Glittered Glamour Grapes

I may have mentioned it before…in the summer it is H-O-T here in the desert. This week isn’t so bad (although we are in our monsoon season and the humidity is ramping up – I will take the dry heat back, please!), however last week was “toasty”. I believe we had 3 days in a row of temps over 110.

Now, I have also mentioned that I am one of the crazies who actually enjoy the heat…as long as I’m not in the car or having to run errands in the middle of the day. Because, really, who wants to have their skin melted by the heat coming off of the pavement!?

When you live in the high desert you learn to stay hydrated, as well as making foods that are cool and refreshing. The more you can keep the stove off in the middle of June and July, the happier you will be!

This is one of those ideas that is so easy it is really a no-brainer.

Grapes are a prefect snack for the desert; compact, juicy, cool. Perfect! In this house they are rinsed and thrown in to the freezer. Actually, I can really do whatever I want with them because they are not a chosen fruit of the Rocket Scientist. This is fine with me because that just means they are ALL MINE!!!

Last year I discovered a nice way to really boost the flavor of the grapes. There are several people who have written about this, everyone has their own take on them as well as a name. I like Glittered Grapes so I am sticking with it!

So, if you are a Weight Watchers person you should know that the sugar free Jello option is 0pp for as many grapes as you want and the regular Jello option is 1pp for 20 grapes. I can’t do the sugar free option as my body will not handle the artificial sweetener in the mix, but I will take a 1pp option (and no, I’m not in WW right now, but have done it for so long that I think I may always have point values and calculations in my head! That’s a good thing to be stuck in my head!)

(This is one of those ridiculously simple recipes – to the point that I feel goofy typing it out like it’s an official ‘recipe’!)

Glittered Grapes

• 1 small box of Jello – sugar free or regular (Any flavor will work, but I did not like lemon or lime)

• Green and/or Red seedless grapes

Pull the grapes of the stems and place in a colander. Rinse well and drain. Let the grapes slightly wet (just not dripping).

In a large Ziploc bag place 3-4 tablespoons of the dry Jello powder.

Place the grapes in the bag, seal and shake until grapes are covered (depending on how many grapes you have you may use the entire packet of Jello…this is what I did with 2 full bunches of grapes).

Place coated grapes on a plate or cookie sheet and put in the freezer for several hours. Once the grapes are frozen, transfer them to a freezer container or bag.

Serve and say “ahhhhh…..”

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Currently my favorite flavors are cherry, watermelon and tropical fusion jello.