Strawberry Jello!

The weather for the last couple of weeks has been gorgeous. The veil finally lifted off the gloomy, foggy, mossy, overcast Northwest and we are enjoying clear skies, 80 degree weather, and sunshine. Needless to say I have been pretty excited about the chance to absorb some real vitamin D and, of course, starting to be more physically active outside.

There has been one slight drawback though: my kitchen gets very hot in the summer so I haven't made much broth lately, and as I explained in this post, I want to drink more broth because of all the healing properties it has for the joints, digestive, and immune systems.

Once the weather got nice, and it got progressively warmer outside and in, I ordered some gelatin to compensate for the lack of yummy broth simmering in the kitchen. For centuries traditional cultures have simmered skin, cartilage, and bones for long periods of time in order to create a gelatinous stock they would drink on regular basis. My family would make borscht with the stock at least once a week. Yes, even in the summer time, my mother is amazing that way! While store bought gelatin does not contain all of the amazing nutrients homemade broth does, it can still be a good replacement for the times when your kitchen is too hot or you are too busy to make your own bone broth.

What do I mean when I say store-bought gelatin? Definitely not those little brightly colored boxes in the prepackaged aisle at Safeway that say "Jell-O" on the front. Real gelatin comes from the good bits of healthy animals and does does not contain any added sugar, flavoring, or other artificial ingredients: Here are my two favorite sources of gelatin: Bernard Jensen and Great Lakes

To read more about gelatin, read this informative article by Food Renegade  and this articlee by Ray Peat.  Wellness Mama has a great article about 12 unusual ways to use gelatin which I found super intriguing and helpful also.

I was so thrilled to get my order in today because I have been looking forward to making Jello and chocolate pudding for desert during these beautiful summer days. Tonight we are having our dose of gelatin mixed with some yummy organic strawberries, raw honey, and fresh mint. It took me no time to prepare! Shhhh, don't tell my husband. He was so impressed I made these and got all of our laundry done ;-)  Hey, if he wants to think I am wonder woman, I'm not going to argue!

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups organic fresh or frozen strawberries
• 2 tablespoons of raw honey
• 1.5 tablespoons of organic gelatin
• 3 leaves of fresh mint

Preparation

1. Place the strawberries in a saucepan on low heat
2. After simmering for ten min mash them up with a potato masher.
3. Put them back on the stove and add the honey while stirring constantly.
4. Toss in the gelatin, stirring constantly.
5. Let it simmer for another five minutes.
6. Pour into ramekins or small bowls and cool in the fridge for about thirty minutes.
7. Serve it with fresh mint leaves, optional
8. Enjoy!

Serves 2

This post was shared on Party Wave Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Fat Tuesday, Thank Your Body Thursday,