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How to Make Mello Jello
Mello Jello is jello with a unique flavor — created by you. Anyone can go to the supermarket and pick up jello flavored like lemon, orange, black cherry or blueberry. But can you get spiced apple cider jello? Or rum peppermint jello? No! But you make it yourself. All you need to make Mello Jello is gelatin, your imagination — and your secret ingredients.
Let’s start with breakfast.
Ah, the sweet smell of coffee jello in the morning. Good to the last plop! Follow the directions on the gelatin box: sprinkle gelatin into boiling water. Stir for five minutes, add liquid coffee to taste and then refrigerate until it sets. Perhaps you prefer a more exotic brew? Maybe cafe latte, caramel groove or mocha fusion is more your cup of jello. How about cocoa? Fix with water or milk.
You get the idea; Anything that comes in liquid form or can be liquefied from a granular or powdered form, like instant coffee, can be used to make Mello Jello.
Cereal? You bet! The crunchy kind, like Grape Nuts or Cheerios, is best. Just add to your gelatin. Want milk to go with your cereal? You know what to do.
Toast? Add breadcrumbs. Cinnamon bun? Add cinnamon and sugar to your breadcrumb jello. Want butter on your toast? Sprinkle butter buds in your gelatin and cool. And if you want a substantial morning repast, guess what you can do with powdered eggs and bacon bits?
As any good chef will tell you, presentation is just as important as preparation. Set your table as follows: jello milk should be served in a pitcher; jello toast sliced in four- to five-inch squares. The butter in one-inch squares. Coffee jello in a cup; cereal in a bowl; bacon cut in rectangular strips, served on a plate next to the scrambled egg jello. Let’s see … what’s missing? Ah yes, flowers set in a jello mold.
How about a mid-morning snack?
Pepsi jello with Oreo cookie jello is delicious. Make the Oreo filling with regular milk, Carnation milk or flavored coffee creamer, crumbled rice cake and a dash of vanilla extract. For the cookie, add cocoa powder and chocolate bits to the crumbled rice cake. Cut round slabs from the cookie and fill molds. Assemble your yummy Oreo cookie jello and serve.
What’s for lunch?
How about chicken or beef soup jello prepared with chicken or beef broth? Add cooked rice or noodles for variety.
For supper?
Pizza jello! Just add tomato juice, cheese strips, bread crumbs, pizza flavoring, oregano and your favorite topping to the gelatin. Stir, set and cool. Ah, Mello Jello!
Know Your Jell-O
Peter Cooper — industrialist, inventor and philanthropist — patented the first gelatin dessert over 150 years ago in 1845.
He packaged his unmade but soon-to-be wiggly gelatin in the familiar little boxes we recognize today, but he left the most important ingredient out — flavor!
Pearle B. Wait — carpenter and cough medicine manufacturer — came along in 1897 and decided Cooper’s gelatin would taste more like a dessert with a fruity twist. And that it did.
His wife, May Davis Wait, named it Jell-O.
The first flavors were strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon, but, surprisingly, no cough-syrupy grape.
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Kids’ Stuff This Week
Friday, August 1
Cabaret for Kids
Kids of all ages enjoy a show of singing, dancing and comedy presented by kids and adults. 7pm @ Colonial Players, East St., Annapolis. $3; rsvp: 410/268-7373.
Saturday, August 2
Got an Itch?
Kids sneak a peek at Ranger Bob’s secret poison ivy patch and get to know this powerful weed. 1pm @ Kinder Farm Park, Kinder Farm Park Rd., Millersville. free; rsvp: 410/222-6115 • www.kinderfarmpark.org.
Sunday, August 3
Kids Day
Kids ages 6+ celebrate National Kids Day at the movies, cartoons and skating rink. Kids must be accompanied by an adult. Cinema day 2-4:30pm @ Lexington Park Elementary School, Shangri La Dr., Lexington Park 301/862-2325. Skating 4:30-6:30pm @ Calvert Skating Center, Rt. 4 & Chaneyville Rd., Owings. free; 410/326-2200.
Tuesday, August 5
Rhyme Time
Kids of all ages visit space and beyond with Earthman Mason Talespinner as he reads 25 of his Jack Prelutsky- and Shel Silverstein-inspired poems. 2pm @ Prince Frederick Rescue Squad, Rt. 2/4, Prince Frederick. free; 410/535-9836 • www.pfvrs.com.
