"Healthy" Finger Jello

Usually I have plenty of help in the kitchen when I'm making food for small children. My sweet granddaughter likes to wear her Aunt Kassidy's apron when we cook.













And after our work, we have time for a little recreation ! This is my grandson's favorite part!


I decided to try a new recipe for "healthy" finger Jello, even though my great helpers were elsewhere.





The ingredients are simple: water, unflavored gelatin, and frozen grape juice. (That's the cookbook in the background..The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster
(Continuously Advertised Nutritionally Deficient Yummies) by Vicki Lansky.










In this photo, the finger jello looks like brownies, but it is really a lovely dark purple color, and very sweet.


My boxer, Max, kept begging for a bite...and another bite...and another.




If my grandchildren, won't eat the finger Jello, Max will !









"Healthy" Grape Finger Jello

1 (12 oz.) can frozen grape juice concentrate, thawed
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups water

Soften gelatin in grape juice. Boil the water, add the juice/gelatin mixture and stir till gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat, pour into a lightly greased 9x13-inch pan, cool and then chill. Cut into squares when firm. Refrigerate in a covered container.

Variation: You can use frozen cranberry juice cocktail for grape juice.


Happy Healthy Infusions,

Kate

Happy Mother's Day to My "Teenage" Mom

I love being my mother's daughter ! I was the only daughter for quite awhile, until both my brothers married. Now there are 3 daughters in our family. However, I am the daughter who had a "teenage" mom !

My mother is an incredible woman. She was born in rural Missouri, in the Ozarks. Her mother died when she was eight and her sister was six. She was raised on a farm by a single father, with a little help from the grandparents. She was poor, but never had a "poverty" or victim mentality. After graduating from high school early, she attended a teachers college. She was teaching school when she met my Dad. They married when she was eighteen and came to California. My father and grandparents decided to go into business in Washington and I was born a year later.

When my youngest brother started Kindergarten, my mother went back to college to earn her teaching credential. She taught school for over 28 years. After we all left home, she obtained an administrative credential and a Masters Degree. One of her most endearing qualities is her patient steadfastness, she always accomplishes what she sets out to do !

We were required to finish our Saturday chores before we could go anywhere. If you were really sick, she was a sympathetic nurse. If you were trying to pull one over on her, you were banished to your room, with no T.V. and you had to stay in bed until you were feeling better, which of course, was the entire school day! She was famous for saying, "This too shall pass", "Life's not a bed of roses", "You made your bed, now you'll have to sleep in it", and the really gross question, " If everyone stuck their head in a toilet, would you ?" ( That was used if you tried the old, "But everyone else is doing it" routine.)


Now in her eighties, she is still positive and active. She sees, speaks and believes the best about people, especially her family ! She is sensitive, insightful, full of grace and love ! Her cards and notes are always encouraging. She attends the graduations, plays, sports events and birthday parties of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She has many friends at church, and keeps in touch with family members across the U.S. She enjoys traveling. We are leaving for Humansville, Missouri after Mother's Day. She still has hopes and dreams and persistently pursues her projects, and she is still married to my Dad ! (Sixty-three years in November) Not bad for a "teenage" Mom !!

Happy Mother's Day !

May every day be your cup of tea,

Kathryn
http://www.oregonstreetteacompany.com