Adventures in Supermarket Cookery

People express their homesickness in different ways. For some, it's the longing for a familiar scent or the company of certain relatives. For others, however, baking can be the activity that they long for most. Such was the case for my girlfriend, her homesickness showing itself in a longing for the ability to bake something, anything. So, this past rainy weekend, I took an excursion to H-E-B in search of a delicious dessert to bake. With nothing in mind, I made the decision to let the boxes guide me.

Where to begin? I chose the obvious, the baking aisle, in hopes of finding something that didn't come straight out of a box but required some actual effort. I wanted to be able to add the egg to my cake mix. Before the mixes, however, were the Honey-Maid pie crusts pre-pressed in the pan. I wasn't above cheating just a little bit, so picked up a crust and looked for recipes on the back. Low and behold, there it was: pudding pie. Confirming my decision was a similar recipe I found on the back of the Jell-O Chocolate Pudding box (cook and serve, not the instant stuff. I needed to work a little bit) which directed me to the Cool Whip, where the recipe was yet again. That decided it: brand name pudding pie it was, in a decision that was just as easy as the food industry wanted it to be. Morally I feel a little bad for giving in to the idea that I should let myself be guided by a recipe on the back of the box... But honestly? The pie was delicious, and (this time) that's all that mattered.