Jelly slice… my all time childhood favourite!

I couldn’t tell you how many slices of this bad boy I devoured as a kid.

Unfortunately though, the ingredients in this slice were anything but healthy!

In fact ‘traditional’ Jelly Slice is generally made from Arnott’s ‘Marie’ biscuits (exact ingredients: Wheat Flour, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Contains: Soy), Golden Syrup, Baking Powder, Salt, Flavour, Milk Solids)…. Nestle sweetened condensed milk (which is pasteurised milk & sugar) & then to top it off, raspberry aeroplane jelly (exact ingredients: Sugar, Gelatine (Beef Origin), Acidity Regulators (297, 331), Flavour, Colours (122, 133))

So in a nut shell… sugar, soybean oil, pasteurised milk… & more sugar.

This can then cascade into destroyed gut bugs, hormonal imbalances, increased free radicals, reduced Vitamin C intake… & that’s just the half of it.

…Why is Nestle called the “Leading Nutrition, Health & Wellness” company again? Maybe we’re in upside down world?

Needless to say… this is NOT the type of Jelly Slice you want to be eating – I don’t care how small the piece is or how delicious it tastes!

But the good news is that you don’t have to eat unhealthy Jelly Slice EVER again!

The recipe that I’m about to share with you not only tastes delicious… but there’s absolutely NO “fake” ingredients in there! Only real wholefoods & REAL gut healing gelatin… & all free from refined sugars, gluten, dairy & grains.

If you’re an old time Healthy Patcher you might have already seen one of our “Healthy Jelly Slice” recipes, but this is the new & improved version!

It contains less natural sugar (but is still perfectly sweet) & is a lot easier to make!

The base contains almonds which are an awesome source of monounsaturated fat, which helps to reduce insulin sensitivity, leading to less stored body fat. They also contain Vitamin E, which helps to keep your skin healthy & clear.

The middle layer is predominately made from coconut cream which gives you a good dose of slow burning energy. It increases your metabolism, keeps you full for longer & helps you to burn fat.

The jelly is made from mixed berries & grass fed Gelatin. Gelatin supports the lining of your gut which is vital for stopping undigested food particles from getting out of your stomach & into your blood stream – AKA Leaky Gut – which can lead to inflammation & auto-immune conditions. It’s also been shown to improve sleep quality & reduce day time drowsiness!

Now this recipe is really easy, however if you’ve never worked with Gelatin before, let me give you some pointers 🙂

GELATIN POINTERS:

#1. Firstly, there are 2 types of Gelatin that you can use. There is Gelatin powder & “sheet leaf” Gelatin.

The leaf style gelatin is generally used over the powder in desserts because it is meant to dissolve better & meant to be a “clearer & smoother” jelly. We have used both & they are both pretty much the same.

#2. For the powdered gelatin we purchase “Great Lakes Unflavoured Gelatin” from iHerb here.

For the leaf gelatin we purchase “Chefs choice silver grade leaf gelatin”.

If you go with the powdered gelatin, you need to soak the powder in a little cold water for about 5 minutes… after which you need to add it to hot liquid. It then needs to be stirred so all the lumps are out, & then set in the fridge for a few hours or the freezer for about an hour.

Now this is a lot easier than it sounds… Just grab a little bowl, put your required amount of gelatin in it, & then add the water. You want the water to be double the amount of the gelatin. E.g 2 tbsp. Gelatin = 4 tbsp. Water.

After 5 minutes the water will be gone & instead, you’ll see a nice big ball of gel 🙂 Then you simply add your gel ball to your hot liquid & stir!

If you’re using the leaf gelatin it’s a really similar process – just soak the leaves in ice cold water for about 5 minutes & once they’ve expanded & go “jelly like” gently squeeze out any remaining water, add the jelly leaf to the hot liquid & stir.

#3. One more pointer & then we’ll get to it… a little gelatin goes ALONG way!

If you use hydrolysed collagen in your food… & you’re anything like me & Anth, you might be used to not measuring it out… or just going plain nuts with the stuff.

HOWEVER… Gelatin on the other hand – although super tempting to add extra because of its health benefits – will go firmer & firmer the more you use.

Another tbsp than what this recipe calls for will most likely result in gummy bear texture – not what you want… we’re making jelly, not gummy bears 😉

So unless you’re some kind of Gelatin wizard, stick to the recipe :p

HEALTHY JELLY SLICE

INGREDIENTS

BASE:

• 2 1/2 Cups Almond Meal
• 1 Organic Egg
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
• 3/4 Cup Coconut Chips
• 4 dates

MIDDLE LAYER:

• 1 x 400ml Can Coconut Cream
• 2 Tbsp Organic Honey or Maple Syrup
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla Bean Powder
• 1 Tbsp. Grass Fed Gelatin & 2 Filtered Tbsp. Water OR 4 sheets of Leaf Gelatin
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Butter
• Juice from 1/2 a small lemon

JELLY LAYER:

• 2 1/2 cups mixed berries (we use a mix of frozen blueberries, raspberries, strawberries & blackberries)
• 1/2 Cup Filtered Water
• Juice of 1/2 a small lemon (the other half!)
• 2 Tbsp. Gelatin & 4 Tbsp. Filtered Water OR 8 sheets of Leaf Gelatin
• 3 Tbsp. Organic Honey or Maple Syrup

METHOD

BASE:

Line a square or rectangle baking dish with parchment paper. (Note that we usually use a square baking dish however this time we have used a larger rectangle baking dish because we made a double batch)

Add all ingredients for the base into a food processor & process until combined.

Firmly press mixture into the backing dish until even.

Place in the freezer to set.

