananas, so I did a Google to check.  I read that you can even freeze them with the peel on!  That would be easy, but I could forsee frozen bananas with peels on being scattered throughout my deep freeze, and kept looking.

What I settled on was this:  Puree the bananas, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for each cup of puree (to keep it from turning brown), and freeze. 

I think it will work.  I froze two bags of puree, each with two cups in it.  I'll probably do at least one more.

Because the granddaughters aren't really in the mood for bananas now. 

I foresee a lot of banana bread in my future.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Donna I have frozen bananas for years.. have frozen them in the peel many times and it works great.. also have done the peeled version.. and when you want bread or muffins they are just super...

Anonymous said...

Worth the extra cooking and effort for a bargain!

Anonymous said...

Please, Please, tell us how to make your Banana Bread.  Vicki

Anonymous said...

Yep.. I see a Banana Bread recipe in your next entry!!  Please????

Hugs
Jackie

Anonymous said...

lol, I got a giggle out of your story.

you had a lot of bananas!

My family loves banana bread.....maybe Ill make some soon, it sounds good.

Anonymous said...

You could have peeled them, wrapped each one in a bit of Sarah wrap and put them in gallon sized freezer bags.  Mashed is good though!
Traci

Anonymous said...

Just love the way you solve problems.  Makes me want to buy overripe bananas just to try the puree.  

Anonymous said...

I ahve done all of the above with babanas

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid my father had an old 78 record with that song on it.  Thanks for the memory!  As for your bananas, lol, glad you found out that you could freeze them.  I'm sure everyone enjoyed that banana bread!
Lori