Last week my grocery store had flyers that there was going to be a sale on organic Bananas from Friday to Saturday. For 28 cents per pound! Now if you’re not a banana obsessed human being like me, you don’t know that that is basically half the price of normal bananas. And for someone who goes through a hefty amount of bananas in a week, this is a gift!

I basically held my family under house arrest and wouldn’t allow them to buy any bananas at all. Even thought we had absolutely zero bananas in the house.

But who’s laughing now when we only paid 11 dollars for 40 pounds of bananas!

Now I would never usually compare grocery shopping to a battle to the death but… 28 cent bananas basically turns the grocery store into a scene from a black Friday shopping trip. Initially, I was filling up my cart with bananas individually. But then, an angel descended from above in the form of a worker, bless his soul, and he offered me some cases. He said they weren’t supposed to because they were definitely going to run out of bananas before Saturday. But I made him laugh with how I had loaded my cart and viola!

I completely filled my car with bananas and I am pretty sure my seats have the smell permanently imbedded in them. When I got home, it was only logical that I do the same to my kitchen tabletops. It honestly looked ridiculous. There was no room for anything but bananas. Much to the joy of everyone in my family.

Eventually I moved them down to the basement so that they were no longer taking over our lives. But now every time you open the basement door a waft of bananas comes drifting up the stairs and hits you in the face. I really enjoy the smell, but apparently, it makes my sister think that we have a pet monkey in the house.

Since the humidity is high and they are all bunched together the bananas have made the collective decision to ripen. At the same time. Never before have I had to freeze and with bananas like a mad woman. There is a first time for everything.

Fair warning: there is a hoard of banana recipes are just waiting in the wings.

That being said, I didn’t want to simply stick to my banana bread recipe because that would be just too much banana bread for anyone, even me. So I changed up breakfast this week and combined a few of the usual suspects to make some soft and delicious energy bars.

Like their counterpart, the energy balls or bites, this recipe has many of the same ingredients.

Almonds
Dried Cranberries
Walnuts
Oats
Pepitas
Maple Syrup
Pecans
Pistachios

I may have been a little over zealous with the add-ins I decided to use, but with bananas as a base, you really can’t go wrong. I essentially started grabbing out ingredients that I usually use in trail mixes and it may have expanded from their until every nut I had on hand ended up in the bars.

Even with this plethora, the nuts do not overpower the taste of bananas or cranberries. I also promise that you will not be constantly hitting hard nuts as you eat these. The heat and the moisture in the bars soften up the nuts to only leave soft mouthwatering goodness.

 
I thought I would be able to sneak this recipe by my family and have it all to myself.

Big mistake. BIG. Huge.

Not only did my family discover the bars, but they have almost devoured the entire pan. I should be happy that they are loving this recipe, even my mom who is not a breakfast person. That just means I will be able to make this more frequently and not have to worry about whether or not it will be eaten.

If you would like to change up the nuts or dried fruits you use in this recipe, make sure that you keep to the 1 1/2-1 3/4 cup of the mixture. This will keep your bars from becoming too nutty and not only lose its soft texture but also may cause the bars to fall apart.

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