Saturday, May 31, 2014

Party time! Mexican Jello recipe

Hi everyone! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a fun recipe for you. ( I'm uploading this post in IE, so wish me luck... I've had to use Chrome for a few months. No idea why.)

Anyway, it's getting close to party time at my house. It's not a day, or a week, but more like a season. Most of the little people in this house were born during the summer months. (Cue the jokes on trying to stay warm all winter! It's true!!) So, from now until September, we're going to be PARTY CENTRAL.
But first, I have to say, this is my month for movies. I already went to see Divergent for my birthday, and that was fun! And now the same friend asked to meet for Maleficent. I'd rather see The Fault in Our Stars, but since I still have a head cold and sobbing might kill me, I agreed. I'll let you know how it is! I love a villain remade into a hero (or heroine). I have high hopes.
                                            
Remember the picture I posted on Tuesday? I decided to try it out! It was actually MUCH easier than I thought it would be. So, here is a quick tutorial. I won't bother with the steps on how to make the Jello. We all probably know how to do that. I used the Jiggler recipe on the side of the box.
 I didn't need to clear out a whole shelf in the fridge because I have stacking Tupperware. How great is this?? So, I mixed up the Jigglers, put on the tops, and stacked them in the fridge. I left them overnight but I'm sure it would be fine after a few hours.

 When I brought them out of the fridge, the little guys had to smell each one to see which was the yummiest. Verdict? Black Cherry!
 Carefully cut into cubes and put in a small pan. I wanted to share this with friends so we doubled the recipe. I used the top and bottom plastic pieces of a cookie container from the store. (Yes, I bought cookies. And no, they weren't really good. Live and learn. That's what I get for shopping hungry!)
 Kav, this picture is for you. :)
 Now, after you've placed lots of little squares of different flavors in the containers, get out your plain Knox gelatin. You'll need two small packets for every can of sweetened condensed milk. Since I doubled the batch, I added four packets to one cup of cold water.

                               
Stir until the gelatin starts to come together in little grainy bits. (Like my nails? My daughters' pen pal, Tessa, from Germany, sent them a packet of nail doodads. We're not nail people. But suddenly, it looked like a good time! We had a lot of fun decorating ourselves. And see, they match my kitchen!)
 No, add two cans sweetened condensed milk to 3 cups boiling water (or one can condensed milk to 1 1/2 cups boiling water). Stir until throughly mixed.
   (Now, I've had this before when it was made by friends of ours and I could swear the white jello had a flavor. But the recipe I got from the internet didn't add anything to it, so I didn't. Asking my friend later, she said you can add vanilla or any other flavor or color. I thought so! I'll do that next time.)
 Pour the milk and gelatin mix over the Jello pieces. Make sure they're all submerged.

 Like so. I can see bits and pieces where I wasn't very careful cutting or dropping them in. Uh oh. I hope it works!
 After a night in the fridge, they looked like this!

A small person (who has a birthday coming!) loved this dish! He's a picky eater and although he did pick out all the lime bits, he loved the dessert. Score!
 Close up for effect. It really smelled delicious. Sort of a fruity, milky summer smell.
So, I think this was a winning recipe but something else I saw on the site really caught my attention. Has anyone else wanted to recreate Turkish delight, like in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe?? The same site had a link to Sparkly Fruit Gummies!

Do these look fun or what?? They just scream "summer treat" to me! And our region is famous for our Aplets and Cotlets so I want to try those, too. I've had a recipe for a long time, but I haven't been brave enough to try. But somehow, these look easier!

Ok, we're off to watch the movie. I'll let you know how it is. Anybody else watch a movie lately? Maybe I'll become a movie person and watch a movie every week. Then my posts would be a recipe and movie review, hahaha!

Until next next time!



22 comments:

  1. looks yummy! how much vanilla do you think you'd add to the white part? I still gotta try this! looks so cool! nails are neat too! I never mess with my nails- grew up as a nail biter and have reverted back a bit thanks to stress - but manly because my job requires wearing gloves all the time and the last manicure I got lasted til I got to work - between the gloves rubbing and all the solvents we use they don't stand a chance.

    happy birthday!


    just cut up some watermelon which means I have to haul out trash..sigh...

    Susanna

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  2. Mmmm, watermelon sounds delicious right now! It's been so hot here, at least 85F all week.

    I'd put 1/2 a tsp in with one can of the condensed milk. I was thinking about raspberry flavoring and a little pink color. Sounds good! I'll have to fiddled with it a bit. We're all Jello'd out right now but maybe in a month we'll try another batch. :D

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  3. Honestly, who gets up in the morning and thinks, "I'm going to create a new dessert recipe using jello and sweetened condensed milk?" Someone way more creative than me, that's for sure! I've never seen anything like this. The end result looks almost marbled. Very artistic. And thanks for the blue jello pic -- but what did it taste like? It looks like it would have mouth wash flavour. LOL. I guess you have to be a kid to appreciate blue jello.

