It's All in the Pudding Mix

     Holidays are usually great, - great food, great company, great time.  Yesterday, (4th of July) was no exception.   We usually meet up at my parents' house, and potluck.  Saw my brother and his family, who've moved to the other of town, and I who hadn't seen since dinner at my house, on Easter Sunday. They don't have central air yet, and the temps have been in the 90's all week.  So can you say it must be hot as hell in their house??!!                                    
     All of my sisters were present with their collective families, including an assortment of nieces, nephews, grands.  It's always nice to see everyone.  We feasted, talked, ate more, and played monopoly.  I lost of course, never have been able to hold 2 nickels together for too long!  LOL.
     I'm the dessert queen, so of course my contribution was the...d-e-s-s-e-r-t-s.  In homage to the heat, I'd made a 3 layer patriotic Jello mold.  The red (strawberry Jello & frozen strawberries) , white (actually yellow, because it's lemon Jello & vanilla ice cream), and blue (any dark berry flavored Jello + canned blueberries) look great in a trifle dish.  I also made a yellow bundt cake with a caramel glaze.  My mother called around 11:00 in the morning, and asked if I'd also fix a banana pudding.  We normally use a recipe that calls for Eagle Brand Milk, Cool Whip, instant vanilla pie filling, of course bananas, and vanilla wafers. This filling is used instead of a pudding that you cook atop a stove.  It's a LOT simpler, easier, and tastes like ice cream.  Delicious!  This time my mother threw a wrench in the works.  She'd bought instant banana pudding mix instead of vanilla.  There's a recipe on the side of the box, which calls for the pudding, milk, bananas, vanilla wafers and a cool whip topping.  Even simple, but I was concerned that the banana pudding mix, would give it a artificial taste.  Just try it, she said, if it doesn't turn out, we toss it.  So I tried it, and surprisingly enough it DOES taste like banana pudding, with no the artificial aftertaste.  Shock of shocks.  Guess mom still knows best!  All in all, it was a great day.