Sugar Free Jello With Stevia

My husband and I just started Atkins Induction a week ago.. My husband is a diabetic and Atkins is a great diet for his health needs...We had both gone on Atkins a year ago, each lost weight, but gained some of it back over the winter even though we've continued to eat low carb.. Here in Northern Michigan it's hard to get much exercise in during the winter months and our scales show it!

One of the little treats you can have on Atkins is sugar free jello...I think this means we're both kids at heart, because we love Jello! But neither one of us want to consume Aspartame, which is what boxed sugar free jello is sweetened with.. Aspartame gives both of us a wicked headache, plus it's been linked to so many health issues, it just seems a no brainer not to allow it in our bodies..

I started searching for recipes for sugar free jello from scratch. I found quite a few of them, but none of them used Stevia as the sweetener.. Many of them used sucralose and other sweeteners I'm not familiar with. I've been using Stevia in many different forms for many years, and I trust it since it is a natural product.. I even tried growing it in our greenhouse last summer, but it was such a hot summer, it ended up croaking! Better luck this year (crossing fingers).

Anyhoo....After a lot of experimenting, I finally found an easy way to make sugar free jello using Stevia in the Raw.

I make a big bowl, which lasts us for a week, but if you wanted to cut this down in half, it would be fine. My recipe, I believe, would be the same as using the big package of jello available in stores.

My recipe is:

7 3/4 cups water (this will be divided into two steps)

2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid

4 packs Knox Unsweetened Gelatine

2 cups Stevia in the Raw

First, pour 4 cups COLD water into a pot.

Add 4 packs of the unsweetened Gelatine.

Whisk to mix the Gelatine.. 

It's important to use cold water.. In my mind, hot water would mean it would dissolve better, but I soon found it just clumps in hot water and takes forever to stir down, so make sure you mix it with cold water. 

Add the 2 packs of unsweetened Kool-Aid and 2 cups of Stevia in the Raw. Whisk again until dissolved. 

Put on the stove and bring it to a rolling boil.. I set the burner on high and whisk it until it boils.. It doesn't take long and believe me, you don't want to walk away and let it come to a boil unattended because you'll have a sticky mess all over your stove top and burner...I found this out the hard way.. 

It's quite foamy looking until just before it gets ready to boil.. It then looses the foam and becomes clear. 

Remove it from heat and pour into your bowl.. Add 3 3/4 cups of cold water and whisk to mix.. Put in your fridge for at least 6 hours and you'll have delicious sugar free jello without aspartame!

You can add 4 cups of water if you want, but I like my jello to be really thick, which is why I choose to add 3 3/4 cups of water instead.

Once it's set, I dish out a small bowl of it for each of us for dinner and add a tsp of heavy whipping cream to our little jello treat. Heavy whipping cream is allowed on Atkins and it just seems to make the jello even better... 

I know some people do not approve of unsweetened gelatin products for a variety of reasons.. 

Gelatin is produced by rendering animal body parts.. Gross sounding, I know.. But these animal byproducts contain collagen, which is a natural form of protein and is very good for joint pain, which my husband and I both suffer from.. I remember my mom mixing a pack of it with her orange juice to help strengthen her fingernails when I was young. It's also used for many pharmaceutical applications and was used as a blood plasma substitute in World War II... 

Read more: How Knox Gelatin Is Made | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5063199_knox-gelatin-made.html#ixzz2SbyErNsk 

There is a product called Agar that is a vegetarian alternative gelatin made from sea weed, although, I've never used it so I can't say how it works. I've read good reviews about it, though.

One of the great things about using unsweetened Kool Aid is that it comes in so many flavors! You won't find boxed sugar free jello available with so many choices.. My favorites are Black Cherry, Cherry and Orange, but there are so many flavors to choose from! Makes a great sugar free snack and adds a little sweetness to low carb dieting..