A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Guest Post: Stained Glass Jell-O

Today’s post comes from our neighbor, Peg. Last summer I was excited to hear that a professional baker had moved into the house down the street. What luck! When Tim had his mountain biking accident, I came home from the hospital to find delicious Oreo cupcakes waiting for me. And Peg made a truly miraculous birthday cake for Lexie the weekend that Tim came home from the hospital. Peg’s cakes and cupcakes are quickly becoming legendary in our little town of Prescott. (Her dacquiri cupcakes are to die for.) Peg manages to bake hundreds of cupcakes without batting an eye, while somehow managing three very active boys.

Peg is kindly sharing her recipe for Stained Glass Jell-O. I’ve always wondered how this is made. Read on and enjoy!

Currently, my three sons are running circles around me. Literally. Okay, only two of my sons are doing the running, but still. In a rhythmic exercise session, they are running through the living room, kitchen, hall, and back again. “Hi Mom!”, “Hi Mom!”, “Don’t push me!”, “I’m beating you!”, “NO YOU’RE NOT!” BOOM! “WAAAAAA! I KICKED THE WALL!!”

They are like caged animals frothing at the mouth to get outside. And I am eagerly waiting for the day when, if one of them decides to grace us with his presence at 6:00 a.m., I can open the door and gently “relocate” him to the front yard. All without fear of frostbite and windburn. I imagine juice boxes growing from the trees just WAITING to be picked without any help from mom. And fishy crackers sprouting up in droves to satisfy a preschooler’s snack quest.

Okay, so the snack thing will always be my job, but at least I can look forward to the blissful quiet that comes from the exhaustion of children running for hours OUTSIDE.

My family is B-I-G on tradition. And celebrations. Oh, and anything that would require a party. So this recipe has always worked well for all of our family holidays. Very easy and versatile. I love that you can customize it to the theme of a party. For Halloween, I use orange and purple Jell-O (with a hint of black food coloring). Easter is all pastel, Fourth of July…you got it…red, white, and blue! My kids LOVE it!

Stained Glass Jell-O

Ingredients
6 small boxes of Jell-O (3 oz.) in different flavors
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
water

Dissolve each box of Jell-O separately, using just one cup of boiling water per flavor. Pour into individual containers and chill several hours (or even better, overnight).

Once solid, cut the flavors of Jell-O into small blocks and mix together carefully in a pan. I use a 10 x 14 sheet cake pan, but a  9 x 13 would also work.

In a separate bowl, dissolve 4 envelopes of unflavored gelatin in 4 cups hot water. Let it cool a bit and stir in the condensed milk. When it has cooled to the touch, pour the milk mixture over the Jell-O cubes and chill overnight.

When set, cut the Jell-O into small cubes. You can also cut larger squares and place them in cupcake liners.

Thanks, Peg! Can’t wait to try this with my kids.

Starbucks CD: Every Mother Counts

I read in a magazine the other day that Christy Turlington Burns curated an album with Starbucks called Every Mother Counts to benefit maternal health organizations. Coffee, moms, and newborns—say no more. So I purchased the CD and was listening to it on the way home when song number 3—”This Woman’s Work” sung by Gwyneth Paltrow—played and I went all weepy.

But why? Is it because I’m jealous of the ubiquitous Gwyneth, who is not only gorgeous and an Oscar-winner, but also got to guest star on Glee and perform on the Grammys with Cee-Lo and the Muppets? And she’s written a cookbook?

Okay, yes, I’m a little jealous. But I googled “A Woman’s Work” and realized it’s The Song from She’s Having a Baby. Do you remember that movie? It came out in 1988 and was directed by John Hughes of The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off fame. It stars Elizabeth McGovern and Kevin Bacon, who’s kind of an idiot until he slams up against real life when his wife and baby nearly die during childbirth. “A Woman’s Work” gets you right in the solar plexus as it plays throughout the entire painful—but ultimately uplifting—birth scene.

I had barely recovered from that song when the Dixie Chicks came on with “Lullaby.” I’ve been trying to sing it to the kids for years, but I can’t even make it through the first verse. Seriously, who can sing “How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough, is forever enough” without melting into a puddle? And don’t even get me started on “Motherless Children” by Roseanne Cash.

Luckily, there are lighter songs by a wide variety of artists including Carla Bruni, Martha Wainwright, Ani DiFranco, Sheryl Crow, and Sinead O’Connor.

I should also mention that the CD is a companion to No Woman, No Cry, Turlington Burns’s 2010 documentary about four women from around the world with at-risk pregnancies. Turlington Burns was inspired to create the film after learning that more than 500,000 women die each year during childbirth, and that 90 percent of these deaths are preventable. I’m putting that on the list of films I need to see (along with Food, Inc.). Starbucks is donating $8 from every CD sale to the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), a partner in action with Every Mother Counts, for maternal health-relief efforts worldwide. Click here if you’d like to read more about the CD and how these organizations are helping moms and babies in the U.S. and around the world.

I think this CD would make a great Mother’s Day gift, don’t you?

Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs

Are there enough hours before Easter to make some of these? Tim would be in heaven—Cadbury Creme Eggs are his favorite. He’s obsessed with all things Cadbury. I think it all started when he was a kid in England. These are a little too sweet for me, so I’ll stick with my chocolate-peanut butter eggs.

The recipe actually looks pretty simple, so maybe the kids and I can crank some out when they’re off from school on Friday.

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Easter Project: Wheatgrass Grown in Eggshells

Liz Stanley at Say Yes! to Hoboken always has great ideas for fun DIY projects. I thought her Wheatgrass Eggs not only looked perfectly springlike, but simple to make as well. Which is very important these days. Have I mentioned I’m subbing at school every day this month? The fact that it’s only four hours a day doesn’t matter; it’s completely thrown me off my game. But I need to look at this as another opportunity to hone my time-management skills, right?

Anyway. Lexie and her friend Summer made Liz’s Wheatgrass Grown in Eggshells. The amazing thing about 10-year-olds is that you can let them loose with a project and they do a wonderful job. You can find all the directions—plus a photo of what the finished product will look like—here.

Liz said her sprouts appeared in 2-3 days. The girls planted their seeds last Thursday and they’re just starting to sprout 5 days later. I don’t know much about seeds and how they grow, but I wonder if the fact that our wheatgrass seeds are about five years old makes a difference. Or maybe it’s not quite warm and sunny enough on our windowsill? (It did snow over the weekend.) At any rate, the girls enjoyed the project and we’re optimistic that our seeds will sprout in time for Easter.

UPDATE: The wheatgrass grew! It worked!