Who Knew??



The other night, when I got home from work, these greeted me in my kitchen.

They look rather sad and pitiful because they know that no one in the house is particularly crazy about bananas when they look like this.   "I only like GREEN bananas!!"  UGH...............    Then why did you not eat them when they WERE green??

I was weighing my options at this point.   Banana Bread?  hhmmm??  No.    Banana Cake or Cupcakes?  hhmmm??  Sounds tempting, but..... No.    I really was in the mood for Banana Pudding..............    And I usually just line a dish with vanilla wafers, cut up the bananas, cover with vanilla pudding and whipped cream and - - Done!!

But dang it............   No boxes of vanilla pudding were in my cabinet......   And I just DID NOT want to go to the store just for a couple of boxes of pudding......   Well....   Now what??  I've never made pudding from scratch.  I don't even have a recipe for home made pudding.  So I sat down at the computer and did a little search-a-roo......  (I know - - shocking, right??)   I found this recipe on  foodnetwork.com   and I think it's a keeper!!  (It was submitted by Marcia Suber (gotta give credit where credit's due, right?? - - THANK YOU, Marcia!!)

Grandmother's Banana Pudding

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs, separated  (keep the egg whites if you want to top it with meringue)

2 tablespoons flour (or cornstarch)

Dash salt

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 box vanilla wafers

4 bananas

Prepare a double boiler.  In your top saucepan, mix together sugar, egg yolks, flour (or cornstarch) and salt.

Add milk and mix again (I used my wire whisk for the mixing).

Stir this pretty often as it's sitting on the double boiler with the water in the bottom saucepan at a rolling boil.  When the pudding starts staying up on the sides as you're stirring, its done.   Add the vanilla after the mixture has thickened.   It takes about 20 minutes to get to the pudding consistency. 

(See how it's starting to stay up on the sides??)

  Remove from heat and let cool.  (I put mine in a mixing bowl and popped it in the freezer for about 10 minutes or so........   I was too excited to let it cool on it's own!!)

To assemble:   In a 9 x 13 glass dish, put a couple of spoonfuls of pudding in the bottom and spread it around.  (That's what the recipe says to do so I did; I guess it's to help keep the wafers in place....)   Line the bottom of the dish with a layer of vanilla wafers.  Cut up 2 of your bananas and put those on top of the wafers.  Add half of the pudding.  Repeat.

Now, this is where I REALLY didn't follow the recipe..............  I put the whole batch of pudding in one layer, and had to make another batch of pudding.  Seriously, I like pudding, and I like my Banana Pudding to have lots of pudding..... and 'nanas......   and vanilla wafers.....

The recipe calls for topping it with meringue, which I got pretty excited about, because I've never made that, either!!  But I was out-voted..........  They wanted whipped cream...............  And I didn't have any...........  And they were just a little too eager to go to the store to get some............  So.... no meringue.......................

I topped it with the whipped cream.......... and wow......................   sooo yummy!!

As soon as I had it all put together, I had to dig in right away.   I almost didn't even take a picture of it all together!!

It was still a little warm...........  mmmmmm.   Mr. Inspiring had 2 helpings........ at 10:30 at night...........  silly boy!!  I think he liked it!!  (Keep it in the fridge if you can't eat it all at once!!)

So after supper last night, I had a dish of its cold creamy banana-y-ness........  OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH....

It's amazing how all those flavors just blend together and the wafers soak it all up....... 

If you want to make the meringue, here's the recipe:

1/4 cup sugar, 3 egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites, sugar and cream of tarter until it forms stiff peaks.  Spread over your banana pudding layers, and pop it in a 425 degree oven until just brown on top - - about 4 minutes.....


I don't believe I will EVER serve my family 'boxed' pudding again.  The pudding from scratch is so much yummier and richer and it's soo easy!!  Now, I'm hunting for a decadent chocolate pudding recipe.

Got one to share???

And I sooo want to make a key lime pie from scratch.  Like the pies they have at Shorty's in Miami..... where my grandma and grandpa used to go when they were visiting my Aunt Shirley.   There's just nothing that compares to an authentic Key Lime Pie..............   Nothing!!




Hugs ~~ Suz