Fruit snacks made out of ... FRUIT!

Courtney and I have been best friends for a bijillion years. Topics we talk about have evolved from what we are going to wear to prom, to where we are going to live the next year in college, to where in the world we are going to travel the next fall, to where we are going to go on our missions, to where we are going to get married, to where we are going to buy our homes, to how to put our kids to bed, to well, um, dehydrating. I wanted to start dehydrating, researched which brand to buy (the Excalibur got the best reviews), and asked Courtney if she wanted to share. So, even though we live 25 minutes, it has worked out well.
I started out with strawberries and apples. I got the strawberries on mega sale and didn't want to do jam because of all the sugar (never mind that I eat enough sugar in one molten lava chocolate dessert to make an entire jar of jam). Granny smiths are my favorite because of the tang when they are dried.

Wash, dry and slice. I am a kitchen gadget nerd. The little scoopie thing takes the stems and any blemishes out the the strawberries without taking out any of the good stuff. The melon baller works well to takes the seed part out of the apple halves, and like the scoopie thing leaves the good stuff. The knife is a Miracle Blade III, one of my favorite, "as seen on TV" purchases. Jenn, one of my favorite people of all time, told me about this knife. It really works

.
Line them up. The kids can help with this.

The kids are "stealing" the fruit. It made me happy to have them so excited about something good for them.

This is what is looks like after several hours in the dehydrator. The instructions say "7 to 12 hours." Not a minute more, not a minute less.

This jars are on the counter and every once in a while the kids will grab some. It also helps for when I want to just eat something and this is ready to grab.