    I'd be interested in hearing what you thought of Malificent. I haven't been to a movie in over four years! I miss being able to rent a dvd. The Netflix isn't great in Canada -- mostly weird defunct tv series so I don't subscribe. I'm in movie limbo. :-0

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    1. I like the blue jello! It's kinda berry flavored usually...jolly rancher makes a blue candy too and it's my third fave after watermelon and green apple . Don't blame the kid for picking out the green..
      Susanna

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    2. I'm not a fan of lime, either. It tastes bitter to me, no matter how much sugar you add. As for the blueberry, it's sort of related to raspberry. Think zing and sweet.

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    3. OK, the movie: I don't watch many movies because I get really, really bored. I can't skip ahead, I can't stop to google a fact. I feel like I'm listening to a really long conversation between two people an I don't get to join in. BUT I love to watch movies with someone who makes funny asides. My friend Stacey was giving a little shorthand movie trivia while it was going on, and few snarky jokes.

      Otherwise... I'd say 5 stars for CGI effects. I'm not a fan of the whole CGI trend. I'd rather have an actual plot with dialogue and rounded characters. So, all-around... 2 stars. One whole star is Angelina Jolie. She had about 7 lines an she makes them count! Hilarious. I wouldn't be surprised if she ad-libbed. The dialogue was SO BAD and she was the only one who had anything really good to say.

      The villain was truly evil but had no motivation and changed personality at a whim, the little cute scenes went on way too long, the Sleeping Beauty was cute... but I got tired of looking at her face. The camera would take long, long shots of her and Maleficent until I wanted to say, "YES, I SEE THEM!"

      In short, if I were 8 years old, I would have been wowed out of my head. As it is, It could have been and hour shorter and not missed anything. Beautiful, a feast for the eyes. Not a lot else going on.

      But that's just my opinion! Almost everybody I see on facebook is rating it really high.

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  4. My first thought was this: Virginia you are such an excellent mommy. You make memories every day. When your kids grow up they will remember this and know how blessed they were to have such a childhood.

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    1. Aw, that's lovely. I try to keep in mine that a lot of this they WON'T remember. But they will remember how they felt. If that makes sense.

      At least, that's my excuse when I take them to the park instead of cleaning.

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    2. Sorry, keep in mind! Such bad typing today...

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  5. Second thought: Ruthy and I had Turkish delight at BEA 2011. WE WERE STARVING FOR FOOD. These Middle Eastern folks who had a booth gave us the sweets for which we were very grateful.

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    1. Haahaaaa!!! I had some crusty bread in Poland once when I ended up on a train to Slovakia and didn't have any Slovakian money (way before the Euro, baby). I still remember how great it was!

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  6. Third thought: 85 is not hot.

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    1. True. But you know those first hot days after a cold spell feel like 150F?

      We're a few days in now, an just had our first dust storm. Time to get the AC running and the windows shut tight. Goodbye, night time breeze as I work!

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  7. Scheduled to be 108 here in AZ today.

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  8. Agree on the good mommy comment, Tina! And now I'm craving this jello dessert!!

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    1. Missy, I was just discussing this dessert with my husband and oldest child (as they finished it off). I said the white part didn't impress me much (cue Shania Twain). It was sweet, and cold, and okay, but it needed a flavor. I think vanilla would be great.
      They both said it was perfect because then there would be too many flavors.

      Hm. That wasn't helpful, was it?

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  9. Tina, think back to the old days when you lived in Colorado. 85 is hot.

    But that jello is so...so...fun and elegant at the same time! This is going on my list of things to take to church dinners. The kids will love them!

    Someone used to give my mom and dad Aplets and Cotlets every year for Christmas, and they shared with us. I love those things, and haven't had them for years! I may have to order a box for a special Christmas treat for the family :)

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    1. They're like dandelions around here. :) At Christmas there are sales and we get them for a few bucks a box. I didn't realize they were a unique creation unil a friend from Barbados said that she'd eaten some in New jersey and always remembered them. I
      I was confused. And looked at the back... and realized it was a local goodie! Bonus! Now I send them to folks at Christmas. Of course, some people can't have the nuts so I try to be mindful of that.

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  10. we had 88 the other day but humid hot is worse than regular hot :-(
    well it started thundering really LOUD here so guess this recipe will have to wait as the only ingredient I have on hand is the water! so I'd be bad mommy LOL!
    Susanna

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    1. haha! Well, I went to the store and got the regular gelatin and all the Jello and the condensed milk.... Got home and realized I needed SWEETENED condensed milk! Luckily, I had some in the pantry.

      And yes, we have NO humidity. We're in a valley so we can grow grass, but it's still very dry. Not like the other side of the state, the part everyone thinks of as "Oregon". :D

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  11. Everyone thinks WA is like Seattle or the Olympic Peninsula but it's half desert. I haven't minded the 85 temp...but only when the breeze is blowing. Or I'm not getting in my car at lunch or the end of my work day. It creeps up to 100 in there when it's only 85 outside. The jello looks good but I'm pretty sure Garrett would have eaten a pan by himself. Good thing we've been swamped at my place and haven't been able to come over.

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