Over the weekend, I acquired an abundance of bananas and as soon these bananas came into my possession I started thinking of ways to use them in recipes.

Of course, the first thing that came to mind was banana cream pie, but I have yet to perfect a recipe for that. Then I thought, well, all these bananas will save me a trip to the market for the banana and berry smoothies I make for me and Aaron just about every morning.

But I needed to figure out another use because one can only consume so many bananas before you feel like you should be making monkey sounds.

So I came up with this week's recipe, a quick and easy dessert that requires almost no bake time. Actually, the only part of this dessert that needs to go in the oven (for a very short time) is the crust.

You only need a small bunch of this yummy, vitamin-rich fruit along with just a few other ingredients to make this creamy dessert. And putting it together is so simple yet with delicious results you'll be quick to offer to bring dessert the next time you're invited to a friend's home for dinner. Enjoy!

Banana & Pudding Casserole

10 whole graham crackers

10 creme filled cookies (such as Oreos)

12 Nilla wafers cookies

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), melted

1 6-ounce package of your favorite flavor of instant pudding (recommend chocolate) - prepared according to package instructions

4 large bananas, peeled and sliced thin

3 cups of freshly whipped (lightly sweetened) cream or 8-ounce container of whipped topping (Cool Whip) thawed

Fresh berries for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

While oven is heating, place crackers, cookies and wafer cookies in a gallon food storage bag. Before sealing try to release all the air from the bag, then lay flat on a cutting board and crush crackers and cookies with the flat side of a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. Do this until contents are crumbed and well combined. Transfer to an 8-by-12-inch casserole dish and evenly pour melted butter over crumbs. Stir well with a spoon then use the back of the spoon to evenly flatten out crumbs to form a crust on the bottom of the dish. Place in preheated oven for 6 minutes. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before adding other ingredients to the crust.

Once crust is cooled, add prepared pudding and spread evenly in the dish. Now add sliced bananas evenly over pudding spread whipped cream and over fresh bananas, making sure they are well covered. This will keep them from browning. Place in the refrigerator and let set for at least 1 hour. When serving just use a large serving spoon to spoon out desired amount and garnish with fresh berries.

Cook's note: 3 cups of crushed graham crackers can be substituted for the other ingredients in this recipe's crust.

When whipping up the fresh cream, add 1 teaspoon of amaretto or hazelnut liqueur to enhance the flavor of this dish. The liqueur can also be added to the whipped topping for extra flavor. Just stir in once topping is thawed, but do not over mix.