Grape Juice Jigglers

Grape juice jigglers are a healthy treat your children will love, made with vegetarian gelatin and naturally sweet grape juice. Maybe make some for Easter? 

When my girls were growing up, I was a bake-from-scratch-type mom, but the two exceptions to that were boxed chewy brownie mix and Jello®. I guess I have to include Jello® pudding in that category as well. I had to help with brownies and Jello® because of the hot oven and the boiling water but instant pudding was sooo easy that my girls could make it by themselves from when they were very little. Cold milk, whisk in the powder. Done! How did it thicken? It was like a creamy sweet miracle. 

I don’t know who the genius behind jigglers was but I put him or her right up there with the marketing person who first thought of “lather, rinse, repeat” on shampoo bottle labels. After all, jigglers get you to use two boxes of that powdered, sweetened gelatin to make the same size pan and it’s probably eaten just as quickly. Or maybe even more quickly since jigglers of all flavors are kid favorites. A cold jiggly treat you can eat with your hands? Yes, please! 

A little research reveals that jigglers were first touted in a cookbook given away by the makers of Jello® in the 1930s. The recipe was rediscovered in the ’70s when, as sales declined, the company looked for ways to reinvigorate the market for their jiggly product, thumbing through their old cookbooks for inspiration. And another generation of jiggler lovers was born. Count me and my girls in that number.

I know a lot of moms try to limit their children’s intake of sugar with no nutritional value and I did too. So drinks and sugar-full Jell-O® were a special treat on weekends. I was not a fan of sugar-free versions because sugar seemed less harmful than the chemicals that made up the unnatural sweeteners. And what about all the coloring additives? Let’s not even go there. So what’s a mom to do?

 

Make grape juice jigglers from pure, naturally colored, naturally sweetened grape juice! Or frankly, any juice of your choice, as long as it is not very acidic, which inhibits the gelatin from firming up.

 

Grape Juice Jigglers

Most gelatin powders are still made from animal products, but vegan/vegetarian friendly gelatin is now widely available as well. Just read the labels if that is a concern for you. I will tell you that if you use the non-animal gelatin, you need just a bit more than usual to get your juice to set. 

Ingredients

4 1/4 cups cups or 1 liter no-sugar added grape juice

4 1/2 teaspoons unflavored vegetarian gelatin powder 

Method

Sprinkle the vegetarian gelatin powder over the grape juice in medium-sized pot.  Stir thoroughly until the powder is completely dissolved and the liquid appears to thicken just a little.

 

Put the pot on the stove and, over a medium flame, heat till just boiling. (About 200°F or 93°C by my candy thermometer.) Tiny bubbles will start appearing. 

Pour the hot liquid into a heatproof rectangular casserole dish about 9x13 in or 23x33cm. 

Leave to cool, then cover with cling film and chill for at least 2 hours or until firm. 

Cut into squares to serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 8th edition of our 2024 Alphabet Challenge being brought to you by the letter G. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the G sponsored recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Gavar Sabji 
• Culinary Cam: Aïgo Bouido (Provençal Garlic Soup) 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Shrimp and Grits 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Guacamole Salad 
• Food Lust People Love: Grape Juice Jigglers 
• Palatable Pastime: Grilled Vegetables with Hot Bacon Dressing 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Gyoza Wrapper Pizza Bites 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Garlic Butter Gnocchi with Green Beans 
• Blogghetti: Easy Baked Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Creamy Simple Stovetop Gouda Mac & Cheese 
• Magical Ingredients: Green and Red Salsa Paratha

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

E: Everything Pizza Tartin

F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

G: Grape Juice Jigglers - today's post!

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Scratch Spaghetti Os with Meatballs

With tiny Italian sausage meatballs and anelli pasta in a rich tomato sauce, these scratch Spaghetti Os are so much better than what you can buy in the can! 

When I was a kid, the Spaghetti Os with meatballs were a treat. (You can buy them without meatballs, but why would you?!) I don’t recall that my mom bought them very often because Hamburger Helper made a meal for the whole family and that can of pasta served pretty much one of us.

