my secret weapon

Wait, can I have an entry to my own event? What if I win? I hear the judge is notoriously biased and easily swayed...


I kid, I kid. It would be a good entry, though.

My banana pudding is always, always a hit (and I say this as humbly as possible). Whether it's made for a church potluck, a wedding reception, or just for me and my family to enjoy at home, it disappears ridiculously fast. Why does this happen? What makes it so daggone good? I mean, it's thrown together with very little effort. There are only six ingredients, none of which are particularly spectacular by themselves, yet they combine to form something irresistibly delicious. It's an enigma.

This recipe is extremely flexible. For one thing, you can easily lighten it up by using skim milk, light sour cream, and light Cool Whip. You can also make it diabetic-friendly by using sugar-free pudding and wafers. If you really love bananas, you can use banana-flavored pudding instead of vanilla. You're welcome to add more layers of bananas and/or wafers. And hey--feel free to spice it up with anything you want, whether it be cinnamon, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, or cinnamon. The possibilities are endless.


A word of advice: This does require a little bit of planning ahead because it's essential that you let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. I recommend a whole day, if you can find some way to resist its beckoning call for that long. That gives the cookies a chance to soften and the flavors an opportunity to properly meld so that the very first bite you take creates absolute merriment in your mouth. Yes, merriment. Mirth. Glee. Bliss.

There are two days left for you to enter "Beat the Heat," and remember--it can even be a concoction from your archives!


Good Ol' Nanner Puddin'

1 large box instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups milk
8 ounces sour cream
8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
1 box vanilla wafers
3 bananas, super-ripe but not brown (who wants dark brown blobs in their pretty pudding?), peeled and sliced

In a medium bowl, prepare the pudding as instructed on its box. Beat in the sour cream, making sure to blend well. (Beat in some cinnamon while you're at it, if you'd like. I'd like. I didn't say anything about dark brown specks.) Fold in the Cool Whip just until no white streaks are present.
In the bottom of a trifle bowl or other serving dish, put down a layer of vanilla wafers. Top with about a fourth of the pudding mixture and a layer containing half of the sliced bananas. Top this with another fourth of the pudding. The next additions will be a layer of cookies, a layer of pudding, the rest of the bananas, and the rest of the pudding. For decorative purposes, adorn the pudding with more wafers in an aesthetically-pleasing manner:


(Can you tell I'm a perfectionist? Would you think less of me if I told you that I pick out and save the perfect wafers to put on top?)

IMPORTANT FINAL STEP: Refrigerate at least 8 hours; however, this gets better the longer it sits.


(More important final step--open wide!)