Save Your Leftovers For These Delicious Recipes

If you're anything like my fiancé and me, grocery shopping for two can pose a problem. Certain items, like soy milk, oatmeal, and the ever-tempting potato chips that we probably shouldn't buy, are eaten up right away. Other foods like bread and lunch meat, and even my favorite fruit, bananas, fall by the wayside, going bad before our two person eating brigade can finish them.

While there's not much you can do with leftover lunch meat, there are ways to salvage foods that are on the cusp of going bad. For stale bread and mushy, overripe bananas, the possibilities are endless! Carla Emery offers several recipes to rescue your bananas and bread before they spoil. The two creations below sound particularly delectable. Enjoy!

Banana Bread Cream 1⁄2 c. butter and 3⁄4 c. honey in a bowl. Stir in 2 eggs, 1⁄2 t. salt, and 1 t. vanilla. Sift 1 t. soda with 2 c. flour. Add to creamed mix. Add 3 mashed bananas and 1⁄2 c. chopped nuts. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 300˚F for 1 hour, or until done.

Bread Pudding Soak 1 1⁄2 c. chunked, dried bread in 2c. milk (if your bread is fresh, toast it in the oven before making this). Add 1 T. sugar, 1 T. melted butter, 2 lightly beaten eggs, and 1 t. vanilla. Put into a buttered ovenproof dish. Set dish in a pan of hot water. Bake at 325˚F about 30 minutes. Test by inserting knife. If the knife comes out clean, your pudding is done.

Serve hot or cold with rich cream, berries, or a pudding sauce.