Bananas have a way of spoiling too fast for many families, especially for families that don’t really care for them much.  When they ripen they generally cause fruit flies or sometimes they are referred to as nats.   

Is there a solution for this disgusting problem?  You can always buy less and buy more often.  That works well.  If you find that bananas are plentiful and need counter time to ripen, consider yourself lucky.  

Families that eat few bananas may keep them refrigerated.  That will delay ripening and helps to control fruit flies.  Also once you peel a banana you may freeze the peel until you choose to take out the garbage.  Freezing items you plan to discard also works for a number of other items.  

You can always use the overripe bananas for banana bread and if they are just right they are great in Jell-O based fruit salads.  Using bananas is a great way to get in another fruit serving.  A Jell-O fruit salad will provide that finishing touch for the family dinner and generally there will be enough for additional meals.  This can really help the cook with meal planning.

I’ll share one of my favorite recipes for this time of year because it is so festively colorful, good, keeps well if the family or guests are not overly indulgent.  Not that I want to limit anyone’s serving size.

Strawberry Jello Salad -             

2 - 3 oz pkg. Strawberry Jello       
2 small bananas (mashed)
2 C boiling water            
8 oz. Sour cream (room temperature)
1 - 10 oz box frozen strawberries; thawed
½ C Pecans or Walnuts (optional)
1 small can Crushed Pineapple with juice

Mix together jello & water.  Cool.  As it begins to gel; add strawberries; pineapple; bananas; & pecans (or walnuts) and mix together.  Put ½ into a 1 ½ qt. dish.  Spoon on sour cream when jello is  firm.  Then pour remaining jello mixture on top.

                                    
If you choose to use equal jello this gets a bit tricky.  I usually use
3  lrg pkgs. of  EQUAL jello and only 1 ½ C boiling water to dissolve and add 1 C ice water then let sit to gel.  This is the tricky part.  It may take up to 1 hr to gel.  But you can’t let it jell before you add the fruit or it never holds firm.  Even if it doesn’t jell; it is good as a desert in a parfait dish.

Double all the fruit & nuts if you use the 3 lrg pkgs. of jello.