Coconut Cream Salad

Fruit Salad...Yummy, Yummy.... ahhh, the days of listening to the Wiggles' song over and over and over... (Camden was a Wiggles groupie as a three-year-old). Riley was more of a Barney fan, and Sidney's my Backyardigans girl, but those Wiggles...they came up with some real classics, didn't they? :)
Don't know what I'm talking about? That's fine. I'm really talking about fruit salad--Coconut Cream Salad, to be exact. It's my new obsession. I picked up a new recipe book titled "52 weeks of Proven Recipes for Picky Eaters" because, well...have you met my child #3? And #2? And even #1 (only when it comes to peppers, which happen to find their way into every meal)?
Most of the recipes involve cheese, crescent rolls, butter, cream of so-and-so, and more cheese, so duh! of course picky eaters will love it--where are the peppers? But it also has lots of fun dessert recipes and I was excited to try this one. I did a little variation (see ***note) since I didn't have any Cool Whip and didn't have 24 hours to wait--but it was still Yummy, Yummy.
Coconut Cream Salad
2 cups buttermilk
2 3-oz. packages instant coconut cream pudding
1 16-oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed
2 20-oz. cans tropical fruit cocktail, drained
2 8-oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 20-oz. cans pineapple tidbits, drained

In a large bowl, stir buttermilk and dry pudding mixes together. Fold in Cool Whip, followed by the well-drained fruit. Chill 24 hours before serving.

***My quick and easy varation--
I whisked together 1 cup buttermilk and 1 package of coconut cream pudding.
I then added 1 can each of fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits.
I also added a sliced banana and cut-up apple pieces.
I served immediately w/o chilling because...we were hungry :)