Festive Finger Gelatin (Jell-O Jigglers)

‘Tis the season for manger scenes, sleigh bells, twinkling lights, and school Christmas parties!  Of course, that means coming up with a kid-friendly, festive snack to send with your child.  How about festive finger gelatin (Jell-O jigglers)?

                 

Of course, you can just grab a few boxes, follow the package directions, and serve gelatin squares; but where’s the fun in that?  We attended a Christmas party this weekend so I decided to make red and green layered finger gelatin.  To make it even more fun, I used Christmas cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes.

I made these triple-layer leaves for Keanna's
class Thanksgiving feast.

The key to layering the gelatin is to cool the gelatin before pouring it over the previous layer.  You don’t want the hot liquid to melt the layer before.  Though, you could probably get some neat color effects by doing that—I’ll have to try it next time.

When making a 9x13, I use six 3-ounce boxes of gelatin.  That means three boxes each to do two colors or two boxes each to do three colors.

Generic works perfectly fine!

The key to getting the gelatin to come out of the pan nicely is to warm up the bottom of the pan to just start to melt it.  This is easily accomplished with a hot water bath.  I also like to dip my metal cookie cutters in hot water before cutting out the gelatin.  This keeps the gelatin from sticking to the cutter and messing up the shape.  If you get part-way through cutting and removing and find that the gelatin is sticking, simply return the pan to the hot water bath and/or re-dip your cookie cutter in hot water.  I also dip my metal cookie spatula in hot water to help get the gelatin out of the pan.

Festive Finger Gelatin

First layer

5 oz. boiling water per box of gelatin (10 oz. for 2 boxes; 15 oz. for 3 boxes)

Desired number of 3-oz. boxes of gelatin

Subsequent layers

4 oz. boiling water per box of gelatin (8 oz. for 2 boxes; 12 oz. for 3 boxes)

Desired number of 3-oz. boxes of gelatin

Two large ice cubes per box of gelatin

Add powder for first layer to boiling water and stir about 3 minutes.  Pour into 9x13 pan; refrigerate until set.  

Add powder for second (or third or fourth) layer  to boiling water and stir about 3 minutes.  Add ice cubes and stir until completely melted.  Pour over previous layer; return to refrigerator until set.

Repeat as desired until all layers are done.  To cut gelatin, fill jelly roll pan with hot tap water.  Place 9x13 in hot water for 30-60 seconds and remove.

Dip metal cookie cutter in hot water; cut out desired shapes, re-dipping cutter as needed.  Using a small spatula, remove shapes from pan.

Have a bowl on hand for all the scraps.  My kids love
the scraps!

Using a little cutter in addition to larger ones helps
reduce the waste between cut-outs.

Amusement Park Lunches and Snacks

It's no secret - food at amusement parks is expensive and overpriced.  The cost alone to get into most amusement parks is enough, let alone spending $6 for a hot dog.  Our family has recently been blessed with season passes to a local amusement park (read: Disneyland!).  We love being able to go on a regular basis, but can't afford to eat there every time we go.  Instead, we pack our own lunches and snacks, saving us a lot of money (and it's healthier as well).  Below are some of our favorite foods to take with us when we go.  Next time you're heading out to an amusement park, consider packing your own food!

Snacks
It seems that my 3-year-old is always hungry, asking for snacks every 10 minutes (which she doesn't get).  So when we go to Disneyland, I don't want to have to dish out almost $4 for a pretzel every time she needs a snack.  I make sure we take a variety of snacks for my daughter, my husband, and I.  This avoids any temptation to buy the overpriced amusement park snacks.

Refrigerated Snacks:  We take one or two lunch-sized coolers with us when we go to Disneyland.  Since our daughter's usually with us, we just keep everything in the stroller.  When we choose to go by ourselves (shhhh...don't tell our daughter that we go without her), we rent a locker to hold all of our goodies.  I believe it costs about $6 for a locker that is large enough to hold 2 lunch-sized coolers, plus a whole bunch of other stuff (i.e. sweatshirts).  Even though we are having to pay, it's still much cheaper than buying food there.  In one cooler, we'll usually put ice packs.  The other cooler we'll keep cold with frozen water bottles.  That way, we have a way of keeping our cooler cold, plus we'll have cold water to drink later in the day once the ice has melted.

