banana – Chocolate 'N Children

We all hate starting over – at least I do, so I assume everyone else does. Even my kids hate starting again. Because usually we’re starting over because we got something wrong. And if there’s anything worse that starting over, it’s admitting that I’ve gotten something wrong.

I often have to remind myself of my favorite teaching phrase for my kids. “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning”. My daughter gets frustrated because she has to re-start a division problem that she just got all wrong. My middle child really doesn’t want to try to read that word for the 5th time. And my toddler simply does not want to attempt putting that there one more time.

But I’m the same. I would honestly prefer that my banana creme pie didn’t turn out as soup the first time. I figured out why, it’s some chemical breakdown of the corn starch if you cook it too much. But it turned out right the second time. I just had to try again.

I’ve watched my kids refuse to try something because they were afraid of failure. I’ve failed to try things because I’m afraid of failure. And I hate starting over.

But, like I tell my kids, starting over is how we learn. If I’m getting it all right all the time then I’m not growing, and I’m not learning, and I’m not getting any better at anything. I’m just doing what I already know.

Truth be told, most great successes, have a string of failures before them. Most of the time, before someone succeeds at something they have to start over again and again. Thomas Edison is famous for saying “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. He started over so many times, and eventually succeeded.

One thing I’ve been working to teach my kids is to not be afraid of starting over. Go, try, make the mistake, take what you’ve learned, try again. Each time you do this you’ve learned something and you’ve increased your chances of getting it right the next time.

Of course, this means that I have to be an example and try new things, and try new things again.

So far this year, I’ve learned how to NOT make a banana creme pie and I’ve learned how to make a banana creme pie. Now if I could just figure out a good sausage gravy and biscuits…

What’s something you’ve had to start again this year?

This #BloggersTalkingAbout series features amazing bloggers writing from the heart. Continue reading more by following these links. Starting Over by Joanne | Starting Again by Jenny | When It’s Time To Start Again by Traci | Making Mistakes by Karen | Starting Over by Alicia | Crafty Me by Karen | The Delicate Art Of Starting Again by Nikki | Starting Over by Brandy | Starting Over by Wendy | If you’re a mom/female blogger, join us in our group, Bodacious Bloggers

There’s just something about a good banana cream pie. I tried out this pudding recipe earlier this year and loved it.

The pudding takes 5 egg yokes and since I doubled the pudding recipe for this pie I ended up using 10 egg yokes. And with my 10 extra whites I made meringues. I now have a house full of meringue cookies! (the meringue cookie recipe is coming up next)

Banana Cream Pie

Nilla Wafers for crust

4 bananas thinly sliced

Pudding
2 C whole milk

¾ C heavy cream

½ C sugar

3 T cornstarch

2 T flour

¼ t salt

5 large egg yolks

¼ C unsalted butter cut into ½” cubes

1 t vanilla extract

(double this for group sized pie)

Topping
2 C whipping cream

8 T sugar

¼ t rum flavoring

Bring milk and cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks; whisk until smooth (mixture will be very thick). Whisking constantly, gradually add milk mixture to yolk mixture. Return to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until thick, 2-3 minutes. Add butter and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl; press plastic wrap directly onto surface of pastry cream. Chill until set, at least 2 hours.
Line bowl with nilla wafers. Put ½ cup pastry cream evenly over bottom of bowl. Layer half of the bananas. Spread ¾ cup pastry cream over bananas, layer the rest of the bananas. Spread the remainder of the pastry cream over bananas.
Beat whipping cream, sugar, and rum flavoring until medium-stiff peaks form. Spread over pastry cream and serve.