Strawberry Fruit Leather and Giveaway

My children love fruit roll ups and fruit leather. However, I don't like all the extra stuff in most fruit roll ups and organic fruit leathers are not in our budget. The answer - homemade fruit leather. So easy! So good! And mom knows exactly what's in it.

You'll need:

• Strawberries
• Apple Sauce-I used our homemade which has cinnamon
• Honey-we like raw local honey

Wash and remove the stems from your strawberries. I don't measure the berries. I just fill my food processor. Puree the berries until smooth. Add about 1 cup of applesauce and 1/4 cup honey. Puree again until smooth. You can adjust the applesauce and honey to your liking. So taste away.

Line two sheet pan with parchment. Pour half of the puree onto each pan. Smooth making sure that the thickness is even.

Now there are a couple of ways you can dehydrate your fruit leather. It was so hot this last week that we dehydrated it outside on the picnic table. We just covered the pans with cheese cloth. This took about 15 hours.

You can also put it in your oven set on its lowest setting. Ours is 170 degrees. When I dehydrate in the oven it takes about 8 hours.

Or if you are lucky enough to have a dehydrator you can use that. Your dehydrator should have some guidelines or directions on how to make fruit leather.

You want to make sure that the fruit leather is completely dry, but not brittle. It can be tacky to the touch but no puree should come off on your finger when you touch it.

Once it is dry, cut into strips and store in an air tight jar. Of course if your house is like mine, it wont last that long. You can make this fruit leather with a variety of fruits. Have fun experimenting.

And if you don't have a dehydrator, but would like one you must hop on over to Lindsay's blog, Passionate Homemaking, and enter to win your own Excalibur Dehydrator. Her review and ideas on how to use a dehydrator will sell you on having one if you aren't already. Of course, I have entered the giveaway and really hope to win. But I would be psyched if one of my readers won, you will just have to share!