Homemade Fruit Strips- Attempt #2

My previous fruit snack endeavor didn't go as well as I had hoped. Melody didn't like them. I did find, however, that after about a week in the fridge, they weren't as sour so Melody did eat some after that time.

I decided to try again! This time I wanted to try fruit strips instead of the gummies. I had purchased a bunch of fruit from Sams Club last weekend and never got to making these so my strawberries went bad. UGH! Such a waste! I had a few different types of fruit so I just used what I had on hand.

Basically what you will need is:

About 3 cups of fruit-diced
Sweetener (I used 3 Tbs honey)
2 tsp lemon juice
Extracts or spices (optional)

In this batch I used 1 peach, 1 banana, 1 cup strawberries, and about 1/2 cup of mango. The banana, strawberries, and mango were frozen, but I thawed them before blending.

No, you could cook the fruit down on the stove, but why do more work than you really need to, right? So I just threw all the fruit in my blender, then added 3 Tbs honey and 2 tsp lemon juice. Blend it really well until there are no big chunks.

You will need either a large baking sheet or a couple small ones. I had two small ones that fit perfectly next to each other in the oven. You could use a silicone baking mat if you have one or just use plastic wrap. Just make sure the plastic wrap has a little overhang because it shrinks up a little in the oven.

Pour your fruit mixture onto the pans and spread it out evenly. Make sure you don't get too close to the edge of the pan and try to keep the layer as even as possible, about 1/8" thick.

Put the pans in a 170 degree oven or as low as your oven will go. They will need to be in the oven for at least 6-8 hours. It has been humid here so I left mine for 8 hours during the day, then turned off the oven and left them in there overnight.

This is what they looked like in the morning! I peeled them off the plastic wrap and placed them on a sheet of parchment paper.

I trimmed the edges and rolled them up. Then I just cut inch sections with my kitchen shears. If you don't have any sharp scissors you could cut them before rolling them up.

Done! I put mine in a ziploc baggie and store in the cupboard. They should last a couple weeks, or you could store in the fridge for longer.

The best thing about these strips... Melody likes them! Score for mommy! I still have a bunch of blueberries and blackberries in the fridge that I will try with this recipe hopefully this weekend.

Not sure if there will be enough time, though, since operation "Melody's big girl room" is officially underway. I spent my whole day yesterday moving all of my arts and crafts out of her room into the garage cabinets. I'm very proud of myself but extremely sore!

Now DH just needs to move all the big heavy stuff out! I really need to pick out a paint color!

Any ideas on a paint color that will go well with brown and pink?