I’ve been up since 3am (when Bobby went to sleep) – insomnia much?  I crashed around 10:30pm last night though (very early for me).  So I decided to just get out of bed, call my mom (who is on the east coast, and 3 hours later than me), watch the news, and make a post.  It’s peaceful being up this early.  I might do some morning yoga or go for a walk when it starts to get light out.

I finally discovered the amazingness that is agar agar powder.  Who knew you could make such a nutritious, yummy dessert in about 10 minutes?  Agar agar comes from seaweed.  It’s very popular in Asian desserts, especially in Japan.  It’s a vegetarian/vegan substitute for gelatin too.

Since I’m kind of a linguistics nerd – agar comes from the Malay word “agar-agar”, meaning jelly.  Other names are kanten, China grass, and Japanese isinglass.  Cool, right?  There was actually a diet fad in Japan called “the kanten diet” where you eat it with every meal.

Unsweetened Dessert Jelly

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups water
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder
• 1 can coconut milk OR 2 cups fruit juice (I used coconut milk for one batch; POM pomegranate juice for another)
• optional: chopped fruits (I used 1 chopped apple in the POM version)

Directions

1. Add the agar agar powder to the water and bring to a boil.  Cook for about 5 minutes (until the powder has completely dissolved).
2. In a separate pot, heat the coconut milk OR juice for 3-5 minutes.
3. If you’re using fruit, put it on the bottom of a large flat pan/dish.
4. Then add the warmed coconut milk OR juice and whisk around until they are mixed well.
5. Let cool completely before refrigerating.  Cut in squares and eat!

I liked the subtlety of this dessert/snack – usually Jell-O is sickeningly sweet, but that was not the case at all here.  Bobby thought the flavor was almost too subtle, but I liked it.  If you do want to sweeten it, just add sugar/other sweetener to the water and agar mixture and let it dissolve.

I got this salad at Sprout Cafe the other day with lunch – I don’t remember what was in it though.  I know there were lots of kalamata olives, which I love.  They are one of my favorite salad additions!  The salad dressing was a chili-lime vinaigrette, and it was wonderful.

Do you ever get insomnia or wake up really early?  What do you do?

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