I'm not sure how it happens but I never seem to eat all of my bananas before they turn brown. My roommate knows this about me and she'll usually rescue them just in time, but yesterday I smelled them when I walked into the kitchen. Overly ripe bananas. They would have to go.

Instead of tossing them out I looked up a few recipes for banana bread and got cooking. I checked out my favorite cooking sites (Epicurious.com and FoodNetwork.com) and found a few banana bread recipes. I picked one that didn't require butter (because I didn't have any in the fridge) and made a few variations to make use of some things I did have on hand. I substituted yogurt for buttermilk, brown sugar for white sugar and threw in a handful of walnuts. The result is a light, moist, golden banana bread (and a much more pleasant smell in my kitchen.)

Of course bananas aren't the only thing lying around about to expire that you could transform into something yummy. A little creativity and a recipe search can rescue some foods that would otherwise be wasted.

And when cooking remember to set aside those egg shells and banana peels for your compost bin (another DIY project).

Banana Walnut Bread

2 large eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 mashed overly ripe bananas
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease and flour loaf pan. Beat eggs and sugar together; mix in bananas, yogurt, oil and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt over mixture. Stir until blended. Stir in walnuts. Bake about one hour, until top is golden brown and tester inserted into the center comes out clean.