I’m having a “spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” kind of day today. According to my friend Pat this unseasonable type of weather, temperatures see-sawing between 30 and 50 degrees F back and forth, makes all those germs and spores in the air active. Somehow they have chosen me as the host, nothing serious, but just feeling lousy.
Today I just vegged out after my morning walk, then watched some segments of Planet Earth. Who’s counting the number of times I’ve seen the films? These natural history cameramen are just amazingly talented and dedicated. I just love the diaries at the conclusion of each segment. Imagine staying for days on, living in the confines of a cave with bats and piles of dung just to get a perfect shot! BBC really did a fantastic job on this series.
As part of my yucky feeling survival, I try to eat something light and get a lot of rest. Light as in chicken soup and Jell-O for dessert! Jell-O? In my senior years, I have become less ambitious in the kitchen and started taking the easy route. Dissolve and chill. Jell-O although not exactly comfort food, is easy to digest, I think, and if it makes Cosby’s kids jump for joy then it must be good.
Today I just vegged out after my morning walk, then watched some segments of Planet Earth. Who’s counting the number of times I’ve seen the films? These natural history cameramen are just amazingly talented and dedicated. I just love the diaries at the conclusion of each segment. Imagine staying for days on, living in the confines of a cave with bats and piles of dung just to get a perfect shot! BBC really did a fantastic job on this series.
As part of my yucky feeling survival, I try to eat something light and get a lot of rest. Light as in chicken soup and Jell-O for dessert! Jell-O? In my senior years, I have become less ambitious in the kitchen and started taking the easy route. Dissolve and chill. Jell-O although not exactly comfort food, is easy to digest, I think, and if it makes Cosby’s kids jump for joy then it must be good.
Which raises a question. What is Jell-O made of? Jell-O as we know is the brand name for a gelatin dessert preparation. Gelatin can be found as ingredient in a lot of foods as thickener or emulsifier and in pills as coating to make them easy to swallow.
But where does gelatin come from? You better be sitting down for this unappealing truth! Gelatin is a processed version of protein called collagen. The gelatin you eat in Jell-O comes from the collagen in cow or pig bones, hooves, and connective tissues. These parts are ground and pre-treated with strong acid or base to break down the cells and release the collagen. There’s more to it but Food Chemistry is not our subject here so we’ll skip the details. Yes indeed, and you claim you don’t eat pig’s knuckles, ears or chicken cartilage. Surprised huh? Or maybe not.
Gelatin is ubiquitous and can be found in yogurt, chewing gum, cream cheese, soups, cake icing, sausages, cosmetics, pills, etc. Yikes!
And gummy bears also.
No big deal. I am partly made of collagen too!
I love Jell-O just don’t give me that green-colored flavor. It’s a good simple dessert by my standards. I tell you I'm feeling much better already, thanks to Jell-O.
