So we had a birthday party for my daughter today. She turned five and I CANNOT believe I have a five year old. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when she turns 10 and 15 and 20. And when she gets married and gives me grandkids. Ok, maybe I’ll just focus on now. I love having people over to celebrate and I especially love trying to feed them good and healthy food that actually tastes GOOD. I don’t always succeed but I think I do a pretty good job most of the time. I think parents usually appreciate the fact that their kids aren’t getting oodles of sugar. Last year for Zoe’s party, I had a piñata filled with bouncy balls, bracelets, and a few packs of organic gummy bears. Almost all of the parents thanked me for not filling it with sugary candy. And seriously, watching four year olds try to catch tons of bouncy balls falling out of a piñata is just good plain fun. I should have videotaped and put it on Youtube. Anyways, we had lots of yummy food and I’ll post some of it later, but one of the most fun (and soooooo easy) little bits was watermelon jello. It took me five minutes to make. Yup, that’s all. We did take little cookie cutters and make fun hearts for the party, but normally I would not have done that. Jello has gelatin in it which is amazingly good for the tummy if you buy the right kind. I buy THIS KIND. I try to get as much in our diet as I can.
Here is the super duper easy recipe. Enjoy making it for the summer. Or Valentine’s Day as a treat without food dyes and sugar!
It’s easy and your kids will love it.
There are a couple of tricks that I have discovered to making jello. I’ll share them with you below and include a couple of pictures. First you need to make the watermelon juice. I juiced about half a medium sized watermelon and got about 4 cups. I then took 1 cup and put it in a small pot and warmed it on low. Once it was good and warm, I slowly add the gelatin (which I had already measured out) while whisking away.
Once the gelatin is dissolved and I’ve gotten as many lumps out as I can, I turn the heat off. I pour the other three cups of juice into the blender. I turn it on low and slowly add the gelatin/juice mixture until it is all good and mixed.
This is the step that helps the jello to turn out really well. It can get a tiny bit bubbly on top because of the air from the blending, but I don’t mind. I’d rather have that than clumpy gelatin in my jello. Then I pour it into a 9×13 pan and stick it into the fridge. Sometimes I put it into two smaller tupperware and just put the tops on because it’s easier to store. Like this.
Either way is easy peasy. I love making jello. It’s so cotton picking easy and my kids devour it.
Ingredients
- 4 Cups fresh watermelon juice
- 4 Tablespoons Great Lakes gelatin
- Honey or stevia for sweetness (optional)
- One scoop Further Foods collagen peptide (use code thekandidkitchen10 for 10% off your first purchase at Further Food!)
Instructions
- Make your watermelon juice. You can do this with a juice or blend the watermelon flesh and strain.
- Pour one cup of the juice into a small pot and warm on low heat.
- Pour the rest of the juice into a blender.
- Measure out gelatin into a small bowl while the juice is warming.
- Add the gelatin into the warm juice while whisking.
- Turn the blender on low and slowly add the gelatin/juice mixture to rest of the watermelon juice.
- Add the honey and collagen peptides while blending if you are adding it.
- Once it is all blended and the clumps are gone, pour into a 9/13 pan.
- Put in the fridge for 4 hours or until the jello sets.
- Enjoy!
Notes
You can make jello with ANY kind of fresh juice. We do it with lemon, apple, berry, and lots more. Experiment and find out what your favorites are! Just know citrus juices usually require more gelatin to set than other fruit and berry juices.