Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding

In early June, just after we delivered our final global citizenship presentations (my group did a scathing review of the Wikileaks/Bank of America case), some classmates came over for an end of the school year cookout!  We are officially halfway through our curriculum, and college seniors!  Who thought I'd be proud to be a college senior at 33 years old?  Not this girl.  But I'll take it.

Dave and I supplied the burgers, dogs, and condiments, and I asked everyone to bring either a side dish or dessert to share with the group.  We ended up with a good spread! :)  But the dish that earned the most accolades, by far, was the banana pudding Lisa brought!

It is a Paula Deen recipe with no butter - can you believe it?

The hilarious name of this recipe is Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding.  I wonder whether Paula Deen came up with that or it's the reaction people most often have after tasting it?

I love this pudding so much that I decided to make it for a cookout we had with some friends a few weekends later - and it was a hit!

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 6-8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 5oz. box of French Vanilla instant pudding
• 1 9oz. package of cream cheese
• 1 14oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 12oz. container of Cool Whip or equal amount of actual whipped cream

Now let's assemble!  First, line the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish or cake pan with Chessmen cookies:

Then a layer of sliced bananas - I sliced them chunky and really packed them in there, but you can do as you please based on your level of love for the banana :):

Now it's time to mix up the liquids:

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. 

I may have fudged the liquid part a bit - I don't have the patience to fold anything into anything else, so I just sorta dumped it.  Lisa's was much fluffier, but the taste is the same!

Pour it on top of the bananas:

Once you have an even layer of pudding mix, add another round of Chessmen, and you're done!

With 8 people eating this, it didn't last long, and I brought none home!  It is SO tasty!  Sure, you could substitute just about everything in the ingredient list with low-fat, low-sugar stuff, but I chose not to.

Go big or go home, right?  Enjoy!