This is a salad that was passed down from my mother, it originally was a watergate salad in the early 70’s, but I played with it all these years and it has evolved into this.
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
3 cups buttermilk
1 large tub Cool Whip, thawed
3 bananas, cut up
1 can fruit cocktail, drained
Mix instant pudding and buttermilk and set aside, the longer you let it sit the thicker it becomes. Add the cut-up bananas and the fruit cocktail to the buttermilk pudding mixture. Gently fold thawed Cool Whip into the pudding mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for a half hour and serve as a side salad or as dessert.
Note: I have used banana cream, french vanilla, and even lemon instant puddings and keep coming back to the plain vanilla.