Don't throw those bananas away!

So, I was doing my 2nd deep clean of the kitchen for the week and noticed that I had some major brown bananas still sitting in there. Usually, I use leftover bananas to make babyfood, but, in the business of the week, I forgot that they were sitting there. What to do with over ripe bananas? Make banana bread, of course! Here's a recipe that will leave you wanting banana bread every day of the week--no joke, I went to bed every night this week thinking about the bread I'd be enjoying for breakfast.

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas mashed (.40)

1/3 cup of melted butter (.25)

3/4 cup of sugar (.55)

1 egg beaten (.10)

1 teaspoon vanilla (.10)

1 teaspoon baking soda (.05)

Pinch of salt (.03)

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (.30)

**Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*Recipe takes an hour to cook, make sure you have enough time!

Step 1:

Mix mashed bananas with the melted butter. Mix in sugar, baking soda, salt and flour.

Step 2:

Mix wet ingredients together (egg, vanilla) and then throw them on top of your other mixture.

Step 3:

Mix your full mixture together and pour into a bread baking dish. Put it into the oven, set your timer for 1 hour and then enjoy!

Total cost for the bread (which provided breakfast for five full days): $1.78 (which averages to a little more than .28 cents a day)

$5 Saturday Night Dessert: Crepes

Let me preface this post by saying, yes, I did have a baby 6 months ago and while I have lost all of my baby weight, I'm still working on getting back into the shape I was in before I had her. That being said, I have to add that I allow myself a "cheat night" during the week (usually Friday or Saturday night) where I have a good dessert. This really helps me get through the week without cheating any other days because I know I can look forward to a guilt free dessert that one night. Usually cheat night consists of a cookie and milk or some ice cream, but if I ever have a dessert that I feel is worthy to post up here (and yes, my desserts also fit under the $5 limit--but I use it as it's own meal), I will! And this one was, so without further ado: less than $5 crepes!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Pancake mix (.20)

1 Cup Water (free!)

1 Egg (.18)

1 tbs butter (.05)

Toppings:

1/4 pint of strawberries (.74)

1 banana (.23)

A bit of whipped cream (we used about .15 worth)

A bit of chocolate sauce (we used about .10 worth)

Step 1:

Mix pancake mix, water, egg and butter together (I used my kitchen aide for this, it blends them together much better and gives you a thinner batter). Stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Step 2:

Grease a 7" skillet and put it on medium heat on the stove. Pour three tablespoons of the batter into the skillet and move the skillet around so it coats the bottom of it. Let it cook until the bottom of the crepe is a tan color (don't worry about flipping it, you want the top to be light). Take it off the skillet.

Step 3:

Now, depending on how you like your crepe (for example, I like mine warm when I eat them but hubby likes them cool), either throw your toppings on right away or wait until it's cooled a bit and then top it.

Step 4:

ENJOY!!! :)

Total cost of dessert: $1.65 (yes, it's THAT cheap!)