You can never have too many bananas in your freezer

There was a woman at work, and when her father died, his freezer was full of bananas. Her dad made banana bread a lot. I always think of that when I open my freezer. I just put a fresh batch in there the other day and made a few loaves of banana bread. It's easy to make, and it calms me and helps me stop thinking about things going on in life. And I needed that after this last week and a half. My mom recently had a cancer scare, and I had never been so scared in my life. I didn't know if I could handle losing my mom, and her being sick, or anything. My mom means a lot too me, and I kept thinking of all the lost time when I was a teenager and I didn't like her. And then we she moved to Arizona, and I was left in Indiana. Those were the longest two years without my mom. You never realize how much your mom means to you until she's not there anymore, and I didn't think I could handle that. But it was good news... her PET scan came out good. She still has emphysema, but we can work with that. I just realized how much cooking helps me get through a lot of things. If I have a bad day at work, or suddenly feel like I'm in a rut and that I will spend forever working at a meaningless job, I always turn to the kitchen.

 I just hope that when I'm gone, my son or daughter will find bananas in my freezer, and always remember that.

So I made the cake balls. I used the left over Red Velvet cupcakes from the baby shower and the chocolate appeals from the chocolate monograms.  I think they turned out fantastic, and now I know what to do with left over cake and cupcakes. Perfect, if I own a bakery.

Also this last week, I made a family recipe for Beef and Barley soup. It's from my dad's side of the family, and this is the first recipe I've gotten from the Bair side. Surprisingly it's really easy and delicious. I just put some beef stock I made from prime rib in a crock pot. Added about a 1/2 can (a big can) of tomato juice and some beef stew meat. I cooked that on low all day and had my sous chef Chuck add the barley in before I got home from work. Well, he added the whole box of barley. So when I got home, there was no liquid! I added the rest of the can on tomato juice and about a cup and half of water and let that simmer. I also added some dried bay leaves and garlic salt and pepper to give it a little more flavor. After everything was said and done, it was very good, even with all that barley. I gave some to my parents and they loved it. So I guess it was a recipe artfully executed, and will be done many more times.

I got the can of pineapple for the hummingbird cake, and the coconut so now I'm just trying to find the time to make it. I still want to make bagels, and have yet to try the Irish Carbomb cupcake. But, I'm getting there. The list of things I want to do keeps getting longer, but at least I'm still crossing things off the list.