Delicious Easter jello with home made pudding, marshmallows and cheddar cheese

Grandma's Jello Salad 

Delicious Easter jello with home made pudding, marshmallows and cheddar cheese

Since Easter is fast approaching, I thought I would share this beloved recipe again.  With almost 10,000 views, this is a fan favorite.  My Grandmother came up with this recipe and the home made pudding.  Sadly, Grandma is no longer with us.  She the year she turned 90.  She was 89 for several years before she acutally turned 90.  She'd swat at me for saying that, if she were here.  I'd love for her to be here.  I miss her terribly.  If you make her Jello Salad recipe, say a little prayer for those of us who miss her so.  Thank you all for your loyalty and for keeping her recipe alive.

Oh, one more note, even though the cheese sounds like it might not be so good, it is delicious.  You can not imagine how well this combination is.  My Grandma is a genius!! :)

One of my most favorite deserts is my Grandma's jello salad.  She made up this recipe and it is a family favorite.

I use different variations of this Jello salad, but the same technique Grandma taught me.  The home made pudding is out of this world. It is very easy to make.

When my husband first saw this jello salad, he wasn't sure what to think.  He told me he didn't think the cheese was such a good idea, he didn't think he'd like it.  His mind was quickly changed once he took a taste.  Don't write this off because you think the cheese will not be good, it is wonderful.
I found these cute, rabbit shaped, marshmallows and decided to use them since it is Easter.  They are hidden a little in the cheese, but it's still a cute presentation. 

This recipe makes a lot of Jello Salad. I cut it in half and I have fun with the combinations of jello and fruit. I also use the flavored marshmallows to mix things up a bit. Kids love this, and adults do too!

My Grandma makes this a lot, and she always adds different kinds of fruit with the pineapples. Her favorite type of fruit to add are bananas. I'm allergic to bananas! I went to her house and she told me she made her jello salad. I cut myself a piece then put it right back in the pan. I went back into the living room with no jello. She was just about to ask me why, when her eyes got all big and she said BANANAS! A few weeks later she made the jello again. This time she didn't add banana's and was happy to tell me that. I was so glad I could have a slice of her jello salad.  I get a slice and there were some odd looking fruit pieces mixed in with the pineapple, just to be sure I asked what they were, Mango. I'm allergic to mango too. So, I had to learn how to make it myself, or I'd never get any I could eat! Ha Ha.
The first recipe is Grandma's actual Jello Salad.  The ingredients I used for the salad pictured are listed below.  Feel free to experiment with flavor combinations. 


Grandma's Jello Salad:


1 regular package Lemon Jello
1 regular package Orange Jello
 can crushed pineapple
1 bag mini marshmallows
Orange Juice
2 TB. sugar
3 TB. flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 pint whipping cream (or 8oz. Cool Whip)
Grated cheddar cheese

Prepare Jello according to package
Drain pineapple and reserve the juice
Add pineapple to jello
Pour into glass dish
Cover with mini marshmallows and refrigerate to gel

Add orange juice to pineapple juice to make 1 cup

Pour into sauce pan

Add sugar, flour, and beaten egg

Cook over medium heat until pudding like, stir constantly
Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally
Once room temp., refrigerate until ready to add to Jello salad

Put whipping cream in a bowl and add lemon juice

Fold in the pudding mixture, whip together (if using whipped topping, then mix into pudding mixture)

Put on top of marshmallows then grate cheese on top

Refrigerate until ready to serve

Easter Jello Pudding ingredients:

Raspberry jello

Bunny shaped Marshmallows

Fruit cocktail drained, reserve the juice to use for the pudding

PLEASE NOTE: This recipe is protected by copyright law 2012.

How about some Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding or just plain Organic Chocolate?

How about some Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding or just plain Organic Chocolate?

      With the weather being so cold, and plenty of snow to play in, sometimes Hot Chocolate becomes boring.  How to mix it up and be healthy?  Make home made pudding.  This recipe is an adaptation of Grandma's Jello Salad recipe.  Which, is one of my most popular recipes!  Give it a try.  Anyway, my son and I love Chocolate.  I try to make healthy treats for us, and can't bring myself to use the boxed pudding mixes any longer.  If I can't pronounce an ingredient, without a Chemistry dictionary, then I probably shouldn't be eating it.  Thus this recipe was born.  I made a vanilla pudding for Rice Pudding and raisins.  It was very good.  So why not make chocolate?  I used Organic Cacao powder, it's a superfood!  

