Banana Pudding - Yummy, Easy and Light!

You may recall from prior posts, such as Traditional Banana Bread, that our family never seems to consume our bananas at their peak of perfect ripeness.  We are all a little finicky about what makes an edible banana.  Can't be too green, but heaven forbid it have any black spots.  So basically, bananas have about a 2 day shelf life in our house.  When that comes and goes, I have uneaten and further ripening bananas in our fruit bowl just asking to be put to good use.

I have never been a huge banana pudding fan, but my son Jake absolutely loves it.  He must get this from my father who adored banana pudding.  On his birthday as a child, he would ask my grandmother to make him banana pudding in lieu of a traditional birthday cake.

I feel like I may be overly featuring Bobby Deen recipes as of late, but found another one of his that I wanted to try for a Light Banana Pudding.  (I promise, I am not receiving kick-backs.)

While this is an easy recipe, its not something you whip up last minute.  A little planning needs to happen, as the pudding takes at least 4 hours to sit-up, and then he recommends that the assembled dish sit at least 8 hours before being served.

As I can be known to do, I cut a little corner.  Rather than making homemade whipped cream, I used reduced fat spray whipped cream. (I feel pretty lame writing this now.)   I really was really more interested in cutting some further calories rather than the minimal effort it takes to make homemade.  Just for the record, ok? I realize if I was on one of those reality cooking shows I'd have been ripped to shreds by some panel of celebrity chefs.

I have to say, I enjoyed this dessert despite my general ambivalence toward banana pudding.  More importantly, my banana pudding lover gave this two enthusiastic thumbs up.  And now my fruit bowl is banana free...for now.