For a long time I have been looking for a fool proof, great tasting jello recipe that is Vegan. No folks, regular jello is derived from the collagen inside animals bones.. which means it’s neither Vegetarian or Vegan. Well, there are plenty of Vegan jello recipes floating around on the internet but none of them have given me the texture that I was looking for… until now.

Vegan Jello Recipe:

• 2c juice
• 2tsp Agar

Bring 1/2 juice to a boil on stove over medium heat. Add agar as it begins to boil and stir until melted/blended. Remove from heat and add remaining juice and blend well. Transfer to dish or jello mold and chill until firm.

Note: I found the 2/2 equivalent to be a bit too firm for my taste making a very gelaitanized result (think a little thicker than canned cranberry sauce) so next time I intend to use much less agar.

There is this hooping craze walking around Ravelry these days and I drank the water. Not only did Gleek have one, but frecklegirl, and iSeL Knits too! Then I found a few more friends also had them and.. well.. whats a girl to do, but join the club? I figured it would be a fun way to add some core toning into my schedule and it looked like a whole lot of fun! I am not talking about the hula hooping days of childhood.. oh no, I am talking about the super sexy hoop dance.

I kinda suck at it though… and I mean suck hard. I can do all about 3 rotations before it drops. Today’s best has been about 7-10 rotations before it dropped like a ton of bricks. Sergey tried and he’s a natural.. naturally, there really isn’t anything he can’t do… I am sure that my feet and ankles are going to be a beautiful shade of purple tomorrow… but I am no quitter! I will learn to hoop dance… even if it kills me! With that, I’ll leave you with some images of my pretty hoop I purchased the wildflower limited edition glow in the dark 43″ hoop from hoopnotica.

Being married to a Russian does have its advantages.. like when he makes you Vegan borscht purely because he loves you.. It was delicious and I am sad that it’s all gone.

Basic borscht recipe according to my husband:
1.) Cook onions on a skillet
2.) Add crushed garlic
3.) Drop diced carrots and cubed tomatoes, cook for a few minutes
4.) Add beets, cook for a minute
5.) Add half a cup of stock, cover and stew until beets semi-soft
6.) Boil stock, and cubed potatoes
7.) After potatoes are boiling, add diced cabbage
8.) After returning to boiling, add beets mixture, tablespoon of tomato paste, season with salt and pepper, add bay leaves, cover and simmer slowly

something like that…