Organic Chocolate Pudding

   This picture shows how silky smooth the pudding is.  In fact, my son liked it so much he keeps asking for it.  When making my second batch, I messed up the flour and sugar  measurements.  Not to worry, the result was a super thick pudding, so I just added milk to thin it out.  Worked great. So, don't freak if the pudding looks super thick, just add more milk.  Don't forget you can also use 2% or skim milk for this.  We were snowed in and this was the only milk I had.  I don't usually use this brand, but when a snow storm is on the way, you sometimes have to take what Organic milk you can get.  

When I was enjoying this delicious dessert I thought about my friend whose son has a lot of food allergies, like me, and my other friend who is opening a restaurant and wants to use "healthy alternative" foods.  

My friends son wouldn't be able to enjoy this pudding because of the milk and egg.  So I sent her a message to ask what she used to substitute eggs.  She told me Chia seeds or flax seeds.  Ok, I had coconut milk and chia seeds.  She was coming over today, so I put her to work. We created this new pudding recipe.  I'm so happy with it!   Her son loved the pudding.  The consistency was a touch thinner, and it didn't set up as solidly as a pudding, but it was setting up better as it cooled.  

Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding

Homemade Chocolate Pudding 

1 cup of organic milk

1 organic egg  beaten

2 Tablespoons of organic flour

3 Tablespoons of organic sugar

1/2 cup of Cacao powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon stick (optional)

In a sauce pan over medium heat, 

pour 1 cup milk and beaten egg

vanilla and cinnamon (both are optional)

DO NOT LET IT BOIL!!!!!!!  

Whisk frequently (you'll see it start to thicken)

Get the flour and sugar ready to whisk into the hot mixture.  

Whisk as you put the flour in to avoid lumps.  

I put my flour and sugar in a bowl, whisk with one hand and shake in with the other hand.  

After you have incorporated the flour and sugar then whisk in the cacao powder.

If the mixture is too thick or you just prefer a thinner pudding, then whisk in  more milk until it is the consistency you like.  

After the cacao is mixed in thoroughly and there are no lumps the pudding is ready. 

Homemade Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding

2 cans Coconut milk

1 Tablespoon of milled Organic Chia seeds (substitution for eggs)

4 Tablespoons of Organic Flour

4 Tablespoons of Organic Sugar

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla extract

1 Stick of Organic Cinnamon (ground well)

I put the cinnamon stick and the chia seeds in my vitamix and milled to a powder

Put the milled mixture in a measuring cup and add 1/2 can of coconut  milk.  This will allow the seeds to thicken.  You may want to add the entire can if it looks like the seeds have thickened a lot. 

Put the other can of coconut milk and the vanilla, in a sauce pan over low heat. 

When it starts to steam add the chia seeds.  DO NOT LET IT BOIL.

Whisk in the flour and sugar. 

If the mixture is not as thick as you like, add some more flour, just be careful that you don't add too much.  You don't want to taste the flour in the pudding.  

You may want to add Cacao powder to this to make it chocolate.  We couldn't because Junior is allergic to nuts, and the Cacao was packaged in a facility that also pacakages tree nuts.  

This was very good!  I was surprised to be honest.  Pleasantly surprised.  

If you like this recipe, please comment below and visit me again!  

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon

Looks like Fall is here, and I'll have more time to post yummy recipes.  Might as well come out of the gate with a winner.  I have been battling Bronchitis for the last 3 weeks.  Finally went to the Doctor last Sunday where they loaded me up on medication that makes you feel worse, before it makes you feel better.  Since then, I was unable to sleep, or eat.  As I felt better, I wanted to eat, but everything hurt my stomach.  Tired of chicken noodle soup and crackers, I started combing the cabinets.  I ate a handful of raisins as I rummaged. Those were pretty good, but a bunch of those on a hurt stomach was not going to be a good idea.  Put the box back.  I found a bag of rice, made a mental note to cook some up for dinner the next day.  Then, WALAAAA, it hit me.  Mom used to make me rice pudding when I couldn't eat anything else.  I went on a hunt for a box of pudding mix, or a bag of the German pudding mix.  Nothing.  Then I remembered my Grandma's Jello Salad recipe.  Hold on, I know I said jello, but if you haven't tried this recipe you need to.  Grandma made a jello salad, then topped it with homemade pudding.  Since I always have eggs, milk, flour and sugar in the house, I knew this was the deal.  I fixed it, it was so good I nearly ate all of it.  It did make a bunch, so I couldn't eat it all.  I finished it off the next day. 
Things to remember.  The rice will absorb  the pudding, so it's best to double the pudding recipe if you are going to let it sit over night.  That way, it will still be creamy the next day.  

