Banana Cream Pie

This past weekend the company I work for Music Lessons Express hosted its first songwriting workshop for kids. The event was sponsored by favorite grocery store, EarthFare, and the kids got snacks of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies (the BEST) and bananas. Well, kids being kids enjoyed the snacks, but didn't finish off all the bananas. In their defense, there were a lot of bananas; I think EarthFare was overstocked on bananas this weekend because that's what the Saturday morning text coupon was for too. So after Will went out and got bananas at EarthFare for me, I showed up at home with about eight more bananas. This wouldn't have been a huge problem except there's one catch--Will doesn't really like bananas all that much. He'll eat them, but certainly was not up for tackling a dozen bananas with me in the next couple days. I managed to drag him to a Yin yoga class tonight, but a dozen bananas are where he draws the line.

So we brainstormed what to do with so many bananas. And the first thing that popped in my head was a banana cream pie. We've also perhaps got smoothies, banana splits, and/or banana bread on the docket for later in the week. However, a banana cream pie was an easy way to knock a few bananas off the top! I scrounged up a recipe my mom had given me out of our ginormous recipe binder and Will specifically requested that it include Nilla wafers. After yoga, we swung by the grocery store, grabbed our ready made pie crust (the shame!), cream cheese and Nilla wafers. The best part about preparing this? Will had gotten sweetened condensed milk as a buy one get one Saturday for another recipe, so we didn't need to pick any up!

Here it is folks: your old fashioned banana cream pie! As a true Southern gal would say, "it's just divine!"

Banana Cream Pie
9-inch graham cracker pie crust
8 oz. softened cream cheese (or buy "Whipped" cream cheese and skip the first step)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice (although this was a little too much for our liking)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 ripe bananas 
Nilla wafers

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually stir in sweetened condensed milk until thoroughly blended. Stir in 1/3 cup lemon juice and vanilla. Slice bananas--line crust with slices. Turn filling into crust. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Garnish top of pie with Nilla wafers or more banana slices. Enjoy (cat not included)!