Banana Cream Pie and Small Groups

Today is National Banna Cream Pie Day. Yum! Plus, it gave me the perfect excuse to test drive a new recipe with time to tweak before our final Small Group meeting in a few weeks.

First, let’s talk Small Groups. I know I’ve mentioned this before – our parish is extremely active. It seems something is going on all the time. There are guest speakers and lecture series and faith-based projects all the time. Father Sam would like it if we could find a way to attend Mass daily. Yeah, daily. For those retired, there is a morning mass. And for the rest of us, there is an evening mass, so it’s hard to make excuses. Father suggested we start with 3 days a week, plus Sunday. I love my faith. And I might just do that if it were me alone. But Hubby is exausted at the end of the day. He just wants to put his feet up and chill out. I do read scripture every day, the same passages that I would have heard at Church. I just don’t receive Communion daily. And for Catholics, the entire purpose of the Mass is to receive Communion. I think that was the hardest part for Catholics during the Pandemic. You just can’t receive Communion any other way than through the Sacrament of Mass. And the Prayer of Spiritual Communion can only take you so far.

Wow – didin’t mean to go off in that direction. Back to Small Groups. Father Sam wanted to build fellowship and a better sense of community within the parish. So he decided to have people sign up for a 5-week lecture series. Rather than have the series in the church hall, we broke into groups of about 10 people, to meet in the homes of fellow Parishioners. Father Sam asked for two types of volunteers – those to offer their homes and those willing to lead the discussions. You guessed it, Hubby and I have opened our home. Last week was our first gathering. This is our second. I cannot tell you how much it means to gather with those who share in your faith and to explore ways to strengthen that faith. I would very much like for our final meeting to include breaking of bread – or at the very least coffee and a slice of pie!

I found this recipe on Taste of Home. The original reciep was made with a graham cracker crust. Oh but I fondly remembered the Banana Pudding Trifle my mother made with Vanilla Wafers and toasted marshmallows. It’s like the magic of childhood rediscovered all over again.

Vanilla Wafer Banana Cream Pie
Vanilla Wafer Crust
1-1/2 cups Vanilla Wafer Crumbs
1/3 cup Butter

Place wafers in a food processor fitted with a blade. Pulse to create crumbs. Mixture should resemble gram cracker crumbs. Set aside.

Melt butter in the microwave or on the stove top. Combine butter with wafer crumbs in a 9-inch pie plate. Press to create crust over the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Cover with plastic wrap, chill until set.

Banana Pie Filling
1 cup cold Milk
1 (3 oz) package Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
12 oz Whipped Topping, thawed
3 medium firm Bananas

In a large bowl, whisk milk with pudding mix and vanilla extract for 2 minutes. Fold in 3 cups whipped topping.

Peel and slice 2 bananas. Set bananas aside.

Spread 1-1/3 cups pudding mixture over pie crust. Layer sliced bananas over the pudding. Top with remaining pudding mixture, spread smooth.

Top pudding with remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, peel and slice remaining banana. Tuck banana slices into the whipped topping. Crush a few wafers, garnish. Slice pie and serve.

---

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made