The Spaghetti Os slogan was "the neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon" and which child didn't want that? It was a favorite for sure. If you grew up outside the US, you might know these as Heinz spaghetti hoops which unfortunately never came with meatballs. 

Fast forward a bunch of years and the only time I really bought Spaghetti Os for my girls was when we had a long flight on our itinerary. When we were living in Paris, a friend took the six-hour flight back to D.C. with her infant and toddler and the elevator that was supposed to bring the food up from the hold for serving malfunctioned. 

Desperate parents of small hungry (crying!) children were beside themselves with no help in sight. Finally, the beleaguered flight attendants served the cold sandwiches that were put on board for the final meal before landing. The restless hoard was fed but this story taught us all a lesson. Do not board a plane with children without also laying in supplies!

 

After that, I not only packed snacky things, but also the small pots (with the pull-off lids) of Spaghetti Os and Mac and Cheese. Sure, they were supposed to be heated in a microwave prior to consumption but hungry girls will eat them at room temperature as well and with relish. 

Scratch Spaghetti Os

For the meatballs, I use fresh hot Italian sausage for the flavor it adds to the sauce. If you prefer, you can use your favorite meatball recipe. When I don’t use sausage meat, this is mine. 

Ingredients

Olive oil

4 cloves  garlic

5 medium ripe red tomatoes

3 oz or 85g tomato paste (half the small can or tin)

3 1/4 cups or just shy of 3/4 liter chicken stock (fresh or made with cubes – either would work)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Black pepper

1 lb or 450g pasta rings aka anelli or anelletti

1 1/4 lbs Italian sausage, pinched off into small pieces and rolled into tiny balls, like this!

Optional to serve: Grated Parmesan and a sprinkle of chopped parsley

Method

Preheat oven  to 400°F or 200°C. Put the meatballs in a baking pan single file and separated so they will cook evenly. Bake the meatballs for about 10 minutes then turn to broil for a further 5-7 minutes to brown the tops. You want them quite dark so that they will add flavor to the sauce as they simmer in it later. That is a teaspoon to give you an idea of how small you want the meatballs to be.

Remove the pan from the oven and leave to cool tilted a bit to one side so any grease that baked off the meatballs can be easily removed. 

Pour the oil off and then add a little of the hot stock to the pan so you can scrape up the lovely browned bits stuck there and add them to your stock. Use the spatula to get every bit off. 

Peel and chop the garlic finely. 

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add in the chopped garlic and let it fry over a low fire for just a few minutes, until it softens slightly. You don’t want it to brown, which makes garlic bitter.

Meanwhile, halve your tomatoes and remove the core and seeds.  Chop the tomato into small pieces. 

Add the chopped tomatoes to the garlic and give the pot a quick stir. Cook over a medium heat for about 5-7 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to soften and the juice starts to come out of them a little. 

Add the stock, the 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, a few good grinds of fresh black pepper and the tomato paste to the pot.

Cook for 20 minutes on a low to medium heat.  

Meanwhile, as the sauce simmers, cook your pasta rings according to package instructions, for about 2 minutes before it would be al dente. (My package said 15-17 minutes for al dente, so I drained them at 13 minutes.) Drain the pasta and reserve a half cup or 120ml of the pasta water. 

Take the pan of sauce off of the stove and allow it to cool for a few minutes. Carefully puree the soup in a blender or with a hand blender straight in the pot until completely smooth. Do not splash and burn yourself! Add the sauce back to the pot and then add in the meatballs. Simmer uncovered for about 10-15 minutes. 

When you are about ready to serve, stir in the cooked pasta rings and cook for about 2 minutes for pasta to reach al dente. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water. Serve immediately!

 

Since we are making scratch Spaghetti Os, feel free to serve them with freshly grated Parmesan. This is better than your childhood favorite and deserves a sprinkle of cheese and chopped parsley.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and at my instigation, my fellow bloggers are sharing recipes for homemade dishes that they loved from their childhood. Check out the links!

• Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles
• Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime
• Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Meat Chilly Fry by Sneha's Recipe
• Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mum's Buitoni from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Scratch Spaghetti Os with Meatballs from Food Lust People Love

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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