Making Clear Dye Free Jello For Kids With Red Dye Allergies - How to make Healthy Jello

I have some children that could not handle red dye in food very well and I struggled raising them with that issue and most of the time would just have to deal with hyperactivity when they would get lots of red dye in candy or food. 

Princess One prefers her children to avoid red dye saying it is hard on them for a day or two after they have it so I have had to get creative when I am with them as it is super hard for the kids to not get treats when there is a party or holiday. 

A few years back I found some Jello that was dye free that was used to make Jello shots. I bought it and was able to make some fruit flavored Jello for the kids and they loved it. The next holiday, I tried to find that same Jello and they don't carry it anymore. I was sad I wasn't able to make the kids Jello. 

I was cleaning out  the cupboards as I am trying to get them free of anything I can't or don't eat anymore being gluten free and on a specific diet. I found some Knox gelatin. I then remembered that you can make your own Jello using the Knox. I was so excited to make it for the grandchildren. 

What I love about using gelatin is that you can make it any flavor with flavorings. I thought that the kids would love berry flavors so I made "blue raspberry" without any coloring. I am also using all the bottled fruit trying to clean out the storage rooms.  

Basically, you use 1 packet of Knox for 2 cups of water. One cup is boiling water and the other is cold after you dissolve the Knox and some sugar. I didn't put as much sugar as they suggested, but I put in about 6 large tablespoons of sugar, two packets of Knox gelatin and boiled it in water. Once the sugar was melted and the mixture was boiling, I added the apple juice from the apples I was putting in the Jello and filled the measuring cup up to 2 cups with ice. I find that ice makes the Jello gel faster. 

Pour the cold juice / ice in the melted gelatin mix and stir. Once the ice has melted, if there are any small pieces of ice left, I take them out so they don't make a pocket of watery areas in the Jello. At this point you can add any flavoring you wish. I used sucker flavoring, but you can use any flavoring you like. I then pour the Jello in a container to set by placing it into the fridge. Sometimes I serve it with Whip Cream or Cool Whip. 

I forgot to take a picture of the finished Jello and there is only one serving left. The kids LOVED it. I didn't think about it until after but I bake Beets all the time and could have used beet Juice or pomegranate juice to put some color into the Jello. 

I made a video so you can watch that if you have any questions. 

Have a Blessed day and ENJOY that Jell-o!