Homemade Banana Pudding

So this banana pudding came about almost by accident. It turned out being a very yummy one. :) Because of how it happened though, this is not really even a recipe but more of some general guidelines. 

I had some bananas that were getting ripe much faster than I had expected, several boxes of Nilla wafers in the pantry (due to a recent BOGO deal and my love of Nilla wafers), some cream cheese I needed to use soon, and a craving for something sweet. 

I thought I had some Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk in the pantry too and I remembered seeing some banana pudding recipes that used that and some that used cream cheese so I set out to make one.

Once I got started with the first few steps however, I realized that I in fact did not have the sweetened condensed milk. So, I improvised and it turned out surprisingly yummy and easy too. There are not a lot of exact measurements because I really just threw it together but I'll give my best guesses.

I think I will make it again but on purpose next time and maybe even measure things more!

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas (mine were very ripe and you could use more or less to your taste)

1 vanilla pudding mix

2 cups cold milk (or whatever your pudding mix calls for)

Nilla wafers in whatever amount floats your boat, I'd say we used maybe half a box

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

Powdered sugar (probably about 1/4-1/2 cup)

Whipping cream (probably about 1/4-1/2 cup)

1 tablespoon sugar

Directions

Make pudding mix according to package directions and set aside.

Cream softened cream cheese with powdered sugar. I probably used about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.You could also throw in a teaspoon or so of vanilla if you wanted. I didn't but you could.

Beat your whipping cream until stiff peaks form, adding in about a tablespoon of sugar or more to taste. I used probably about 1/2 cup whipping cream.

Fold a couple of large dollops of whipped cream into pudding mixture.

This is where you make it all your own. You can layer it up however your heart desires.

I used a large round casserole dish and started by placing a layer of Nilla wafers around the bottom.

Then we covered it with a layer of pudding mixture and a layer of the cream cheese mixture. 

Then I decided to just combine the two, so I did that and added a little more of the combined mixture.

I followed that with a layer of sliced bananas. In hindsight I would probably add a layer of banana at the bottom too. 

Then more Nilla wafers and the rest of the pudding/cream cheese mixture.

Then I topped it off with the remaining whipped cream and some more Nilla wafers. 

We ate it right away because it was late and we wanted to, but it was even better after sitting in the fridge for a while. 

I didn't even take a photo until after we'd eaten about half of it. Oh well, like I said it was late and we wanted to eat it right then. :)