Saturday, June 11, 2011

Dehydrated snacks!

I finally took the plunge and ordered a food dehydrator! Do you have one? 

After much research I decided on the Excalibur 3900.  It has 9 trays!
I have been having a blast coming up with new goodies to dry.  This morning I put in some banana, pear, and garden-picked roma tomato slices.  Cool, eh?  Now I can make my own "sun" dried tomatoes!

I am also making some strawberry and banana fruit leather.  You know... like the Fruit Roll Ups they sell that are super expensive and filled with who knows what.  I'm making my own and let me show you how easy it was. 

Load 7-10 strawberries and a sliced up banana in your blender or Magic Bullet
and puree until completely smooth. If it needs a little liquid to help it blend I squeeze a little lime juice instead of water.  Then pour half the mixture onto one of the Excalibur Paraflexx sheets (purchased separately) and then I like to tilt the frame around to get the mixture to spread out a bit.  

Repeat on another Paraflexx sheet and frame.  Place into the dehydrator at ~145 degrees F and let it go for about 5-7 hours.  That's it!

Once its dry you can peel it off the Paraflexx sheet and enjoy!

Now if you'll excuse me... I"m off to snack on some yummy dried pears while the fruit leather dries!