I am always on the prowl for ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into the meals I feed my crew - none of them (even my husband!) love vegetables, so I tend to focus more on fruit. I love that it's as natural as natural can get. We eat our fair share of processed foods in my house (gasp!!) so I like to give them fresh food as much as I can... I have comes across a lot of recipes for making your own fruit roll-ups on Pinterest, and I thought that sounded like a GREAT idea - I loved those things when I was a kid! My first attempt was in June of this year.
It failed. Big time. Like, "I'm-lucky-my-house-didn't-burn-down" failed.
To make home made fruit rolls, it's pretty easy (or so I thought) - throw a bunch of fruit in a blender, add in sugar (if you want) and the dry it out in the oven (which, translated means "cook it in the oven on SUPER low heat, about 170").
I knew it would take more hours than I had available, but I started it anyway. I left it go for a good 3-4 hours, but you need double that for it to dry out all the way in the middle.
So, I read on a blog somewhere (I'm sorry I don't remember where!) that she turned hers off when she went to bed, then turned it back on when she got up in the morning. I work outside the home, so I only have a couple of hours or so from the time I get up to the time I walk out the door (and not one free minute during those couple of hours!).
I had this great idea to set the timer on my oven to turn on at about 2am so that it could do its magic for the last 2-3 hours it needed, and then I'd
I got up the next morning and immediately smelled fruit - I was so excited that it woke me right up (not common, my friends).
I went into the kitchen to pull out my perfect pan of dried fruit, only to discover that they weren't perfect. At all. It looked like a pan of dried seaweed. Completely and utterly bone dry - not recognizable in the least. FAIL.
Turns out, my oven turned it self on to 350 at 2am, and cooked at that temp for 3 hours!
My typical response is to quit and never try again when I fail, but I was determined.
Round #2 - I had some apricots that I needed to use up before we went out of town for a week this summer - I pitted them, threw them in a blender, added lots of sugar (followed a recipe I found) and poured them into the pan. We went to bed late that night, so I let them go all night. Next morning - they were lookin' good! Not done, but on their way. Since we were going out of town, I left them on the counter, turned off the oven, threw a towel over the top, and hoped they'd dry out by the time we got home a week later (also hoped ants wouldn't come out of the woodwork to feast).
A week later, when we returned home - success! They were perfect. :)
I've tried again a couple times since then, and this is a new go to when I have fruit I need to use up - not labor intensive, and very healthy!
Hope you enjoy!
Homemade Fruit Strips
2 cups fresh fruit
(you can add sugar or honey if you want; I didn't and like the tartness of it without the added sugar)
1. Pour fruit in a blender and puree until smooth and liquidy.
2. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over a cookie sheet.
3. Pour mixture over plastic wrap and use a spatula to smooth evenly.
4. Place in the oven and turn on to the lowest heat possible (mine goes down to 170).
5. Let it go for 4-6 hours (you can crack your oven door if needed, or if you just like the smell like I do!)
Once the pan is completely dried, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once completely cooled, peel off of plastic wrap and transfer to a sheet of wax paper. Using a pizza cutter, cut into slices, roll and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
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| Homemade Fruit Strips - strawberry blueberry |
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