Monday, July 16, 2012

Hot



It's too hot today, and that's all there is to it.  Now I know some folks scoff at 90-plus degree weather.  And I get that.  Really, if you live in hotter climes, either "more power to you" or "that's your funeral."  Take your pick.

No, where I live, 90-degree weather is hot, and 60-degree ocean water is warm, and that's just how it is.

A digression:  I once sat behind a vacationing family at Nauset Beach.  I don't know where they were from.  Apparently someplace warm.  They had a sweet looking girl of about nine.  She excitedly ran down for a swim.  Dove right in.  Then practically shot straight up out of the water...

     "Shit!  Oh, SHIT!  HOLY SHIT!!!"

Her family was too busy laughing to reprimand her.

Anyway, when it gets this hot, I have an industrial fan to cool things down.  Some people have low, medium, and high.  My fan goes to 11.






But I don't want to talk about the heat.  I want to talk about jello.  If you happen to be from Utah, you can skip the rest, because you probably know all this.  Otherwise, I've been making this dessert a lot, mostly because I've been doing Atkins and it's about the only sweet I can eat.  Even so, it's gotten good reviews across the board.  I make it with sugar-free jello, but you wouldn't have to.  I've also seen something similar made with Cool Whip, but I think my version makes jello almost decadent.

Almost.  It's still jello.   But anyway...



Creamsicle Jello

2 boxes orange jello
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract.
Extra cream for whipping

Dissolve the jello in 2 cups boiling water.  Add the vanilla, 1 cup of cold water, and the cup of cream.  Stir well.  If you didn't do this in the dish you plan to chill it in, you should have thought of that earlier.   But anyway, pour it in (or not) and chill 3 or 4 hours.

I suppose you could pour the mixture into individual parfait cups if you really wanted to make this look like more work than it really is.  Just a thought.

Whip some cream after your fashion.  Cut the jello into cubes and serve.  It will have separated into a creamy top layer and a jello-y bottom layer.  I don't know how it knows to do this.  It just does.  Top with whipped cream.  Don't cheat.  Whip the cream yourself, it makes a difference.






You should wind up with something like this.  If you like creamsicles, you'll like this.  If you don't like creamsicles, you should have stopped reading about 20-odd lines ago.  Really.  You might keep that in mind for next time.



Respectfully Yours,



Cricket





8 comments:

silly rabbit said...

I can verify that it is very decadent and delicious! I'm glad you passed this one on to me. Randy likes it too. I haven't told him that I used sugar free jello. So sssshhhh!

Growing up in Fresno, Ca where we got 111 degree days, I used to think that people who thought that 90 was hot were weenies. 30 years of living in Oregon has cured me of that! It gets to 90 and I whine.

ds said...

Oh, for a fan that goes to eleven...We had rain last night, but that was just a tease; I really don't like it when the humidity and the temperature are equal at 90+...
Still reeling at the thought of a Jell-O recipe from you ; )
Might actually have to try this.

lime said...

90 is hot for the air. 60 is cold for the water but not as cold as the great lakes in may, which i think hover just above 40 degrees. lord have mercy....i think that experience made me grow a pair of external gonads just so they could retract into my own throat to keep warm.

creamsicles never did it for me but i think i will have to do that recipe with raspberry or strawberry...or both....mmmmmm

Cricket said...

Well, Lime... I stand corrected. Perhaps there is a reason to continue reading 'til the end after all.

I have made this with other flavors too, usually minus the vanilla, or sometimes using almond extract instead, though maybe a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon. I dunno. Taste it on your mind's tongue first, I guess.

Ironically, the flavor that did not work for me was lime, which I like just fine, but not with cream.

Lemon also works really well with the vanilla. You can also make this substituting cream cheese for the water and cream, in which case you will not get the pretty layers, but you will get a pretty tasty dessert.

Use 2 8oz bars of cream cheese, mashed up, and mixed with the jello dissolved in the 2 cups boiling water.

Never been to the Great Lakes, but I foolishly went swimming out at Brant Rock one "warm" March day. Yow! I didn't have to grow a pair, of course, but I probably had to wait a few days for 'em to re-descend.

Suldog said...

"If you didn't do this in the dish you plan to chill it in, you should have thought of that earlier."

Best line EVER in a recipe. It's like the pitching coach who tells a guy to throw a change-up, then it gets walloped 450 feet and the pitching coach yells out, "No! Not NOW!"

Or something like that. Anyway, I will most definitely try this recipe. I love Creamsicles (I don't care what spell check says, it should always be one word and capitalized. They deserve the respect.)

Hilary said...

Weather wuss! ;)

The Creamsicles sound delicious but I was so certain that at the end of the recipe, you were going to say something "Now just dump it in the trash because whipped cream is killer fattening and doesn't belong on ANY diet?" I guess I don't know anything about Atkins.

Jayne said...

"My fan goes to 11." I nearly dropped my teacup after reading that. You know, Spinal Tap is one of my all time favorite movies.

Jello. I have some in the pantry, but, well... I can't bring myself to do it. My kids don't even like it. I don't know why I have it in my pantry! (It must be very old.)

I concur. Yes. Much too hot for me around here lately. It's not right. :-/

CiCi said...

I am laughing so hard my eyes are running. Well not really running, they are still in my face. This sounds great and I will definitely make this. And I will share it with my senior friends. Some of my senior friends and I are eating dinner together this evening here in the senior apartments rec room. Maybe this should be the dessert. Hmmm.