Using a new toy....

Usually on Saturdays we post about a sweet treat that we made to snack on. While I do have something for you today, there really isn't much of a recipe for it, however, it gives me a chance to show off one of the a new toys I got for Christmas!

I had been wanting a food dehydrator for awhile now and thanks to my parents, we got one! I was afraid that I'd use it once and then forget about it, but over the past couple of weeks, we have certainly put it to work!

The first way I had to use it was to make dried apples. We used to buy them occasionally and they never lasted long enough because we kept picking at the bag in the pantry! I asked Jeff what kind of apple he wanted to try first and since we both like Granny Smith's, he thought those would be a good way to start. I used the food processor to make short work of slicing them down, but I think I'll use a mandolin next time as they were a bit thin. To aid them from turning very dark as they sat in the circulating hot air, we gave them a five minute dunk in a mixture of water and Ball's Fruit Fresh, which is basically ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The mixture (sans water) also works well to keep guacamole bright green if it needs to sit out.

I filled up the trays and they were done in just about 4 to 5 hours! I think the next batch will get a dusting of cinnamon and I'll also cut them thicker to give 'em a little more chew. I can't wait until it is apple picking time again and take a trip out to the orchards like we did last year for fresh apples.

Since we finished off the four trays I made (mental note... need to buy more trays!), the next way we used it was to make banana chips!

I found these took longer to dry out - probably closer to 6 or 7 hours, depending on how thick the slices ended up. Now, these will not end up being the same as those crisp banana chips you find in the market - those have actually been fried! While you could probably achieve crispness if you left them in longer, you'd end up loosing a lot of the good things found in bananas. Sweet and chewy, these are good enough by themselves, but we found them outrageously good slathered with a layer of homemade peanut or cashew butter! We are actually on our 4th batch as of this morning - I didn't realize how much we would end up liking these. Now that we've done these a few times, I've found it takes about 9 large bananas to fill up all the trays and they are best sliced about 1/4" thick.

So, what's on tap next? I'm excited to try making our own raisins, fruit leather (especially using strawberries picked from that fantastic farm we found last year), dried tomatoes when they strike late this summer, maybe some dried cranberries and even homemade jerky! Do you have a dehydrator? What else do you like to use yours for?