In our coolers, we'll take string cheese, yogurt, (I splurged and bought some GoGurts for a 3-day Disneyland trip we took a couple months ago), and grapes.  You could also take cut up veggies with Ranch (or hummus) or cut fruit.  If I didn't have the GoGurts, I would probably just put yogurt in a small plastic container and a spoon.  That would be the more economical way to do it.

Non-Refrigerated Snacks: I usually take a small backpack to carry around the park with us.  In here, I'll pack whole apples, Cuties, pretzels along with a plastic container filled with peanut butter or hummus, Cheerios, granola bars, goldfish, trail mix, etc.  And I'm not talking individual-size pre-packaged goldfish and pretzels.  I'm talking about filling a zip-top bag.  It's much cheaper and accomplishes the same goal.  For price comparisons check out Sumiko's post here.  I will take individual-size pre-packaged snacks if I find them at a decent price.  For example, I bought a box of fruit snacks on clearance for $0.25, which I took with us one time we went.

Special Snacks: One of the fun things about going to an amusement park is the fun and special snacks.  The kettle corn, popcorn, cotton candy, and churros.  Since going to Disneyland is a special occasion, I do try to pack some special snacks for our trip.  In the past I've taken caramel corn, chocolate covered caramel corn, and candied almonds.  Kettle corn and popcorn would also be fun to take!

Lunch/Dinner
For lunch, I'll usually pack sandwiches, and we'll splurge and buy a bag of chips.  We'll also eat some of the snacks we've brought if the sandwiches and chips don't fill us up.

So, it's pretty simple, and you can get pretty creative with your food!  Just make sure to have lots of fun!  For other snack tips, read Sumiko's school lunch post.

Mixed Bean Soup

In case you haven’t noticed, let me just tell you that I love cooking dried beans.  They’re cheap, easy, nutritious, versatile, delicious, and have a long shelf life.  Of course, I buy all mine from the bulk bins at WinCo.

I use whatever I have in my pantry.  This time it was pintos
small red beans, small white beans, kidney beans, lentils,
green split peas, and black beans.

The thing that I find ridiculous is that you can buy bean soup mixes for a lot more than it would cost you to buy the beans yourself.  All they do is mix them for you.  WinCo even has a 13 bean mix in the bulk bins.  It is actually reasonably priced at about $1.22/lb.  But I don’t pay near that for any of the beans I buy.  Take the same bean mix, bag it, and put it in a Harry & David store, and it’ll cost you over $5/lb!

So pretty!

One of the easiest things to make with beans is bean soup.  While I often cook beans in the slow cooker, I prefer to make bean soup on the stove.  This way I can cook the beans and then add and cook the veggies without having to dirty extra dishes.

In the directions below, I quick soak the beans.  In lieu of this, you can soak them overnight and go right to cooking them.

There are two ways you can get a complete protein out of this soup.  The first (and cheapest) way is to serve it with or over rice.  The second way is to add meat to it.  Ham, bacon, or sausage would make a great addition.  The last time I made this soup, I served it with bacon that I had found on sale a while ago and stored in my freezer.  But of course, I try to stretch meat as much as possible.  So rather than mixing it into the soup, I chopped it up and served it as a garnish sprinkled on top.  Not only does this provide great protein and flavor, but the crispiness of the bacon adds great texture contrast.

Of course, this recipe makes a lot.  I like to make a big batch and freeze some of it.  You can easily halve the recipe.

To make this vegan, simply substitute vegetable bouillon for the chicken bouillon and don't garnish with sour cream or bacon.

Mixed Bean Soup

2 lb. (about 5½ c.) beans, rinsed

4 qts. water

2 carrots, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

½ c. chicken bouillon

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Sour cream or yogurt (optional)

Bacon, cooked and diced (optional)

Place beans and water in large stock pot.  Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes.  Turn off heat; let sit, covered, for 1 hour.  Return to boil, reduce heat and simmer about 1 ½ hours.  Add carrots, celery, and bouillon.  

Bring to boil again; reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.  To thicken the soup, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon until desired consistency is reached.

Consistency before smashing beans...

Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with sour cream or yogurt and bacon.

...thicker consistency after beans have been smashed.

