Fork and Beans

Making food fun for the family

Jel-O Pumpkins

by

Who wants to carve a pumpkin when you can carve an orange? Eh, Who’s with me?? Your guests will be delighted upon seeing these Orange-O-Lanterns (aka Jel-O Pumpkins)–made with a vegan jel and not gelatin. “How cute,” they will shriek! It’s an orange posing as a pumpkin…

continues…

Gelatin-Free Jel O Pumpkin Oranges

But once they remove the tops of their heads their delight will soon turn into disgust. And intrigue. These freaky fruits instantly become:

Jel-O-Lanterns.

(not made with real Jell-O but Jel…oh!)

Jel O Pumpkin Oranges

Oozing with slimy green goo.

These freakishly repulsive treats give you the feeling as if you are eating the brains of an orange.

If only oranges had brains…

 Or maybe they do?

*cue creepy, thought-invoking music*

These posts would be a lot better if you could actually hear my voice as I narrate it.

I’m pulling out all the stops here with my impersonations….

Carving out the oranges:

Use a grapefruit knife for the best/easiest results. Cut the top of the orange like you are carving a pumpkin.

Carefully cut around the flesh of the orange and scrape out the goods.

If you find that there is pulp in there that you want to dispose of, take a spoon and carefully scoop it out.

DECORATING TIPS:

    • I couldn’t get a sharpie to stay on the orange for the life of me, so I ended up cutting out shapes on a piece of black foam paper and glued the suckers down until they did. If you get the sharpie to work, I will praise you for all my days…

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 box Natural Desserts Unflavored vegan Jel (found at WholeFoods)
  • natural green food coloring
  • Apple juice
  • 1 carrot, finely shredded 

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Follow the instructions on the box, replacing apple juice for water. Mix together in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Place a few drops of food coloring into the bowl and mix until it becomes uniformly green.
  3. Pour Jel mix into carved out oranges. Place 2 Tbsp. shredded carrots per orange.
  4. Allow to set in refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Jel O Pumpkin Oranges made with gelatin-free insides.

Let’s see how many kids and (grown adults) you can get to run as faraway as possible from these Jel-O-Pumpkins.

About Cara

Based in Chicago with her husband and son, Cara is the creator behind the site Fork and Beans: A place where kids can have fun with their food.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Cara

      I have a crazy, unrestful mind that is always thinking, Shannon. Ha! Thank you though for always being so kind over here!!!

  5. Seth

    I thoroughly enjoyed learning to cook vegan, losing dairy and eggs was a fun challenge and my friends still consider my baked goods and sorbets/ice creams to be some of the best they’ve had. I will gladly attack gluten free and low fructose if it ended up being mandatory. I’ve dabbled, but never with adequate results. Steel all the recipes you’d like. And I’m not rich by any means, just single so I have a little money to waste on silly things like health care. Seems every time I get a girlfriend I start running short on disposable income, not sure why 😉

    • Cara

      I completely agree with you about learning how to relearn cooking without certain products. A challenge never hurt no one…unless we are talking Gladiator stuff, of course. And yes, us women are greedy little monsters 🙂 My boyfriend got lucky that I don’t require money spent on me, however, I am greedy when it comes to attention. I demand it! haha.

  6. Seth

    These are awesome! My only criticism is they look too happy, I like my lobotomized orange-o-lanterns to look more either brain dead or in shock. 😉

    • Cara

      Good form, Seth. You are right! Next time I shall create freakishly in pain-looking pumpkins! Where were you when the shapes were being drawn out???

      • Seth

        I was prob singing the sloppy joe chorus to the lunch lady song while cleaning my kitchen in FL 😉 Great site BTW, I’ve often wondered if I may have a gluten intolerance or other food allergy. I’m afraid to find out though :-/

        • Cara

          HAHA! Well, I know how you kids love your sloppy joes… Thanks for checking the site out. Your life will change the moment you get tested for allergies. Actually, it will be for the better. Not only will your health improve but you will go bonkers like me and start making crazy foods like Jel-stuffed oranges 🙂

          • Seth

            Lady You’re Scaring Us!
            I should get in to see my dr, the fatigue and indigestion that randomly hits me is rather annoying. I’m getting too old for this 😉 At least being vegan I don’t care about dairy, its more nuts and grains that concern me. I tried Muesli once and it was hell.

          • Cara

            I hate to say it but it really sounds like you have a food allergy. Go spend a good $1000 and get tested, grandpa! (unless your insurance is good and if so, can you add my name onto it??) Now you are REALLY going to be a pain in the rear–first vegan, now allergic. HA! Sucker. (I can say that because misery loves company)

          • Cara

            Well, sounds like you should just start digging your grave now. Oh come on! Don’t be so bleak! This is just your life we are talking about *smacking you upside the head* Too violent?

          • Seth

            LoL, I’ve been actually doing a lot of reading, and I could honestly have either Celiac or Fructose Malabsorption. The latter fitting the symptoms better, and would still mean the end of gluten for me along with a bunch of fruits. (And I just started getting really into bread baking too!) I am going to make a Dr’s appointment. Hopefully my overpriced PPO will pay for most of the tests.

          • Cara

            This just might work out. If you go gluten free there is no need to give up on the bread baking. No! Consider it a challenge to conquer (and I will just sneak a peek at your blog and copy all your recipes). Yes, this is a brilliant plan! Honestly though, feeling sick is not fun so I really hope you can figure out what is wrong. You are already creative in the kitchen so whatever it is, you will have no problem working around your diagnosis. P.S. there is no need to rub it in that you are rich and can afford an expensive insurance plan. haha

  8. Jenny

    One of my favorite Halloween ideas so far! My kids will love. And BTW, we made your cheese crackers yesterday. It just so happened that my daughter’s preschool had Cheeze-Its on the snack schedule for today (and we always bring something else when it is a non-vegan snack). I was just going to bring wheat crackers, then I saw your post! Thanks! I’m going to blog about it later this week.

    • Cara

      YAY! So glad you were able to make them! Could you resist the temptation of eating them all up within the first 15 minutes? If so, then I need to award you with a prize, or something 🙂 Can’t wait to read about the post later this week!

  11. coldandsleepy

    These are freakin’ adorable. My kid is a little too young to get it yet (and would be mad if he opened an orange peel to discover anything other than orange) but I’m filing this away in my brain for a few years down the line…