STRAWBERRY APPLE FRUIT LEATHER

A few years ago my mom gave us her food dehydrator and I knew right away I wanted to make fruit leather (fruit roll-ups) like she used to make for us when we were kids. Well, it sat in our cupboard for years and we never used it for a darn thing. During our cleaning and organizing spree we came across the box it came in along with the recipe book, so we decided to not only use it to make fruit leather, but Logan made beef jerky as well! :) Both turned out amazing. Neither of us followed a recipe in the book. We both made up our own. Here is my recipe for (simple & healthy!) strawberry apple fruit leather. Now I understand not everyone has a dehydrator, so now is a good time to add it to the Christmas list! The one we have is an American Harvest Dehydrator.

RECIPE:

• 16 oz (1lb) frozen strawberries (I get mine from trader joes. Strawberries are one thing you should try and buy organic)

• 4 fuji apples - peeled and cut into 1 in pieces (any sweet apple will work)

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1/4 cup honey

• shaved coconut - sweetened or unsweetened (optional)

Simmer the frozen strawberries and apples in a saucepan with the 1/2 cup water for about 15-20 minutes or until the apples are softened. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend with the lemon juice and honey.  Lightly spray two of the fruit leather sheets (they come with the dehydrator) with pam and pour the mixture from the blender onto the sheets. Sprinkle the shaved coconut on top.  Set the dehydrator to 140°F and dehydrate for 4-8 hours. 

Note: Mine took way longer than that. It will depend on how thin or thick you pour your fruit puree. The recipe above makes either three thinner rolls or two thinker ones. I decided to pour mine thicker and made two and that is why my dehydrating time was longer. You just kind of have to watch it. Once you do it a few times and figure out how thick you want your fruit leather, you will know how long it takes.