Recipe: Fruit Roll Ups

Like I've said before - no matter how filling the meals I make are - my children still tend to "starve" in between them.

This is where I used to slip up - "What? Your hungry? Here just eat this!" or "Just go find something."

And the natural man inside their beings will, of course, go to the highly sweetened-highly processed foods-laden with bad fats.

I'll be happy to admit that this no longer happens in our home. It just kinda evolved that way - naturally.

We gradually stopped buying junk.

We buy lots of fruits and vegetables.

And I make an effort in making our own snacks for those moments of "starvation".

I also make an effort in bringing some of these snacks with me for when we're out and about.

That way I don't give in to getting just "something" when they are lacking emotional stability due to some sincere nutritional depletion - which is something I more than likely am going through at the same time and therefore do not have enough self control to say no to the plethora of fast food beasts that dot almost every corner of the streets we are driving down in a desperate and frantic manner just to get home - to some real food!

I've finally evolved from making a mental note of what I can do to avoid such situations to actually being and staying prepared. . . with only a slip up here and there.

Fruit roll ups are one of our favorites. I usually only have fruit roll ups on hand during harvest time.

Our favorite fruit roll ups are: prune/plums, apricot, peach and apple

Here's what I do...

Prune/plum: de-seed the fruit, put through Champion juicer, lightly oil the dehydrator discs with grape seed oil (the kids love helping with this one), and spread fairly thin layer onto disc and dehydrate at 110 degrees until it's done. . . 6+ hours.

Apricot: do the same as with the prunes

Peach: same

Apple: Boil the apples, turn into apple sauce by blending in blender, place in thin layer on oiled disc. Dehydrate as mentioned above.

You can add spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg or you can even mix fruits. Some people like to add a little lemon to help preserve the color. I've never found this an issue - although my kids do like the slightly sour taste it adds to the fruit roll up.

After they're done dehydrating take them off the discs. You know they're finished if all of the fruit roll up will peel off fairly easily without leaving any wet fruit on the disc. Take them off the discs. I like to cut mine with scissors into the sizes I want. Then I place them in a air tight container - making sure not to squash too many together seeing as how they'd end up sticking together.

Also, some people boil any and all fruit that they'll be using for the fruit roll ups - this isn't necessary and it's a step I purposefully avoid - seeing as how cooking the fruit ruins their enzymes.

There's a recipe here - it shows how to make them in the oven - for those who don't have a dehydrator.

And this recipe looks like one I want to try.

And look at how cutely they can be wrapped!