Gelled Strawberry Pudding

The weather this past weekend was amazing; filled with sunshine and warmth, it was really easy to find a patio and a couple cocktails!  If this weather keeps up, I'll be thinking that summer is right around the corner.  It's this warm weather that has me longing for summer food, and right now those cravings revolve around fruit.  I had this recipe in my sights to make (they call it a crustless pie, but it's really not very pie like to me), and since the weather was so nice, it was calling me to make it.  I changed the recipe a bit, and created what I'm calling a Gelled Strawberry Pudding.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 envelope no sugar added gelatin, strawberry flavour

1 envelope fat free pudding, vanilla flavour

2 cups fresh strawberries, washed and cut into bit sized pieces

2 cups water

 

Steps:

1 - Pour the envelope of pudding into a small pot.  Slowly start adding the water to the pudding, whisking continuously, and stopping occasionally to make sure it's all mixed together.  This will take some time, but is worth it in the end.  You really want to incorporate the pudding evenly, otherwise it ends up looking like you have scrambled eggs in your gelatin.  (Don't ask how I know this.)

2 - Heat the pudding mixture on medium heat, whisking constantly until the liquid is bubbly.

3 - Remove the pot from heat and slowly start sprinkling the envelope of gelatin powder into it.  Whisk mixture continuously until it's completely combined, and pink throughout.

4 - Divide strawberries between four small serving bowls, and pour half a cup of the gelatin pudding liquid into each bowl, over top of the strawberries.

5 -  Allow mixture to set in the fridge for about an hour, and enjoy.

 

Another option for this recipe would be to make it in a large pie pan, just mixing everything together, and not dividing it into individual servings.  Normally I'm not a fan of fruit with gelatin, but this throws in that amazing vanilla flavour, which tastes so good with the fresh strawberries.  It's like having ice cream with it, but a whole lot less calories!

Gelatin Gummy Candies

Since I've had such a sweet tooth, I decided to come up with a healthier alternative to the goodies I've been consuming lately, in particular gummy candies.  The part of these candies that I really enjoy is the texture: that rubbery, chewy consistency that makes my jaw ache after I've eaten too many.  Candy and I go hand in hand; so much so in fact, that Fridays were reserved as a candy day at work, and I'd have a stash of gummy candies ready.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I'd randomly dig into my candy stash and get hyper, leaving my co-workers annoyed at my sugar high.  If I'm going to get to my goal weight, I better kick my bad habits, and replace them with better ones.  So, I found this recipe on Pinterest for an alternative, and I tried my hand at Gelatin Gummy Candies.

Ingredients:

2 envelopes no sugar added gelatin, any flavor

4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup water

Steps:

1 - Pour water into a saucepan, and sprinkle with all six gelatin envelopes.  For a variety I made three batches: orange, raspberry and strawberry.

2 - Heat mixture over medium high heat, until gelatin is dissolved and mixture is thick and bubbly.

3 - Remove from heat and pour mixture into molds.  I used a rubber heart ice cube tray from IKEA, but I'm sure you could find something similar at a dollar store.  Even the ice cube trays designed to make long skinny ice for water bottles would work.  It'd make gummy worms of sorts.

4 - Allow gelatin to set in the fridge for about thirty minutes.  This could take more or less time, just depending on the depth of the candy mould.  The thicker they are, the more time they'll take.

5 - Unmold the candies, and enjoy.



I made these for the first time last night, and they were a BIG hit.  I had two batches already made and in the fridge by the time Justin got home from work.  He didn't look directly in the bowl, but the bright red/pink colour caught his attention, and he just thought I had a bowl of beats on the go.  I took the bowl out to show him my creation, and he was eager for taste testing.  I told him he couldn't eat too many, since I needed to take photos for my recipe post.  I then made a third batch, and was thankful we were leaving the house, so Justin wouldn't eat too many of the candies.

