Banana Puuuuudding...mmmm

I used to photograph my food creations all the time. I loved it! It was a way to capture what I was so proud of. It was like, Hey look! I DID THAT! I made that!! ME!! (squeeee!!)

I haven't been doing it very much lately. And when I say "lately" I mean, like, since my son was born 11 months ago. I mean, I don't have tons of time to cook my husband elaborate meals with exotic spices and marinades anymore. I used to scour recipe books and food websites looking for the best of the best! Hell, now I just wanna make something quick and easy. Am I right, or am I right?!

Well, this recipe isn't so quick and it wasn't so easy (but not too hard either!) Which was kind of nice. It was a flashback to those proud times in the kitchen!

We're set to move in a few days (so I should be packing some more, but whatever) and we had a lot of bananas to get rid of. A few nights ago, the hubby randomly said he was craving banana pudding. I've never made it before (or any pudding from scratch) but I just watched an episode of Cooks Country on PBS that previous weekend and thought it didn't look too hard. Perfect!

I have the Cooks Country magazine subscription and knew the recipe was also in there, but I'm moving and that mag is packed away somewhere. This is where The Faux Martha comes in! I found her blog online (and love it now) where she made and posted the recipe. Awesome!!

I'm not a food blogger, so I'm just gonna post the four photos I got. If you want the recipe, head over to The Faux Martha. I don't wanna type the recipe out. LOL. I was doing this alone, so I had to cook and stir! There just wasn't a lot of time for photography!

So here I bring you...*drumroll* Banana Pudding!

First thing's first, the recipe calls for 3 of the 7 bananas to be roasted. Not a big deal! Just pop them in the oven for 20 minutes at 325 degrees and bang! They're done. Those were roasting while I was preparing my custard.

But here's the bananas when they're done. All icky, dark and shiny. they're perfect! The roasted bananas brought a wonderful deep flavor. It's a must do!


While the naners were roasting, I mixed the egg yolk mixture. Easy peasy!

After that was combined, I brought the half and half mixture to a simmer.

Now for one of the scariest moments in dessert making. Tempering the eggs! I hate doing this. I almost always do it too fast and cook the eggs...but not this time!! Not a curdle in sight! And after continuous stirring...

PUDDING!!!!! And it was glooohhhh-rious! 

Anyone who's had traditional banana pudding knows it's layered with vanilla wafers. I did that, but did not take pictures. I was too busy layering! I don't have a trifle dish either, so I opted to use my casserole dish. I mean, it all goes into the same place, people! In the tummy!!

Oh yea, see that on top of the pudding? That's HOMEMADE whipped cream. Thankyouverymuch.    

Let me tell you something. This banana pudding is AH-MAZING. I actually split the recipe up into three containers and gave one to my sister, brought one to work, and kept one at home. Everyone thought it was soo delicious. I even got a "You put your foot in this!" Now, anyone who knows what that means knows it can't get better any than that. :)

Sidenote: All photos were taken with SS 1/125, f/3.2, ISO 200