A Southern Girls Favorite Treat! Healthy Banana Pudding

One of my all time favorite desserts is banana pudding. I mean...it is kind of a staple for any southern girl, especially in the summer time. Although I love it....I don't love the added sugar and processed ingredients that come along with it. The way I have always made mine included packaged artificially sweetened pudding packs, vanilla wafers that include high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, and whipped topping with another unhealthy dose of high fructose corn syrup! Now I am not saying that it didn't taste good....I am just saying that I don't really want to put that stuff in my body or my children's bodies if I can help it! So I set out to make a cleaner/healthier version of my all time favorite and I have to say.....I NAILED IT!

My husband even said that he would never know the difference taste-wise between my old processed version and my MUCH cleaner version. Both were absolutely delicious. I put the first bite in my mouth and my first words were....."OH MY GOSH!!" I felt good about feeding this to my family and they DEVOURED it! If you love banana pudding....and I know you do....try it this way. It is super easy and SO good! Oh and did I mention... it is only 175 calories a serving!!!!

{Healthy Banana Pudding}

adapted from Skinnyms

Serves: 8

• 2 bananas sliced
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 tablespoons Rapadura (or other organic sugar or mild honey)
• dash of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups vanilla unsweetened almond milk
• 1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 25 organic vanilla wafers (you can make your own but organic vanilla wafers are easy to find)
• 1 cup Truwhip (all natural whipped topping)

In a saucepan, combine cornstarch, Rapadura, salt and yolks and whisk to combine over medium heat. Slowly add in almond milk whisky constantly. Continue whisking until pudding consistency then remove from heat. Add in vanilla and whisk until smooth. If using Rapadura....the pudding with have a brownish tint. Set aside.

In a 2 1/2 qt. dish, cover the bottom in vanilla wafers (approx. 12 wafers). Top with half of the pudding mixture. Next layer on half of the banana slices. Continue with a layer of the rest of the vanilla wafers, pudding mixture and last half of the bananas. Top with Truwhip and a crumbled cookie for decoration if desired. 

Place covered dish in refrigerator for at least 3 hours to cool. 

Enjoy!!!