Wednesday, July 28, 2004

And Now for Something Completely Different

Glop Tales

You remember the Great Gelatin/Yogurt Experiment?  This started as a way to have a low calorie dessert that would still have some ...oomph.  It worked out so well that we’ve been having fun with the concept all summer and the end result has come, affectionately, to be known as glop.

The last batch went this way.

I have never pitted cherries before in my life.  In fact only last summer did fresh cherries become somewhat affordable in this part of the country.  So the knitting needle is there (size 8 US, for the terminally curious) because I thought I could pole a hole in one side of the fruit and then poke the pit out from the other side.  We all have bright ideas once in a while but this wasn’t one of them :) After thoroughly mushing up the cherry and staining my fingers a lovely cerise, I decided to go with the knife.  That worked just fine and I pitted and halved a couple of cups of fruit.





Then I got out the not-as-big, honkin’ bowl (there is also a big, honkin’ bowl), put the water on to boil and assembled the rest of the stuff - two packages of sugar-free gelatin (cherry flavored, in this case), two 8 oz. Cartons of non-fat, sugar-free yogurt (also cherry) and the prepared fruit - 1-2 cups depending on what you have and how much you want.





If you’re using sugar-free gelatin (and I am) it will dissolve pretty quickly.  I use a wire whisk to encourage it.  Okay, when the water boils, measure out 2 cups and add that to the gelatin.  Stir until everything is dissolved.  Then add the yogurt and stir until completely incorporated.  The whisk comes in handy here as the yogurt - being a semi-solid - needs to be broken up.  When the yogurt and gelatin are mixed to your satisfaction, add the fruit.





Then cover with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to firm up.

Adding fruit does increase the calorie count somewhat, but it also substantially raises the fiber and overall nutritional content.  A little non-dairy whipped topping doesn’t hurt anything either.  And it tastes pretty good too :)

I’ve been playing with all kinds of things as this is easy and even kind of fun.  Instead of yogurt, soft drinks (also sugar-free) can yield interesting flavors and textures.  One package of lemon and one package of lime gelatin made with 7-up (use only 1 cup boiling water to dissolve the gelatin and then add 2 cans (24oz) of 7-up) makes a very refreshing combination.  The next time I try this one, I’m going to add some cut up, green grapes.  Strawberry gelatin combined with strawberry/banana yogurt and a couple of sliced bananas was pretty good too.  Especially spectacular have been the cherry combination above and one I did with orange gelatin, Polar Orange Dry tonic and cut up nectarines.

An imagination is a handy thing to have in the kitchen :)

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1. I am very impressed. I can’t even cook with a recipe!

   Posted by Ryan  on  07/28  at  11:27 AM
   Location :



2. LOL! - but Ryan - this isn’t cooking.  This is just boiling water and stirring things together.

   Posted by Robbyn  on  07/28  at  11:47 AM
   Location : In the kitchen with DInah...



3. Ah, but the proper needle size for pitting cherries is 2mm.  Just ask the Yarn Harlot. :)

   Posted by Natalie  on  07/29  at  08:48 AM
   Location :



4. Natalie - That’s why I thought it would work in the first place :) I couldn’t remember the size, but didn’t think it would matter.  Eh - live and learn :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  07/29  at  09:04 AM
   Location : In the kitchen with DInah...

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