Childhood and gummy snacks

It's been a long week.

It has been a week that made most of America weary, tired, and bleary eyed. I have never been so grateful for law enforcement and first responders. But, I have had to talk to my children about tragedy and about helpers.

When I was explaining the now well known Mr Rogers quote about looking for ones who help in times of chaos and tragedy, my six year old gave me a great analogy. When you are at a big dinner at someone's house, someone has to get the kids more milk. It is always the same people who get up and help. But, someone always helps. When a kid falls on a playground, a grown up always checks on the kid. People help. I love that she has faith in fellow man after this week. I love that she knows that though there are bad people; there are more people who are good. I don't try to shelter her from the world. She will have to go into that world. I can't control whether I get to be by her side. Unfortunately, she realizes that there are things neither of us can control.

What does all of this have to do with the current recipe? Well, today I took a break from spring cleaning to make some gelatin snacks. They are jiggly, silly, and yummy. I need to get cool shapes. That is what everyone wants kids to have - silly, jiggly fun.

The basics of gummy snacks are easy. You should have some high quality gelatin. I buy Great Lakes orange label gelatin. The ratio of liquid to gelatin is for each cup of liquid, you need one tablespoon of gelatin. Now a lot of times I add liquids like kombucha which I do not want to heat. Not a problem, I warm one cup of liquid, dissolve the 2 tablespoons of gelatin, then let it cool before adding the kombucha.

Today's treat - Orange Kombucha Gummy Snacks:

I squeezed 2 oranges and got almost a full cup of juice. Since it wasn't a full cup and I was out of orange, I juice a lime. Yeah that made it tart. I warmed the juice and dissolved the 2 tablespoons of gelatin. It was tart so I added 1/4 teaspoon of honey. I wouldn't have needed the honey if I would have left out the line juice. I poured it in a bowl to let it cool a bit, like 5 minutes. Then I stirred in the kombucha. I have a silicone mini muffin pan. It makes a perfect mold. I poured the mixture into the mold which I had resting on a cookie sheet. The whole thing went into the frig for 30 minutes. Yeah, this is yummy. I pop them put with a butter knife and store in the frig. I don't know how long they keep because they get eaten in about 3 days at my house.

Another versions- sub grapefruit juice for orange juice - YUM!!
- purée over ripe strawberries and sub for the orange juice. (You can also use blackberries but strain out the seeds).
- you can make these with over ripe bananas but you need to strain well and add pomegranate juice.
- blood oranges seem a bit tart so I add a little honey.

Actually, pomegranate juice is great to add anytime it will have an odd color.

Have some yummy gelatin post workout!
Have fun and don't take life too seriously, Mom