Fruit Jerky & PB Banana Heart SNacks

I was really excited when I found a recipe on how to make your own "Fruit Jerky" in an article on Obesity and how there is a higher incidence rate of obesity now that a lot of prepackaged foods are preserved with High Fructose Corn Syrup. It has a list of ALOT of very common foods that we buy for our children, some even thinking that they could be a healthier choice. I will share more on that topic at a later time though.

Here are pictures of the process:
1 Qt of fruit (dark fruit does not need anything added) Just toss in your food processor and blend well. Poor onto a wax paper coated cookie sheet and gently shake the fruit to cover the pan. For lighter colored fruit squeeze 1 TBSP lemon or lime juice to prevent it from oxidizing and turning brown. For citrus fruits add 1 TBSP of honey. I will just go ahead and tell you that you will see that my recipe did not turn out. The recipe says to bake with oven door open for 4-5 hours at 140 degrees or lowest temp. WEll, my lowest temp setting is 170. It was crispy, stuck to the wax paper(not sure if I should use parchment paper instead?) and gooey in the middle. It smelled oh so delicious and the one strip I was able to peel off was wonderful. I posted this dud recipe to see if you have any ideas or have made some successfully without a food dehydrator!















Here was a successful, fun recipe...

Take a cookie cutter and a whole wheat/grain tortilla and cut out a couple of shapes. I let the kid's help dallop the peanut butter with flax seed onto the shapes we cut out. Then we topped with banana slices! Great for breakfast or a snack! Enjoy!