Fruit Roll Ups

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I found this recipe for Fruit Leather and thought it would be a good snack since my kids love Fruit Roll Ups, Gushers and all the dried fruit sugary snacks. It was very simple to make and very tasty. That said we found it hard to peel the fruit off the paper which could be the brand of parchment paper I use. I know the recipe already says this but I am going to reiterate- take notice of how even the fruit is on the cookie sheet before you bake it as this will make a big difference in the outcome.

Strawberry Fruit Leather:
3 Cups Strawberries or 1 box
1 Tbsp Honey

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Remove the stems from the strawberries and rinse.

Place the strawberries and honey in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour the mixture on to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread with the back of a spoon or spatula in a large rectangle making sure that the mixture is completely even.

Bake for 2-3 hours (or until it’s dry and not sticky to the touch). Remember, cooking times will vary depending on how thick you spread your mixture and how much water (juice) is naturally in the fruit. *Every oven is different, so the cooking time maybe less then 2 hours if your oven tends to be hot. Allow to sit and cool at room temperature. It takes several hours for the fruit to soften up (when you first take the leather out of the oven the edges will be a bit dry and crispy, but if you allow it to sit overnight it softens up nicely). Cut with a knife or pizza cutter into strips or use scissors, keeping the paper on, and then roll the leather into “roll ups”.

The Breakfast Dilema

Since I began this whole health food revolution in my house I have been struggling with breakfast. Since my family has a serious addiction to cereal and particularly sugar cereal I knew this would be a struggle. Someone suggested that I buy some healthy cereals and offer them to my family. I knew this wouldn't fly so I thought that perhaps if there were other food options in the morning then perhaps they wouldn't notice that there was no Cocoa Pebbles or Honey Nut Cheerios. I decided to try this recipe for Whole Wheat Muffins. I decided to try making them with strawberries since I thought they would be good and I had some strawberries that were going to get bad soon.

Also I didn't include the nutmeg as we don't like nutmeg.
Josh tried them last night and did not like them. I know they aren't the sugary treats he is used to so I decided to try them today and I think that perhaps the strawberries were not a good mix in for this recipe. I think I will try them again with nuts or bananas and maybe a little more honey. Let me know if you make them and find a better mix in.

For dinner I made Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers. I liked that they were oven baked and only a drop of oil. Of course Jordy ended up eating pizza at a friends house for dinner and once again Nadav wouldn't touch what I made but everyone else loved them. They were crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside and flavorful. I doubled the recipe but ended up with a lot of extra egg whites so next time I would use less egg.

I served them with whole wheat couscous and salad. I didn't dress the salad and was really proud that Danya ate it without asking for dressing.