Vegan Jello Slices

Be forewarned, I’m feeling very sentimental. It might be the lack of sleep I’ve had over the past few days or the exhausting day I’ve had today but no matter the reason, that’s how I’m feeling right now. So, if you want to skip the emotional mumbo jumbo I am about to spew all over this blog post and just head straight to the recipe, there will be no judgment from me.

You see, I just spent the weekend with one of my closet friends because it’s the last time I’ll get to see her before she moves to New Zealand for a year. Which therefore means it was the last time I’ll get to see her for a year (if not longer).

Needless to say, my heart is aching just a bit.

I love this friend more than I can begin to describe. She’s the most wonderful combination of intelligence, grace, strength, beauty, compassion, and passion. She has encouraged me through some of the darkest moments of my life and has helped create some of the best.

It really does. New Zealand, Ireland, France, the Netherlands. Orlando, Naples, L.A., Tampa. The people I love are in too many places that are not Gainesville, FL. Life, sometimes you just need to chill on this people scattering thing, ok?

Now, don’t get me wrong—I could not be more thrilled for Kaitlin. I can’t wait to hear about the epic adventures I know she has waiting for her. I can’t wait to see how she will change and grow into an even more amazing individual from this coming year. However, needless to say, my life will be a little less wonderful over the next year. And I think that’s reasonable to feel upset about.

Ok, I’m done. Taking a very sharp turn, I will now return to our regularly scheduled program: vegan jello slices.

The trend of using the ingredients I bought for vegan cheese for recipes other than vegan cheese continues. This weekend, I brought along the ingredients for vegan cheese with the intention of making it. However, you can’t just eat vegan cheese in and of itself (well, I mean, you could but why would you?) and we didn’t feel like making another recipe that called for cheese. So, instead, we decided to make vegan jello, a recipe that, like vegan cheese, calls for agar agar. I like this recipe very much because it appeases both my love of delicious food and my love of aesthetically pleasing food.

Cran-Raspberry Jello Slices

(Makes 12 lime slices)

3 limes, halved, scooped out (directions below)

1 cup cranberry juice

2 tsp Agar Agar flakes

1 Tbsp agave

1/4 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen), chopped

Mango Pineapple Orange Jello Slices

(Makes 4 orange slices)

2 navel oranges, halved, scooped out

2 cups pineapple juice

1 Tbsp Agar Agar flakes

1 honey mango, diced (yields ½ cup)

½ orange cut into small cubed (yields ¼ cup)

Make the jello molds by cutting the citrus in half and then scooping out the center with a grapefruit spoon. This process was much easier for the oranges than for the limes. For either fruit, however, be prepared to get squirted often with citrus juice during this process.

Chop up the fruit for the jello (which can be omitted, if you prefer).

Divide evenly amongst the molds. The first time I made these, I placed the molds in a baking dish. However, the second time I placed them in a small muffin tin and it worked much better to keep the molds from tilting and then having the juice spill out.

Place all the other ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let cook for 5-7 minutes. Make sure that all the agar agar flakes have dissolved before removing from heat.

Just when you thought we couldn't improve upon this recipe, we added a shot of vodka to the cranberry juice. There's no stopping us.

Pour the juice into your prepared jello molds. I transfered the juice to a measuring cup with a spout and then poured the liquids to avoid any spillage.

Leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Once the jello has...well, jello-ified cut the fruit down the center lengthwise (again, this was easier with the oranges than the limes but altogether not that difficult). If you'd like, you can leave them uncut and they'll be fruit bowls instead of fruit slices.