Snickerdoodles

I have to apologize for the lack of healthy recipes (or even recipes that can be served for dinner, for that matter) from me recently.  I seem to be going through a lull in inspiration, but I always have plenty of dessert ideas, so here you go!  And since it's Christmas, which is cookie baking time, I think I can get away with this one.  :)  These Snickerdoodles are so yummy!  They stay nice and soft and chewy!  The funny thing about Snickerdoodles is that the cookies themselves really aren't that good.  But then you roll them in cinnamon sugar, and they transform into addictive little morsels!

Snickerdoodles
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar plus 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl; add sugar and beat well.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.  Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until a dough is formed.  Roll the dough into 1-inch balls then roll in cinnamon sugar.

Place the balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until cookies are crinkly, but soft.  Remove to racks to cool.  Sorry that I don't have a picture of the finished product!  Next time I make these, I'll be sure to post a picture!

The dough can be frozen for later use.  Once they're rolled in the cinnamon sugar, place them on a cookie sheet in the freezer until they're firm, then place in a zip top bag and freeze.

Today's Post

Sorry there's no post ready for today.  My parents have been visiting and it's been busy fun (as my 3-year-old would say)!!  Check back tomorrow for today's post!

Carnitas

Things we love:  slow cookers, roasts, meat under $2/lb., flavorful meals, healthy food, minimal active prep, leftovers.  Why not put it all in one recipe?

“Carnitas” literally means “little meats.”  It is a Mexican way of preparing pork that involves braising a pork roast until it is tender and falls apart.  Because the meat is braised, you can get away with using an otherwise tough and undesirable chunk of pork.  This means you can often find it at a good price.  The last two weeks, WinCo has had pork chuck roast on sale for $1.69/lb.  So of course I bought too many.  It may also labeled as “shoulder,” “Boston butt,” and “picnic ham.”

The meat itself is so flavorful that it is delicious by itself.  I like the meat rolled in a warm tortilla with no competing flavors.  For the kids, I add cheese, sour cream or yogurt, corn, and salsa.  Robbie discovered that it is excellent with my neighbor Fred’s green salsa.  I’ll have to pry that recipe out of him.

If you want, you can trim the meat before cooking it, but I prefer to leave it until after it is cooked.  Not only does it contribute to the flavor, but it helps keep the meat moist by providing a barrier for water evaporation.

Carnitas

1 c. water

1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon

2 bay leaves

1 pork shoulder roast (about 4 lbs.)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cumin

¼ tsp. paprika

dash cayenne pepper (optional)

½ tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Place water, bouillon, and bay leaves in bottom of slow cooker.  Place roast in crock, fattiest side up.  Sprinkle remaining spices over top.

Cook on low 8-10 hours.

Spoon some of the broth over top to rinse the spices off.  Remove any fat.  Shred meat using two forks.

Cake Series: Chocolate, Almond, and Caramel Filling

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, I made a fire truck cake.  The design of the cake was strictly for her - she loves fire trucks!  The inside of the cake, however, was a little bit selfish because I chose what went inside.  Really, my daughter doesn't care, as long as it's sweet.  I decided to do something similar to our wedding cake, which I don't remember the exact flavors of since I only got one bite, but I remember that everyone raved about it.  Anyway, this is my take on what was in it...or at least what I think was in it.  It's a very rich cake, so you only need a small piece...and a big glass of milk.  I made a chocolate cake and filled it with whipped ganache, almonds, chocolate, and caramel.

Chocolate, Almond, and Caramel Filling
Whipped chocolate ganache
Sliced almonds, toasted
Chocolate chips, melted
Caramel sauce (see recipe below)

On the bottom layer of cake, spread whipped ganache then sprinkle with almonds.  Drizzle with melted chocolate chips and caramel.  Place another layer of cake and repeat as many times as desired.

Sorry, I chose a bad piece to get a picture of.  The layers kind of ran together, but it still tasted good!

Caramel Filling
2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

Combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk in a heavy saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Carefully stir in the heavy whipping cream.  Continue cooking until it reaches 238 degrees, or the softball stage.  During this time, you'll want to refrain from stirring, otherwise you'll end up with grainy caramel!  Once it hits 238, remove it from the heat and add the vanilla and salt.  Pour it into a bowl to cool.  It's important to let it cool before putting it on a cake, especially if you're putting it on a whipped ganache, as it will just melt the ganache if the caramel's still hot.

Watch the temperature closely!

Yum! 

The finished product!