Jell-O Cloud (No cream, and no Cool Whip!)

Yippee!-- no whipping cream, and none of the 'unhealthy' Cool Whip in this one.  Instead, this recipe uses.........whipped evaporated milk with a tsp. of vanilla!

While evaporated milk, in its undiluted state, is somewhat comparable in calories to cream, it 'arrives' with about half the fat stuff, etc., and stays readily available in its can on the shelf.  (In my cupboard, the evaporated milk 'lives' cheek-to-cheek with the cans of canned pumpkin-- no big wonder about why that is!)

This 'Cloud' dessert is somewhere between a mousse and cheesecake. This recipe also has low-fat* and diabetic variations* that "are said to be" as good as the original.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 oz. box Jell-O ...OR two of the small 3 oz. boxes for a possible combination of flavors. (This time around, I combined two small boxes-- one lemon, one lime.  Some like this in orange, strawberry, etc.-- I think it's great in 'all lemon', also!)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 15 oz. can evaporated milk (chilled to 'cold')
• 8 oz. package of cream cheese -- softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Place in refrigerator until it starts to thicken (I pour into 9x9" glass baking dish to speed up the 'chilling').
2. Pour the can of evaporated milk into a medium/large mixing bowl, along with the beaters, and place in freezer to chill.
3. When Jell-O begins to thicken (about the consistency of egg whites) and milk is chilled, proceed with recipe.
4. In a small/medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until the sugar loses it's 'grain'iness.  (With a food processor, you can start out with cold cream cheese and add the sugar; then the Jell-O, as stated in Step 5.  It works SO WELL for this).
5. Add the thickened Jell-O to the cheese mixture and blend until well mixed, scraping down the sides often.
6. In the chilled large mixing bowl, beat the well-chilled evaporated milk and vanilla and continue until stiff peaks form.
7. Fold the Jell-O/cream cheese/sugar mixture into the beaten milk and beat at low speed until well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl often. Since the added ingredients might be light colored (depending on flavor of Jell-O you use), it can be hard to tell if the Jell-O is well distributed, so blend thoroughly.
8. Spoon the 'Cloud' into footed (or any) dessert dishes and chill for several hours. (May also be poured into a chilled pie crust.) 

Below:  After being in the refrigerator for just an hour, it's already set up like this...