The Best Banana Pudding Ever

A couple of weeks ago, a former teacher was on campus giving a presentation in Theology. She's just an amazing teacher. I was able to be in an audience where she presented over Islam. It was just fabulous.

(She was actually one of Husby's favorite teachers in high school. The other fave is retired from public school and now teaches at our school, too. They both like to tell me HOW MUCH THEY LIKE HIM. AND OH MY GOODNESS HE'S JUST AS GOOD AS GOLD. And do know what? They're right! Except for when he leaves the closet door open at night just to see if my OCD is in gear.)

So, this teacher always bring homemade goods to the teachers lounge. Y'all, it is HARD working in a school and avoiding things like donuts and cookies and such that are always around. Well, I successfully avoided her homemade snicker doodles the week before. Mostly because they were all eaten. But upon her return for the presentation she brought BANANA PUDDING.

And I just can't avoid banana pudding. It's just impossible. Even if it's not great, it's still worth eating. Until I had this: the best banana pudding ever. Seriously. EVER. (Sorry, Mom.) Now, no banana pudding will ever live up to just being banana pudding; it will forever be compared to Mrs. Berry's Banana Pudding.

I dipped some from the container and took one bite. I recognized a familiar flavor: cream cheese. Y'all, you can top pretty much anything with cream cheese, and I'll eat it. But to have cream cheese in pudding? Praise the Lord! Why haven't I thought of it before?!

That night was Open House. I didn't go home between the end of the school day and Open House because I was quite busy. Before the parents came, I got a little hungry. I went to check on possible snacks in the lounge, and guess what I found? That's right. The leftover banana pudding. Being the martyr that I am, I ate the remaining goodness. After all, who wants to eat brown bananas the next day?

Are you ready? You seriously have to make this recipe.

The Best Banana Pudding Ever
From the kitchen of Mrs. Berry

Ingredients
1 8-oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
2 cups cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
3 large bananas
Vanilla wafers
1 8-oz. Cool Whip (1/2 in pudding; 1/2 for topping), thawed

Instructions
Mix pudding with 2 cups cold milk. Blend cream cheese and Eagle Brand; add to pudding mixture. Add vanilla and half the Cool Whip. Layer with Vanilla Wafers, pudding mixture, sliced bananas. Top with remaining Cool Whip. Allow to sit in fridge for several hours.