Are you looking for a way to satisfy that sweet tooth of your kids, grandkids or yourself but just do not like the junky ingredients in candies?   

Considering the nutritional value in gummy candies, these store bought candies are basically empty calories containing high fructose corn syrup, additives, and artificial food flavors and colors.  An internet search for homemade gummy candies will reveal several posts using boxes of jello.  However, I do not think that making your own candies using jello, will be any more of a health advantage, than just purchasing manufactured gummy candies, since jello also contains many unrecognizable ingredients that should not be considered as food. 

One day this past week I had an inquisitive and eager kitchen assistant, so I thought it would be a good time to make some homemade gummy candy without guilt of bodily destruction from ingestion. 

 Here's how it's done with only 4 ingredients and 7 easy steps:

(See very bottom of this post for the abbreviated version of this recipe)

1.  Empty 9 Tablespoons of honey or maple syrup into a small saucepan.  You can use less, say about 3 or 6 Tablespoons, and substitute with several drops of liquid Stevia drops (see sources below). This works very well!  No set amount - just according to your liking, so taste it before you fill the molds to see if you will like the sweetness.  If not, add more.

2.  Next add 6 Tablespoons of Great Lakes or Bernard Jensen's Gelatin (see sources below).  Wisk it in slowly so it doesn't lump.

Read here about the benefits of good quality gelatin:  http://www.thenutritioncoach.com.au/anti-ageing/get-in-some-gelatin/ 

These brands are made from grassfed beef and recommended by trusted health food bloogers.  If you buy the Great Lakes brand then I recommend the bovine (beef) over the porcine (pork).  The Bernard Jensen's brand is recommended as an ingredient in homemade baby formula.  See this link if interested in homemade baby formula:  http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/recipes-for-homemade-baby-formula

3.  Next to the pot add 1 cup of filtered water.  Then stir.

4.  Then add about 10 drops of lemon essential oil.  You can use any flavoring or extract but doTERRA essential oils have a very strong flavor - we love these!

Make sure it's the kind that you can ingest instead of just for aromatherapy or topical use.  Most of the doTERRA oils are ingestible.  

5.  Now wisk those 4 ingredients and heat just enough to make smooth (taste test).

6.  Then fill some silicone ice cube trays for molding the gummy candy.  If you do not have molds then you can use plain ice cube trays or just pour into a very small container and cut into squares after complete.  One recipe will fill more than two trays shown in this picture, and will fill one tray of the Gingerbread molds in the sources shown below.   

7.  Then pop into the freezer for 15 minutes.

Gummy candies are easy to remove from the molds and will stay molded at room temperature.  The molds clean up with a rinse of hot water.  

Now enjoy!  Feel good that you have made a popular candy that is fun and healthy!

Update:  For Christmas, we made these using the Cinnamon essential oil and we used the gingerbread mold.  It's well into January now, and we are still making these.  My husband is not kitchen guy, but has learned to make these, since he eats them all the time.

Gummy Candy Recipe:     

Into a small saucepan add:
  
 9  Tablespoons Honey or Maple Syrup or less and sub. with Liquid Stevia drops
 6  Tablespoons Gelatin
 1  Cup filtered water or grape juice
10  Drops doTERRA Lemon Essential oil (omit if using grape juice)

Wisk and heat slightly to mix and make smooth enough to pour into molded trays.  
Freeze for 15 minutes.

Source for recipe:  http://www.mommypotamus.com/homemade-gummy-stars/

Today I made a fantabulous creamy vegetable beef soup!  I know, it's not quite time for soup yet here in the south since it was 95 degrees today.  But inside the AC made it cool enough to enjoy and I do miss my soups in the summertime.  Notice that this soup does look a little creamy, opaque and not translucent.  That is due to a wonderful creamy goodness that we just do not get enough off.  Adding this made the soup taste so rich and savory!   So keep reading and I'll share the secret.  This soup passed the husband taste test so it was a hit.  We really loved it so this recipe is a keeper.

I bought a 3 pound rump roast from the Auburn Food Buying Club.  The roast is from purely organic grassfed beef.  Grassfed meats can tend to be on the tough side sometime due to the lack of fat but grassfed meats are the healthier choice.  I put the roast with a little water and lemon pepper sprinkled on top in the crock pot and cooked for 12 hours on low.  This is the best way to get a tender roast.  I took the roast out and let it cool a while then cut it up into bite size pieces.  There wasn't much fat but if you are using a roast from grain fed beef you might have a lot more fat and may want to take some of it off so your soup won't have too much fat floating on the top.

Here are tomatos from my garden.  I dropped them in boiling water for a few seconds so the skin would be an easy off and then I just hand cut them into pieces.  I had 2 quarts.  You can use frozen or canned tomatoes if you'd like.  Yesterday I realized we would not be able to eat all of the tomatoes before they went bad so I just prepared them and put them in the refrigerator last night and thought I'd just bag and freeze them today but I was trying to think of another way to use them and I had put a roast on too last night.  So today is where the two have merged and thus my posting about my creamy vegetable beef soup.
This 2 quart batter bowl of tomatoes was the first to go into an 12 quart stock pot.

     Next into the 12 quart stock pot went 4 quarts of filtered water,

A very large diced onion,

3 Tablespoons organic dried parsley,
1 Tablespoon organic dried Italian Seasoning
1 Tablespoon organic season salt
2 teaspoon organic ground pepper
2 teaspoons organic garlic powder
1 teaspoon organic celery seed
3 organic bay leaves

Here are the tomatoes, onion, water and all the seasonings in the stock pot.

Next add 3 medium sized diced organic potatoes,

2 sliced organic carrots,

2 cups okra.  These are some from my garden that I had previously battered with sprouted corn from "To Your Health Sprouted Flour Company" and fried in expeller pressed coconut oil and frozen.  You can use sliced raw okra just as well.  If you have no okra, that's OK too, just omit.  You can add lima beans, peas or celery instead.

One bag of organic green beans, and

one package of frozen corn kernels.  (These were from my garden but you can use frozen organic corn kernels too.

So you see that you can add most any vegetable that you would like.  Finally you will need to add the roast with it's juice and all to the stock pot.  Turn up the heat on your stove top and bring to a slow boil for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are done to your liking.