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon:

Cook rice according to package instructions.  
I used Sushi Rice, product of USA.  1 1/2 cups rice to 2 cups water

After the rice is cooked and fluffed prepare the pudding.  

1 cup of 2% organic milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup raisins (or more, I like more)
1 tsp. cinnamon (I like more with this too)

In a saucepan add all the ingredients, except raisins and cinnamon

whisk well & constantly to keep from burning.  

Once the pudding thickens, add the raisins and cinnamon
Take off the heat, stir well and pour over the rice.  
Mix well

You can bake it in the oven if you like a crispy topping to the rice pudding.  350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  

I didn't bake it, I gobbled it up.  It's so delicious.  
As I said, I did have leftovers and I learned two things:

1) Already mentioned above, the rice absorbs the pudding
2) If you re-heat it in the microwave the rice becomes a little hard and crunchy.

SO, I did this:

1) I poured some milk into the bowl and heated it with a wet paper towel over the top.  This keeps the moisture in, and gives the rice some more liquid to absorb so it's creamy again.  
2) Made a note to myself:  next time double the pudding recipe.  

Home Made Dark Chocolate Low Fat Pudding

If you're like me, anything "chocolate" is a favorite.  Except maybe the hot pepper chocolate bars, those are kind of, well, scary.  They don't taste very good either.  I love pudding, but I don't like instant pudding.  The pudding that you have to cook on the stove is very delicious, but a little time consuming.  It's also not the healthiest alternative to deserts.
I was watching a medical show and the topic was how to get rid of belly fat.  A hot topic these days.  One thing that was stated as a belly fat fighter, was dark chocolate.  The darker the better.  Sounds too good to be true, so I thought I better act quick before that tip is recanted.

My Grandmothers Homemade Jello Salad recipe is a favorite one on this blog.  Every week, people from all over the world, visit the "Grandma's Jello Salad" blog page.  In the recipe Grandma shares how to make a homemade fruit pudding.  It's delicious.  I was talking to her the other day and told her I was going to try to modify it to make chocolate pudding.  She said to go ahead and let her know how it turned out.  Well, it turned out amazingly well!  It's a versatile recipe, by adding butterscotch chips, vanilla flavoring or use fruit juice instead of milk, this pudding can be made to suit any tastes!

Home Made Dark Chocolate Low Fat Pudding:

1 egg, beaten

1 cup 2% milk

3 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate Hershey kisses)

In a small bowl add the flour and 1 tablespoon of the milk, mix into a paste, add a little more milk from the 1 cup if needed.  This will keep the flour from clumping.

Add the milk and egg to a small saucepan over medium heat, and heat through

Add the flour paste and continue to whisk

Add the pinch salt

The pudding will thicken quickly, so don't take your eyes from it

Once the pudding starts to thicken lower the heat and add the chocolate chips

Mix well until the chocolate has melted

Taste to see if you need the sugar, add more or less to your tastes

I only added the sugar because dark chocolate can be a bit bitter for young tastes and I wanted my son to enjoy the pudding too, so I added 2 teaspoons raw sugar to it.  

No need to chill until set, it will already be thick, and warm pudding is always tastier than cold.  Cold chocolate pudding is delicious too, but I prefer warm.  

This would be a wonderful pie filling as well.  Add some fruit and you've got a fantastic, easy, fancy desert.  

Lemon & Rosemary baked chicken with fixins'

HEY PAW! What's for supper?


Tonight we're having lemon & rosemary baked chicken, corny cornbread muffins, tater tots for the tot, fried corn & little green onions, and Grandma's jello salad. YUMMMMYYYYY.

It's been a cold and snowy day. We've played in the snow, drank hot chocolate (or in the case of my son, guzzled) and ate cookies and strawberries. Now it's time for dinner, what to make? On cold snowy days, I want to make soup. I must refrain, I've made soup two Sunday's in a row. So, what's the next best and easiest thing? Baked chicken.


