Feb
13
Like lots of things around here, my freezer seems to be Out.Of.Control! Sometimes I do seem to buy too much, I must still think I’m cooking for a large family instead of two. But also I have a tendency to put leftovers and other things in the freezer to use later and forget about them. I’m trying to make a conscious effort to cook from my freezer and use up stuff before I buy any more! Yesterday Jen sent me her recipe for 7 can soup; it sounded a lot like one I have that we call 6 can soup and it seemed like a good thing to put in the crockpot for a cold, rainy day. The problem was, I didn’t really have all the canned things I needed for it so I raided the freezer/pantry and came up with some substitutes. Then I noticed that in the freezer I had……..
…… tons of bananas that I’d put away to use later for bread! And I was wanting something sweet to eat so I made bread, chocolate banana bread! It really came out good, maybe a little more like cake but it worked for me. I used this recipe; and I like the All Recipes feature where you can change the number of servings and it recalculates for you. I cut it half for us and I might still end up with some to put in the freezer for later, argh!
This is it right after I got it out of the oven
The soup actually came out really good too, very close to my original recipe even with all the substitutions I made. We had some chips and cheese with it, fritos for me and tortilla chips for hubby because he seems addicted to them.
I still have lots of bananas left to make something else with and I need to see what else I can use up from my freezer! I hope to make a good dent in it over the next week.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I have never tried chocolate banana bread before. Sounds great!
I also throw bananas in the freezer like that too. We go through spurts of eating bananas and if I buy a bunch and no one feels like eating them, it just happens.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Sounds much like my chocolate zuccinni bread that I make all summer long. So good.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Yumm – that all sounds so good! I should clean my freezer out too – I don’t know how it fills up so fast!
February 13th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I am such a novice when it comes to freezing stuff. The only things in my freezer are things that I bought frozen, and meat. I know that you can freeze veggies & fruits & leftovers and even entire meals to save for later — but I have no idea how! I have no idea what you can freeze, what you can’t, and how exactly one goes about doing it! Sad huh? =P
February 13th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Yeah, good stuff! That bread looks good, save me a bite 🙂 Of course, with all of that *white* sugar and *white flour* and butter, it ought to be good! I have a gallon ziploc bag in the freezer full of them, myself. I had to actually throw some out the other day because my freezer bag is full and I refuse to start a new one 🙂
I have a recipe for banana muffins, if you want to try with your frozen bananas. I have also made a marbled chocolate banana bread, but yours looks better. I have done a banana snack cake, and you can do a cream cheese or brown sugar icing for it, it’s really good. I’ve also tried one with toffee, banana and sour cream. I know you love toffee, so you could make that one too 🙂
I imagine Tim would love that soup, but too much tomato for me!
I’m trying to cook out of my freezer, but as always, it’s a losing battle. I have this *intense* urging to always buy stuff to replace it in the freezer. So, as soon as I free up space in the freezer, I fill it with something else! 🙂
February 13th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Good job raiding the freezer…I need to do that, too!
February 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Oh man. I cannot wait to try that chocolate banana bread! Though I have a hard time believing there would be any left to put in the freezer 😉
February 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I just love making that soup….its easy and great…and tastes better the next day. Your bread looks great too. And I had no idea you could freeze bananas like this.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I wish I was a creative cook. I follow the receipt to the T every time.
February 16th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Both things look wonderful! I’d love to have a big, fat slice of that bread but alas, my weight watchers diet does not lend itself to that right now. Boy when I lose this weight, I’m making some of that!