We’ve all been there. You’ve got too many bananas, mashed potatoes, eggs or zucchini, and the excess is threatening to rot in your kitchen. While some families are used to a week of turkey after Thanksgiving, they might not appreciate a week of scrambled eggs. Often, the food can be frozen and used later, but it’s wise to have a few ideas for backup meals so you don’t waste food and money.

BANANAS: Once these are overripe, you won’t want to eat them plain. Some people freeze them, but they tend to discolor and get mushy. A little lemon juice can help. You can freeze them with the peels still on, but you’ll have to thaw them before peeling. Many people prefer using them right away. Try making muffins, bread, smoothies, pancakes, cookies, pudding, frosting, cakes or simply spread it on sandwiches with peanut butter.

BANANA FROSTING

2 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup butter
3-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix together bananas and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, beat butter until soft and creamy. Gradually and alternately add powdered sugar and banana mixture to butter and beat until fluffy. — submitted by Kim S., Nebraska

MASHED POTATOES: Who hasn’t made too much mashed potatoes? You can freeze them and add them to soups as a thickener. You might not like the texture of mashed potatoes once it has been frozen. Try adding 1 egg for every 2 cups of potatoes for better results. You can make potato patties by adding an egg, shaping into patties, dredging in flour and frying them, or roll them in cornflakes, cut into small sections and fry for mock tater tots.

ZUCCHINI: This freezes well shredded or sliced. Great grilled, in casseroles, breaded and fried, or use in quick breads, muffins and cookies. Grate them and add them to your ground turkey when you make turkey burgers. It’s wonderful in scrambled eggs and dessert, too.

Zucchini Cobbler

8 cups chopped, seeded, peeled zucchini (about 3 pounds)
2/3 cups lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crust:
3 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1-1/2 cups cold butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large saucepan, cook and stir zucchini and lemon juice for 15 minutes on medium heat. Stir in sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Let simmer for a minute. Remove from heat. For crust, combine flour, oats and sugars in a bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Stir 1/2 cup into zucchini mixture. Press half of remaining crust mixture into a greased 9-by-9-by-1-1/2-inch pan. Spread zucchini mixture over top; crumble remaining crust mixture over zucchini. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake at 375 F for 35 minutes or until golden.

EGGS: They can be frozen by combining 2 cups eggs to 1 teaspoon salt and later used for scrambled eggs. You can also hard-boil and make egg-salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, stuffed tomatoes or use as a salad topping. Use them up in pound cake, quiche, angel-food cake, meringue, puddings and French toast.

我們經常這樣，弄到太多的香蕉，土豆泥，雞蛋，夏天結的南瓜，而且過量的食物會弄臟你的廚房。盡管有些家庭能吃放了一周的火雞，但是可能無法接受一周的雞蛋餅。通常，食物可以凍起來，但是想辦法貯藏食物還是很不錯的，這樣你就不會浪費食物和金錢了。

香蕉：一旦有很多壞了，你就不會簡單想去吃了。有些人把它凍起來，但是它們會趨于褪色和變軟。加點檸檬汁會有幫助。你可以連皮一起凍上，但是吃之前你還得先解凍。很多人想吃得方便，那就把它做成松餅，面包，果凍，薄烤餅，餅干，布丁，干粉，蛋糕，或者吃三明治時連同花生醬一起抹上。

凍起來的香蕉

2熟透的大香蕉，做成泥
1 / 2茶匙檸檬汁
1 / 4杯牛油
3-1/2杯粉狀糖

將香蕉和檸檬摻到一起，準備一個碗，將泥打至柔軟和奶油狀。依次交替加入白糖和香蕉粉，并將它們打成蓬松狀---kim s,nebraka提供

爛土豆：誰沒有做過一大碗土豆泥？你可以將它們凍起來，在喝湯的時候加點調成粥。但是你可能不喜歡凍過的土豆泥里的纖維。試試在2杯土豆里加1個雞蛋，你可以這樣處理土豆泥，把它做成餡，包上面粉，然后弄干它們，或者用玉米片包起來，然后切成段，做成類似tater tots的食物。

綠皮胡瓜：將凍好的弄碎，或切薄片，在焙盤上炙烤，烘烤，并且烘干。在你吃漢堡時，將其磨碎并且將它們加到火雞表面上。加在雞蛋餅和點上更好。

胡瓜派
8杯切碎的，熟到結種的，去皮在、的，胡瓜（約3磅）
2 / 3杯檸檬汁
1杯糖
1茶匙肉桂墊底
1 / 4茶匙豆蔻墊底
外殼：
3杯面粉
1杯燕麥
1杯紅糖
1杯白糖
1-1/2杯冷奶油
1茶匙地面褐土
1 / 4茶匙豆蔻

將胡瓜和檸檬，先在微波爐里375F下預熱，放在大燉鍋，中火，15分鐘內烹制和攪拌。將糖，肉桂和肉豆蔻，攪拌，煨一分鐘。對于外面的料，在碗里將面粉，麥片，還有糖摻合一起，拌上黃油，直到混合成類似面包屑的樣子。將1/2杯加到胡瓜漿，將剩下的外面的料壓到寬9寸長9寸厚1-1/2寸的平底鍋里。將胡瓜料上涂到上面，弄碎剩下的外面的料，也加到胡瓜料上。散些檸檬和肉豆蔻上。在375F下烤35分鐘直到變成金黃色

雞蛋：2杯雞蛋里加一勺鹽，凍起來，隨后用于做雞蛋餅。你也可以煮，用來做雞蛋色拉三明治，在上面加些打碎的雞蛋和西紅柿。
做成大蛋糕，松蛋餅，天使蛋糕，蛋糖，布丁，還有法國土司