Homemade Jello

We were at a dinner party several weeks ago and our hostess asked my daughter if she would like some jello.  My daughter looked hesitant for a moment and then looked up at me and said, "Mom, what's jello?"

Wait.  Time out.

What's jello?

I couldn't believe my ears.  How does my daughter not know what jello is?  What kind of childhood is she having anyway???

Now I have to say that I love jello.  I really do.  I mean, who doesn't?  My favorite jello growing up was orange jello with mandarin oranges in it.  Yum.  When I was pregnant with my daughter I stocked up on all kinds of things to get ready for the new baby and I distinctly remember the long row of jello, in every flavor imaginable, in my cupboard.  I guess for some reason I felt that if I had enough jello to last me a year somehow everything was going to be okay.

When my daughter was two she had some sort of strange allergic reaction.  For a long time I thought it was food dye related, but later realized it was something else.  In the meantime I did A LOT of research on food dyes and decided that it was probably better to eliminate them from our diet as best we could.  Llately we've been trying to cut down on our sugar intake too, especially since the new year.  I've been trying to be very diligent about it.  Needless to say, between food dyes and sugar, jello is something we haven't had for quite a while. 

The other day I came across this fabulous little recipe for homemade jello and since it's made from 100% fruit juice I figured it couldn't be too bad for us.  And more importantly every child just needs to have jello every once in awhile. Right?

The best part about it is that it takes just as long to make as any ol' jello and tastes just as good too!  Plus there are a lot of health benefits to consuming gelatin, like healthy hair and nails.  It's also good for your digestive system, joints, and metabolism.

All you need is three simple ingredients.  100% juice, honey, and unflavored gelatine.

My kids love to help make this favorite treat.  It's a simple enough recipe that they can help do most of it.  Measuring and mixing are the perfect way to let kids help in the kitchen.

It makes a great snack to pull out of the fridge in the afternoons.  Yum.

Juice Gelatine

4 cups juice

4 packets unflavored gelatine

2 tablespoons honey

Pour 2 cups juice in bowl and stir in gelatine.  While this sits heat the remaining juice and honey to a boil.  Pour hot juice over juice and gelatine mixture.  Stir for 2-3 minutes until gelatine is completely dissolved.  Pour mixture into 8 x 8 pan.  Cover in plastic wrap and chill for three hours or until firm.  Cut into squares.

Enjoy!