Sharon Srock, author of the wildly popular Women of Valley View series, has a treat to share that’s bound to make you wonder–how can banana pudding be transparent? ~~~

When Linda asked for kitchen disasters, I had to give the question some serious thought. I love to cook and I love trying new things. Consequently, I’ve had my share of less than stellar moments in the kitchen. But I’m not here to talk about the time I added cinnamon to my taco meat instead of chili powder, or the time I made my one and only visit to a liquor store to purchase…I think it was white wine…to complete a fish recipe that was so terrible it all went into the trash. We’re even going to ignore the time I was making hot rolls during a late night, pre-holiday baking session, and I added three cups of sugar instead of three cups of flour to my last package of yeast.

Yes, we’re going to skip those newsworthy recipe flubs and go straight to the time I made transparent banana pudding.

I can hear your eyebrows arching all the way to Oklahoma.

The year was 1990, I’d recently had weight loss surgery, and my doctor had recommended skim milk for my dairy drinking pleasure. I’d met a new guy, and since we all know that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, I set about impressing him with my down home country cooking. I quizzed him about his favorite dishes. I don’t remember anything I prepared for this monumental meal, except the desert. His favorite? Banana pudding.
Shopping I went. My first mistake was not buying some whole milk. The only thing in my cart that day was my normal skim. My second mistake was my choice of pudding. In my zeal to be health conscious I skipped right over the regular pudding and chose the instant, sugar free variety.

I knew I had a problem when I began mixing the stuff up. It looked a little weak, but it set up perfectly, and the beater taste test came back normal, so I pressed on. I chose my best decorative dessert bowl, a frosted glass beauty, and layered in the pudding, cookies, and bananas, topping it all off with a healthy dose of cookie crumbs.

Dinner went well that evening with high praise from the gentleman in my cross hairs. Then, I brought out my dessert masterpiece. I scooped helpings into clear crystal dessert bowls and brought them to the table where light from the low hanging chandelier and the crystal bowls revealed what my frosted dish and crumb topping had concealed. The pudding, while the proper consistency, was transparent enough to read through. It looked absolutely anemic. I wish I had a picture to share with you. My guy ate it, even asked for a second helping, but long after we stopped dating and scaled our relationship back to a casual friendship he continued to tease me about my transparent banana pudding.

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Sharon Srock went from science fiction to Christian fiction at slightly less than warp speed. Twenty five years ago, she cut her writer’s teeth on Star Trek fiction. Today, she writes inspirational stories that focus on ordinary women using their faith to accomplish extraordinary things. A member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, Sharon serves her local chapter in the role of treasurer. Sharon lives in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma with her husband and three very large dogs.

Her books include The Women of Valley View: Callie and The Women of Valley View: Terri, both of which are currently available.

The Women of Valley View: Pam will release in early 2014.

Connect with her here:

Blog: http://www.sharonsrock.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SharonSrock#!/SharonSrock
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SharonSrock
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6448789.Sharon_Srock