Now, the thing to remember is, I'm not an expert. So don't take the measurements to heart. Use as much or as little as you like. To be safe with cooking meat, cook according to the package directions. I look for easy things to fix, without a lot of time and fuss. I simply don't have the time, nor do I want to take hours to fix my supper. Fix & serve, that's how I like it.


Grandma's Jello Salad has several steps, so you will have to start this in the afternoon. It's still pretty easy, it just sounds hard. Once you make it, you'll see the steps are easy.


My husband insisted I take a picture of the plate, since he said it looked and tasted, so good.



Here's how I fix it.



Lemon & Rosemary Baked Chicken:


1 package chicken breast


2 lemons


Garlic rosemary seasoning


salt and pepper





Heat the lemon in the microwave for about 15 seconds then cut in half and squeeze juice all over both sides of chicken, and sprinkle with the rosemary seasoning. Let sit for about a half hour, in the fridge. Then bake in a 350 degree oven until cooked through, about 40 minutes give or take.









Corny Cornbread muffins:


1 package cornbread mix, I use Jiffy


1/4 cup corn

Prepare cornbread mix according to box. Stir in the corn, more or less to your taste. Pour into prepared muffin tin and bake according to box directions.

These muffins are moist and you get a little more texture with the corn.

Tater Tots for the Tot:
I would like to say these are strictly for the Tot, but I love Tater Tots, it's easier to blame this on the little boy!


Pour tater tots out of the bag and heat in the oven according to the package details. Can't get any easier. I bake these with the chicken, the last 20 minutes of the chickens baking time.







Fried Corn & Little Green Onions:


Frozen corn


3 tablespoons salted butter


enough water to cover the corn


A couple little green onions, chopped





I use frozen corn because it doesn't have any extra sodium. Canned corn has some sodium, even if you rinse it off, some of that sodium will still remain.


Put a couple cups of corn in a sauce pan and cover with water, add the butter and salt and pepper to taste.


I usually don't add salt, since I use salted butter, but whatever you like.....


Let the water boil off until all that remains is the butter and let that fry in the pan a little bit.


After it's fried a bit, turn the eye off and add the chopped onions and let that warm up.





Grandma's Jello Salad:





This recipe makes a lot of Jello Salad. I cut it in half and I have fun with the combinations of jello and fruit. I also use the flavored marshmallows to mix things up a bit. During Easter, I made this and used the Easter shaped marshmallows, that was so cute. Kids love this, and adults do too!


My Grandma makes this a lot, and she always adds different kinds of fruit with the pineapples. Her favorite type of fruit to add are bananas. I'm allergic to bananas! I go to her house and she tells me she made her jello salad. I cut myself a piece and put it right back in the pan. I go back into the living room with no jello. She was just about to ask me why, when her eyes got all big and she said BANANAS! A few weeks later she makes the jello again. This time she doesn't add banana's and is happy to tell me that. I go in, and there are some odd looking fruit pieces mixed in with the pineapple, so I ask her what they are, Mango. I'm allergic to mango too! So, I had to learn how to make it myself, or I'd never get any I could eat! Ha Ha.





1 regular package Lemon Jello
1 regular package Orange Jello
1 can crushed pineapple
1 bag mini marshmallows
Orange Juice
2 tbl. sugar
3 tbl. flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 pint whipping cream (or 8oz. Cool Whip)
Grated cheddar cheese

Prepare Jello according to package
Drain pineapple and reserve the juice
Add pineapple to jello
Pour into glass dish
Cover with mini marshmallows and refrigerate to gel



Add orange juice to pineapple juice to make 1 cup
Pour into sauce pan
Add sugar, flour, and beaten egg
Cook over medium heat until pudding like, stir constantly
Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally
Once room temp., refrigerate until ready to add to Jello salad





Put whipping cream in a bowl and add lemon juice
Fold in the pudding mixture, whip together (if using whipped topping, then mix into pudding mixture)
Put on top of marshmallows then grate cheese on top
Refrigerate until ready to serve





Tonight I didn't have any whipping cream or whipped topping, so I used softened vanilla ice cream, just a large scoop. It mixed in well, and was yummy. How it sets, will be a different story, I'm sure. Guess we'll see!