Yes, We Have No Bananas!

I went to the store yesterday to pick up some things. My two stores of choice are Costco (Hello, my name is Michelle and I'm a Costcoaholic) and Caputo's, which is a fresh market store near me. Essentially, that means that they sell things I eat much cheaper than Dominick's or Jewel.

I look at the flyer for Dominick's, and they're selling avocados 2 for $3. And strawberries are on sale for $3.99 per pound. Romaine hearts are on sale for $1.39 per pound. Oooo, and tangerines are on sale for only $1.29 per pound.

Then I check out Caputo's. Avocados are $0.59 each. Strawberries? $1.79 for a one pound container. Hmm. Romaine? Three organic hearts for $1.39 (way more than a pound there). Tangerines are also on sale. How much, you ask? Why they're $0.49 per pound.

The list goes on and on. I do head to Dominick's periodically to pick up things like yeast and pasta, as they aren't always cheaper at Caputo's, but that's really about it. I feel ripped off every time I walk into Dominick's ever since I met Captuo's.

Back to my point -- and I promise, I did have one. I picked up the items I needed at Caputo's -- some grapes for $0.89 per pound. Their yummy potato gnocchi for $0.99 per container. Tomatoes for $0.49 per pound. The aforementioned romaine hearts and avocados. And I made a mental note to come back to pick up a few more things before the Super Bowl party I'm hosting.

I paid for my items and started to walk out the store. A store employee rushes by me to help an older gentleman with a bag and bring it to him. I step aside to let him through. When he comes back the other way, he excuses himself, and I turn to watch. He's rushing back with a second bag. I sorta wondered what was so fragile and/or heavy in the bag that he couldn't hand the older gentleman both bags at once, but whatever.

Again, the employee excuses himself. No problem, I say. Then I realize that he's handing the bag to me. Umm, what? Please take this bag of bananas as our way of thanking you for shopping at Caputo's. Oh. Now it makes more sense. I thank him profusely and walk out the store.

Then I notice that the bag really is pretty heavy. So I check it out. It is full of bananas. There are eight bunches of bananas. Fifty-three bananas. I counted after I got home. There are four people in my house, and one of the four of us doesn't like bananas after they've turned yellow (guilty -- I only like bananas when they're mostly green and before they start to get sweet).

Seriously, check out the massive stockpile of bananas -- and this is after my mom took the largest bunch home with her and the wee ones each ate four bananas and my husband ate a few.



I still have twenty-seven bananas sitting here. What do you do with that many? The wee ones will be on a banana kick for only so long. And my banana recipe doubled to make two loaves only calls for, at most, four bananas.

I'm digging through my recipes to find something else to make. Lots of something elses to make. Little Miss's half birthday is on Sunday. We'll be having dairy free banana cupcakes. I'm making banana bread. My uncle has a really great banana brownie thing with cream cheese frosting that I think I can duplicate. I'm going to have to find the banana mousse recipe I'd mentioned awhile ago and haven't made since. I think I'm still going to have bananas left after that.

I don't really want to freeze this many bananas. It would be nice to be able to put something else in my freezer besides these prolific yellow treats. And the wee ones no longer think mashed up bananas spread on toast is such a special treat, so that idea is out.

Help! Save me from drowning in bananas. What else can I make?



PS Yes, I will be posting a banana recipe on this week's Tasty Tuesday. Let me know if you have a preference, and I'll try to accomodate.

PPS The title is one of my grandfather's favorite songs ever. It turned up on a CD someone made for a one year old's birthday party, and the wee ones immediately started singing it when they saw our bounty. I love kids' songs that don't make me want to poke my eyes out with toothpicks.



It's not quite the right version, but this was the closest I could find to "our" song.