Microwave Dried Fruit

After making Microwave Sweet Potato Chips, I wanted to see I  could make other, similar things in the microwave.
We had a few apples that I have been holding onto for applesauce, but since a certain 5 year old couldn't wait and ate one or three, there just wasn't enough. I still wanted to make something out of the rest.
I saw a post online a while back, I'm not sure where, about drying herbs in the microwave. I figured that if you can use it to dry herbs, you should be able to use it to dry fruit. Logical, right?
Turns out you can! I dried apples and bananas.

I read about 15 or 20 different recipes and methods online, and it turns out pretty much all of them are the same. There were a few slight variations... soak fruit in lemon juice and water, for instance, or use microwave safe plastic wrap... I didn't do either. I experimented on my own with that.

The one consistent thing in the recipes was the time. Ten minutes on 30% power. (I kind of did that.) And let them sit out in the open overnight. I did do that.

First I used a paper plate. I microwaved the fruit for the 10 minutes at 30% power, but I felt they were still a little too... juicy. I flipped the slices over and gave them another 2 minutes, or so. Much better!

The apples did great on the paper plate, but it took a bunch of batches, thus taking quite some time.
Hint: When drying apples in the microwave, do not let them touch each other!
Seriously! (Hence the bold type.)
They will burn.
They will also leave a burn mark on the paper plate.
Like... a very skeptical... "Um, Susie? What's Burning?"
Yeah. That happened.

The bananas kind of stuck to the paper plate a little. You'll want to pry those suckers up right away while they are still warm. I imagine that they will also burn if they touch, but I wasn't willing to test that theory. (Come on now, I already took one for the team with the apples!)

Microwave Dried Apples & Bananas

What You Need:
bananas
apples
a microwave
a mandolin or a sharp knife and some skill

What You Do:

1. Wash and dry your apples thoroughly. Peel the bananas.
2. Slice the fruit about 1/4 inch thick.
3. Place on a paper plate in a single layer, without any pieces touching.
4. Microwave for 10 minutes on 30% power.
5. Turn fruit over. Microwave for another minute or two on 30% power.
6. Place dried fruit in a plastic container or on a rack and allow to air dry over night.
7. Store tightly covered for up to a week.

Here are some of the ways I use dried fruit:

• trail mix or snack mix
• add to homemade granola
• add to no bake granola bars
• mix in hot cereal
• just snack on it by itself

How do you use it?

Microwave Sweet Potato Chips

Yes. You read that right.
Microwave. Sweet Potato. Chips.
They are seriously yummy! And oh, so easy.
I've made microwave potato chips before from this recipe, but I am going through a sweet potato kick, and  I really wanted to try making chips out of them... So I did!

You're going to want to start with a clean microwave. (Try this fast, easy way to clean it.)
Make sure the plate thingy in the microwave is really clean, too... I'll wait...

No-Bake Granola Bars

I love homemade granola! (Check out my recipe here.)
I like that I can customize it to my (and my family's) taste.
I like that I can make it various ways and without preservatives.
I like that I can sneak so many healthy things into it!

I decided that I wanted to try to make some no-bake granola bars out of some yummy, homemade granola. I've seen various no-bake cookie recipes using sweetened condensed milk, but I didn't want to go that route. Then, I had an idea! I love Rice Crispy Treats. Why not "marry" the two?
Now with Rice Crispy Treats, I use tons of marshmallows. I use way more than the recipe calls for- ooey-gooey stickiness, at its best. I didn't want that for these bars, so I cut the marshmallow content down. Way down.

The result? Better than I had hoped!!!

Here's what I did:

My Healthy Foods (plus printable)

It never fails.
Every weekend, when we go to the store, it happens.
Our 5 and 7 year olds very sweetly look up at their daddy, and ask for a dollar.
And he, of course, hands one over to them.
Ahhh... if only they saved those dollars up. But no. They are eager to spend it. (Okay, I can't really blame them. I am the same way when I want to buy yarn or something.)
Every week, we go through the aisles and they look at the items. Will they put their money together for a larger bag of cheetos or a package of cookies? Or will they buy their own individual snack at the checkout?
Whatever they decide, it always seems to be junk food.
Last week, when we got back from the store, while my 5 year old was munching on her funyuns and my 7 year old was digging into her bbq lays, I had an idea. (By the way... smart kids! They saw that I was buying  a cake, so they chose salty snacks over sweet!)

Anyway, back to my idea. They We get enough junk food as it is (note previously mentioned cake), so do they really need to be wasting their money on  more junk food?
I didn't think so either.
I had to think of a way to get them on board the idea of buying healthier snacks.
I thought for a minute, then I said to them, "You know, you could have put your money together and bought a big basket of strawberries! That would have been yummy!"
You should have seen their eyes light up! "STRAWBERRIES???!!!"
They went on about how much they love strawberries and how they wished that they had thought of that at the store. It worked! I kept it going with suggestions of grapes, blueberries, string cheese, yogurt and more of their favorite healthy snacks. They got excited about it and started planning what they would buy next weekend.
Soon it was time for bed, but I told them that we would do a project together the next day.

Monday morning rolled around and they were excited for their project. I started by telling them that we are going to start eating healthier and when they choose snacks at the store, they have to start choosing healthy ones. We talked about the food groups. They wrote down the foods that they like and categorized them into the right groups. It was relaxed and fun. We talked about what foods are healthy and which ones aren't as healthy. They enjoyed learning about how many of the foods they love are so good for them.

The fun we had with this little project prompted me to create a printable project out of it, and of course, share it with all of you!

Click Here for the Printable

There are seven pages including the cover page. Your child can draw and list his/her favorite healthy foods from each group. Or, if you prefer, you can find some food ads and use those to cut and paste onto the pages. On the last page, your child can make his/her own healthy plate. You can print extra if you want him/her to create a plate for each meal.

Fun, right? I hope you all enjoy this activity as much as we did!