Strawberry Cinnamon Fruit Leather Hearts

I wanted to give out heart shaped fruit leathers as Valentine's gifts this year, but I ate them all. 

Strawberry Banana Fruit Roll Ups

I wonder if it is pure coincidence that I am making Fruit Leathers around the same time as my first attempt last year? Or maybe there is some unknown force at work...

Perks of Owning a Dehydrator: Making Yogurt

I was inspired to finally make my own yogurt when my mom bought a yogurt maker from a second hard store...although that yogurt maker is at home, I took the instructional booklet and little containers to Guelph. I knew I could just use my dehydrator.

Part of the reason I wanted to make my own yogurt is because it's cheaper. Organic yogurt is pricey and never seems to go on sale (ironically, the week I wrote this, it went on sale...but only by 50 cents), so instead I now buy the big 4 litre thing of organic milk and use one of the bags for yogurt making. I think James worked it out to be about half the price.

Kale Chips: Am I Missing Something?

I write my first exam of the season today...I'm so close to the end, I think I'm more excited to get it over with than nervous...

Anyways, while I study, I always crave a snack. 

I wanted something salty, and kale was on sale for $1...so I made kale chips. I used elana's pantry's recipe for Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips, with the only variations being that I used my dehydrator to crisp them and white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar (it's all I had...and I'm not about to buy a new jug of something 4 days before I move out).

I must say...I was pretty disappointed. I have read a lot of blog posts describing the wonder of kale chips, but I didn't think they were anything special.

Elana's warning about this recipe being very salty is valid—I found them too salty, and so did James, though he liked them more than I did. I am so sad, because I thought this would be the answer to my salty snack craving...and I've read such good things...

Am I just missing something?

Do You Know About Shrinkage?

I know I have already posted about raisins...more than once...but I am obsessed with them. I make them in huge batches every time grapes go on sale...but they're so delicious, I end up eating them all in the same day they finish dehydrating.

Since they have become part of my regular diet, and I already eat so much fruit [fiber], I decided I better find out the grape/raisin weight ratio...to keep my grape consumption in balance and give myself a reality check—just because it's half the size, doesn't make it half the fruit.

Perks of Owning a Dehydrator: Making Sun-dried Tomatoes on a Cloudy Day

I thought I'd do a little more experimenting with my dehydrator, since I had a surplus of grape tomatoes nearing expiration. I'd never made sun-dried tomatoes before, but I figured they'd be pretty much the same process as grapes. So, I blanched a couple, cut a couple in half, just to see what would turn out... 

Perks of Owning a Dehydrator: Nuts

Soaking and Dehydrating Nuts

This is another Raw Food inspired post. During the summer, I worked with a couple people who were interested in the Raw Food Diet, which, naturally, rubbed off on me. While I spent hours Googling information, I stumbled upon some interesting information concerning brown skinned nuts (almond, pecans, walnuts, etc..). The articles/websites I read claimed that, to get the full, enzyme rich benefits of these nuts, you need to soak them for hours before consumption (and the same goes for lentils, chickpeas, and beans, which you normally fix by cooking). I read some raw foodists even go as far as to call un-soaked almonds empty calories! I had a hard time believing this at first and originally struggled to find reasons for why the enzymes were unavailable without soaking. I have since discovered the logic behind this claim...

Perks of Owning a Dehydrator: Fruit Leather

Strawberry, Vanilla & Honey

Fruit leathers are like homemade fruit roll ups and there are countless recipes out there, just Google it (there, I did it for you!). I think it's something you can also just fool around with and make up your own recipe...it's basically just mixing pureed fruit, how can it go wrong?

A Fridge too Far...Try Dehydrating

Over Christmas break, I was blessed with some extra time to use my Excalibur dehydrator! I bought her at the end of the summer as a reward for working my time away. At the beginning of the semester, I found time to occasionally cut up trays of strawberries or bananas about to go bad, however, as I became consumed by my school work, she sat...doing nothing.