As some of you may know, for the past few years I have published a blog over at http://athomewithelizabeth.wordpress.com . While I will be continually adding new content here, for my new followers I will also be posting excerpts and personal recipes that originally appeared on my other site.
Finger jello, jello salad (raspberry with fresh raspberries inside was my favorite,) jello cups: jello reminds me of my childhood. My mom had a special multi-colored layered jello salad that was famous at Summer family gatherings or church potlucks. My grandma served her famous cranberry jello salad at Thanksgiving and Christmas. For better or worse, you could say I grew up on jello.
Commercial Jell-O? No, thank you.
A few years ago I took a look at the ingredient list on the box of jello at the supermarket and never bought another box. I hadn’t ever thought about it, but jello is just gelatin, sugar, artificial colors and artificial flavors. Ick. Why waste the calories when there are much better choices out there?
But every once in a while I crave the jiggly stuff, so I decided to come up with my own recipe, natural-style.
Gelatin: found naturally in bone broth
Healthy and healing for your digestive system, gelatin is actually quite good for you. It soothes your intestines, and, by giving your body the necessary tools, helps to repair microscopic tears. This process helps you to better absorb nutrients from your food. You don’t want all that tasty stuff to go to waste, do you? After all, even though we enjoy the taste, our primary reason for eating is to supply our bodies with necessary vitamins and nutrients.
Recipe: Homemade Natural Jello
Ingredients:
32 oz. jar organic, unsweetened juice of your choice
2 packets gelatin
3 tablespoons cool water
4 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
dash sea salt
cream or yogurt, to serve
Recipe:
Place juice in a medium sauce pan and set over medium-low heat. Allow to reduce by about a cup. This concentrates the flavor of the juice. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over cool water in a small bowl and allow to gel. Once juice has reduced to your liking, stir in gelatin, salt and concentrate. Taste to make sure you like it; you might want to add a bit more salt or concentrate if you like things sweeter.
Pour liquid in a medium bowl or individual bowls and chill for several hours, or over night, until set. I like to serve this with a generous dollop of cream or whole-milk yogurt, which helps to balance the blood sugar spike and crash that can be associated with eating a sugar-filled dessert.
