Summer has really hit my neck of the woods with a vengeance. 90 degrees has become the norm and the mercury (well, I guess most thermometers don’t use mercury anymore, right?) has even topped 100 a few times.
Not good baking weather, eh?
It’s hard because my boys are involved in a lot of sports this year and boy-oh-boy are they craving treats.
They are super hungry from all the physical activity, but mom is hot and really doesn’t want to be turning the oven on to bake cookies, bars, or anything of the sort.
Really, once the weather gets above 80 degrees, my oven basically goes on vacation–especially since we got our last electric bill. Sigh.
Well, if you’re like me and are trying to provide healthy, simple snacks for yourself and your family during the summer months, then this recipe is for you.
My boys love this recipe. I “found” it when one of them was sick. You know –one of those “I don’t want to eat anything” days. I got out an old box of gelatin that I’d had sitting in my cupboard, took a tour of the internet looking for a way to make my own gelatin, and after tinkering for a bit, we settled on this recipe.
This gelatin really hits the spot and we’ve been making it on and off ever since. I hope you enjoy it as well.
Homemade Lemon or Lime “Jello” or Gelatin Squares
Makes 2 8×8 square pans of dessert.
*NOTES:
– Stevia is super sweet. One scoop is only 1/32 of a teaspoon and equals about 2 Tbsp of sugar. These tiny measuring spoons are on my shopping list to make scooping stevia more convenient.
– I recommend using Great Lakes Gelatin. It’s made from pastured cows from Argentina that haven’t been treated with antibiotics or hormones. One money saving tip: You can save by purchasing a large container. According to the company, gelatin doesn’t spoil :-)!
Of course, you can make Homemade “Jello” with regular or whole juice as well. I’m working on that recipe and hope to have it to share soon.
This recipe is super versatile. You can add chopped fruit to this prior to chilling, but don’t use fresh pineapple because the enzymes in it will cause the gelatin not to set. Canned pineapple is fine.
One fun serving idea is to purchase small ice cube molds and pour the gelatin into them for molding. Or, you can use cookie cutters to cut the gelatin squares into fun shapes!
Looking for other “No Bake” Summer Recipes to feed your hungry brood (or yourself)? How about:
- Very Berry Mousse
- Chocolate Chia Pudding
- Chocolate Coconut Squares (like Almond Joy)
- Almond Butter Truffles
- Chocolate Almond Chip Coconut Milk Ice Cream
Do you have a favorite No Bake Summer Treat?
Adrienne Urban of Whole New Mom is a wife and a homeschooling mother of two boys, one of whom has Asperger’s and life-threatening food allergies. In her past life she worked in the financial services industry and also taught in Japan. She has a passion to help others navigate the sea of information on the road to healthier lives while trusting God for the results of their efforts. Because she loves to (and can’t afford not to :-)), she specializes in frugal living and simplifying special diets (allergen-, gluten- and sugar-free). You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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looks yummy! can’t wait for the juice version…. I am trying to convert a recipe from my MIL that my husband loves to real food and it uses strawberry or raspberry jell-o pack 😉 I should be able to find an all juice raspberry I think.
I think the conversion is going to be quite simple, but I want to make sure. I’ll try to make it soon!
Thanks for recommending the gelatin–I would much prefer to buy gelatin from pastured cows. We also rarely use our oven in the summer, too. This morning I really wanted to test a recipe, though, so I woke up at 6:30 to use the oven before it got hot outside! I think I will try this recipe using only stevia.
Early morning baking is about the only way to go…or putting a convection oven in the garage :-). Hope the stevia works well. I think it works best with other sweeteners.
108 degrees today in my neck of the woods. Timely recipe!
:-). We had that just this past week. It was definitely not baking weather.
I think my littles would like this. Thanks for the gelatin recipe. I recently saw a recipe for make your own gummy worms with fruit juice, a ton of gelatin, and heavy cream poured into straws. I want to try it, but I didn’t want to use gelatin from feed-lot cows (eww). Gonna order some!
Oh, and I use my purple clay crockpot when it’s too hot for the oven. One way to keep the kitchen cool!
gelatin *recommendation*, not recipe. Sorry.
Is a purple clay crockpot different than a regular one? I have a gummy recipe that just uses applesauce I think. I am interested in trying it. Thanks for the reminder.
It’s so funny Kimi, cause I’ve been playing around with Gelatin recipes too the past week or so as well. I’m also low carb so instead of using juice I used 1/4 organic lemon oil and it came out really well. I also found a company in Canada that has organic gelatin power, it’s a bit more expensive but I bought a small package to try it out.
http://www.gobiofood.com/organic-gelatin-powder-p-1987.html?osCsid=ef2c499dba0cc5e23f06f2c3387f3889
The lemon oil is a great idea. But I’m sure you know that lemon and lime juice are considered to be extremely low carb. Lemons, limes, and cranberries are allowed fruits on the acti-candida diet. Take care!
That’s 1/4 tsp lemon oil 🙂
Yes, Adrienne, but I had the oils so I was experimenting. thanks.
Do you have any idea how much liquid stevia would equal the dry stevia in the recipe? Thanks! Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Julie. Converting can be tough, but I would start w/ trying 2 drops for every 1 Tbsp sugar. I am always wondering about these conversions and the labels tend to not be consistent, but try that out and let me know. Even the info on the scoop size seems to not be consistent. Sigh.
Kimmi, See if you can find a copy of Kick the Junk Food Habit with Snackers by Maureen and Jim Wallace. There are many recipes that don’t require cooking.
those look awesome! so refreshing and perfect for summer!
Thanks Caralyn!
I make my own jello too, but make it extra firm because I think the gelatin is good for my creaky joints. Four cups of bottled juice (cran grape or something similar) and 1/2 cup Great Lakes gelatin. Makes jello that I can pick up and run out the door with, along with no artificial colors/flavors.
Hi Laurel. It is really good for you. Do you find it helps? I will try your recipe! I typically make one kind of each b/c my kids like it both ways, but I do like getting the extra protein into them. I’ll have to figure out how much protein that is – how much does this make? Do you put it in an 8×8 pan?
Gelatin is such a wonderful summer treat, and your recipe sounds delicious. It’s great that it is all natural as well!
Made this tonight, yum! Thanks so much for the allergen and sugar free dessert, makes me so happy! 🙂
I am so far behind on my e-mails this summer that I just now read this post! What a great idea!! We have a canister of gelatin in our cabinet and a bunch of older berries/peaches in our freezer which need used up. and just in time for school! gelatin fruit blocks!!
I want to make a cake for St Patricks day it calls for 2 pks of lime gelatin I only can fine plain how do I make it to be lime
I made this recipe tonight…just put the jello in the fridge. But I have a question about the “3 cups cold water, divided.” Why does it need to be divided? I never saw anything in the instructions about adding the second half of the cold water. I went ahead and added it at the end. I hope I read the recipe correctly…1 1/2 cups boiling water + 3 cups cold water for the total recipe. Is this correct? Thanks!
Did yours turn out? I have that same question !
The ingredients are 1 1/2 cups boiling water and 3 cups cold water (divided)
But the recipe says
1. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the cold water into a bowl Let sit to soften while you boil the water.
2. Add the boiling water to the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
Let Cold water sit to soften…I guess she uses the Bloom method as I do…
I use the cold to soften (bloom) then hot to melt