When we arrived back at home, he was very impatient as I took the gummies out of the mold and took my pictures.  I delivered the candies to him on the couch, and he gobbled them up.  When he asked where I got the recipe from, I told him to take a guess.  He's catching on to my love of Pinterest!

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I must be in a roasted vegetable kind of mood lately, because this recipe came to me shortly after making the Spiced Cauliflower Poppers.  I wanted to come up with a spaghetti sauce that was healthier than the jarred varieties, and I created a sauce that was pretty tasty.  I had meant to write a post about it, but never got around to it.  I'm glad I didn't though, because I made the sauce again over Easter and tweaked the recipe, making it even better.  I present to you my Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 medium sized red onion

2 medium sized red peppers

cooking spray

2/3 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (I used Club House Italiano)

1 tablespoon salsa seasoning (I used MPK Mucho Foods Salsa Mix)

 

Steps:

1 - Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2 - Cut peppers and onions into large pieces.  They'll get pureed later, so it doesn't really matter the size, just chunky bits.

3 - Put the peppers and onion into a bowl, and spray lightly with cooking spray. Toss, then spray again.

5 - Put the peppers and onion on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and pop in the oven.

6 - Bake for a total of half an hour, taking them out of the oven after fifteen minutes to rotate them, so each side gets a little caramelized.

7 - Once the peppers and onion are baked, place in a food processor to puree to a chunky salsa consistency.  Add the canned tomatoes with juice and puree again, this time creating a nice sauce texture. 

8 - Next add the garlic, Italian and salsa seasonings to your sauce, and puree once again to mix thoroughly.

9 - If the sauce has cooled down, heat it up in a pot over the stove.  Serve and enjoy.

 

This recipe makes enough to share between two people.  The first time I made the sauce, I ate it with spaghetti squash and added it to pre-packaged ravioli.  When I made it again over Easter, I put it over spaghettini and enjoyed turkey spinach meatballs with it.  Once I have the meatballs perfected, I'll share that recipe too!

Let me know what you think of the sauce.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Spiced Cauliflower Poppers

When I decided to create a new blog, I wanted to come up with a name that had multiple meanings and that stood out.  To me "soup" is the comfort part of life, and "laundry" is the every day stuff.  But when I ran Soup and Laundry past my parents, my dad immediately said that if there's soup in the title, he'd expect to see recipes featured on my blog.  Well, this one's for you dad!

I'm pretty much addicted to Pinterest;  there are SO many amazing recipes, it's almost overwhelming.  I found a great recipe for Baked Cauliflower Poppers, and then saw a recipe for Spiced Sweet Potato Chips that looked good, so naturally I got to thinking.  I thought: self, what if I combined these two recipes and used the seasoning from the sweet potatoes chips to season the cauliflower poppers.  And so we have, Spiced Cauliflower Poppers.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

cooking spray

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon sweetener

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Steps:

1 - Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2 - Chop up the head of cauliflower into bit sized bits.

3 - Put the poppers into a bowl, and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Toss, then spray again, toss and spray one last time.

4 - Mix the spices together in a separate bowl, and sprinkle half onto the poppers.  Toss the cauliflower, then sprinkle with the other half of the spice mixture.

5 - Put the poppers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and pop in the oven.

6 - Bake for a total of one hour.  Take the poppers out of the oven every fifteen minutes to rotate them, so each side gets crispy and yummy.  They don't get burnt, they just get tastier!

7 - Serve with a side of ketchup to dunk the poppers in, and enjoy.

Note - If you prefer crispier fries, like Justin does, I'd recommend chopping the cauliflower into smaller bits, and maybe cooking them for an additional 15 minutes.  And although these have flavour, they are not spicy, just really tasty, and very addictive!

I made these last night while Justin was home, but he went over to a friend's before they were finishing baking.  When they were done I sat down and had a couple, then a couple more, then soon enough the whole batch was in my belly.  I did feel bad that I didn't leave Justin any, but then didn't because they are just that good!  If you snooze you lose, right?

Let me know what you think of them, and expect to see more recipes popping up on this 'ol blog!