MIDDLE LAYER:

Whilst your base is setting in the freezer, it’s time to work on the middle layer!

Prepare your gelatin by placing it in a bowl with cold water. (see “Gelatin Pointers” above). Leave for around 5 minutes or until the powder forms into a big ball of gel OR your sheet leaf gelatin turns big & has a gel consistency.

Place all other ingredients for your middle layer into a small saucepan & heat on a low heat. Take it off the heat just before it starts to simmer. Once off the heat add your gelatin into the liquid & stir really well to make sure there are no lumps. The gelatin should dissolve almost instantly but I always like to stir for about a minute to make sure it is lump free!

Allow mixture to cool down (you don’t want it to be piping hot!), go get your baking dish out of the freezer & pour the liquid onto the base.

Place back in the freezer to set. (Note – this usually takes around an hour or so to set).

JELLY LAYER:

Just like you did before, prepare your gelatin by placing it in a bowl with cold water. (see “Gelatin Pointers” above). Leave for around 5 minutes or until the powder forms into a big ball of gel OR your sheet leaf gelatin turns big & has a gel consistency.

Place all other ingredients for your jelly (berries, water, lemon juice & sweetener) into a high speed blender & blend until smooth.

Transfer to a small saucepan & gently heat up over a low heat (Note that if you used frozen berries it will take a little while to heat up).

Take it off the heat just before it starts to simmer. Once off the heat add your gelatin into the liquid & stir really well to make sure there are no lumps. Like before, the gelatin should dissolve almost instantly but I always like to stir for about a minute to make sure it is lump free!

Allow mixture to cool down. Once cool, go get your baking dish out of the freezer & carefully pour the jelly onto the now set middle layer.

Place back in the freezer to set. (Note – this usually takes around 30 minutes).

Once set, cut into squares & enjoy your health jelly slice!! 🙂

P.S If you want more delicious & nourishing recipes that will help you amp up your wholefoods ASAP, make sure you check out our new eBook Drink Your Way To Incredible Health right here! Loaded with over 30 of our favourite body-loving juices, smoothies, teas & tonics to repair, revitalise & energise your body!

Whether you’re after more energy throughout the day, a better sleep, improved digestion or maybe better skin or hair health (or all of the above!!) there’s a juice, smoothie, tea or tonic for it! All of which you’ll find in this book!

Our health journey started a while back… about 5 or 6 years ago now… & in that time we’ve healed our leaky gut, balanced out disrupted hormones, cleared up bad skin, lost a tonne of weight, & taken back our lost energy that used to stop us from even getting through the day!

We like to say that we moved from surviving to thriving 🙂 & it opened up some incredible doors for us, because regardless of whatever you want to do with your life, if you don’t have your health… it’s going to be a lot harder to get it!

So, as you may already know, we solved each & every one of those health concerns with food. Removing all problematic foods (sugar, gluten, dairy, grains, processed, sprayed & GM) & replacing them with 100% organic whole foods changed everything for us.

We’d finally taken the burden off our bodies & allowed our bodies natural healing abilities to do their thing! The body is such an amazing thing & its ability to heal (when it’s allowed to do so) is incredible!

So, something else about us that you might not know… is that we both wear glasses (well, we were given prescriptions for glasses, but we don’t actually wear them, I’ll explain more in a minute)…

We were told that we’re both short sighted (our prescriptions are almost identical) & that we wouldn’t be able to see long distance without them.

At the time we just accepted that we had bad eye sight & needed glasses. But then a little while ago we realised, if we were able to heal all of our old health issues using food, why couldn’t we heal our vision too?

So, we started researching all the ways to naturally repair eyesight (what foods to eat, exercises to do, thoughts to have) & two of the most healing foods we could find when you want to improve the health of your eyes… are blueberries & coconut

Blueberries are one of the richest sources of antioxidants out there, especially anthocyanins which help to protect your eyes from oxidation & free radical damage.

Coconut is one of the best dietary sources of medium chain fatty acids, a type of fat that has been shown improve eye health as well as brain function. The fat in the coconut also allows you to better absorb the antioxidants in the blueberries (fat should always be consumed with antioxidants), so the 2 foods work together to give you healthier eyes!

Pretty cool right? Which meant that we needed a way to make sure we were consuming these eye-loving wholefoods everyday!

Enter our eye healing blueberry bliss balls!

These babies are SO EASY to make, they taste INCREDIBLE, they’re super satiating… & of course – the star ingredients are blueberries & coconut!

Now of course, even if your eyesight is PERFECT these balls will still do wonders for your body – but for those of us who need a little help in the vision department, these balls are where it’s at!!

Alright let’s get to the recipe shall we?

Eye Healing Blueberry Bliss Balls (Serves 2)

INGREDIENTS:

– 1 cup shredded coconut
– 1/2 cup coconut butter, packed
– 1/2 cup almond meal
– 2 large handfuls of blueberries
– 1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder
– 1/2 cup coconut cream*

METHOD:

Place shredded coconut, coconut butter, almond meal & vanilla bean powder into a food processor & process until crumbs form.

Now add blueberries & coconut cream & process again until all well combined.

Roll batter into little balls, coat with a little more shredded coconut if desired & place in freezer until set (this usually takes around 15 minutes).

Now enjoy your beautiful blueberry bliss balls!

NOTES:

If you’re using coconut milk instead of coconut cream (which is much thinner in consistency) you might want to use a little less than 1/2 a cup. The coconut cream helps everything stick together but you don’t want your batter to be soaking wet. 🙂

If you’re using store bought coconut cream, try to make sure it just contains coconut – no other fillers/ingredients.