You can make your own yummy fruit leathers by pureeing fresh or frozen fruit into a thick runny liquid.  This is a great way to save less than perfect fruits (make sure they are still good though) because you just puree the pure fruit, by itself, it into a smooth mush (or add honey for a slightly sweeter snack)… then prepare your rack.

You will need to put plastic wrap over your drying tray or  it will make a mess.   When your tray is covered with the plastic wrap, pour on the puree, and spread to a thin consistency, between 1/8-1/4 inch thick is good.  I can take anywhere between 8 hours to 2 days to dry your fruit, depending on factors such as what you are drying, temperature, humidity, etc.

Once your leather is dry, it is time to cut and roll it into serving sizes.  To roll your fruit leather, cut the size you want, then put plastic wrap on both sides of leather and simply roll it up. TIP:  It is much easier to roll the leather when it has slightly cooled, but is not yet completely cold.  Room temperature or slightly warm is the best rolling temp.

Once you have your technique down, experiment with flavoring your fruit leathers! Try:

• Adding cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and/or pumpkin spice to your apple leathers
• Adding vanilla extract to your cherry leathers
• Adding lemon extract or zest to your blackberry leathers
• Add almond or vanilla extract to your mango or raspberry leathers

Dried veggies and fruits are a great snack and travel well to school, the gym, the office, and are also great as a low calorie high-power anytime snack.  To save money and make sure you are getting the most organic, healthy version of these snacks, make them yourself with these easy instructions:

STEP 1

Wash the fruit and/or veggies thoroughly, then slice into pieces that are no more than ¼ – ½ inch thick.  Slicing lengthwise will usually give you larger pieces than slicing crosswise. The smaller the piece the faster it will dry. If it is a fruit with pits or seeds, they must be removed. If you choose to dry the fruit or vegetables with skin on to maintain more of the vitamins and fiber, some types of fruit/veggies will dry more beautifully than others, so give it a try until you find your favorites.

For apples and other fruits that tend to brown you can buy ascorbic acid (it is a form of vitamin C that is an anti-oxidant used in canning and freezing also to prevent discoloration) and it will keep the fruits from getting brown during the treatment. Sodium bisulfate (a form of sulfur also used in wine-making) can also be used.

If you choose to leave the skin on your fruit or veggie, make a few short incisions in the  pieces or areas that have most skin, this will help them dry faster.  The fruit should be chewy and leather like when it is done.

STEP 2

Blanch or steam the fruit or vegetables for 2 to three minutes to prepare them for drying.

(To blanch is to bring water to boil on the stove then add the fruits or vegetables, turn down heat and cover for a short time to kill any bacteria and start the “heat” process). 

After blanching or steaming, quickly drain and arrange the fruit or veggies on a drying rack.

If you would rather steam than blanch, steam 3-5 minutes.  (To steam use a “double boiler” method and bring the water below to steam heat first, add the fruits or vegetables and cover and steam for just a short time as indicated, remove to drying racks.)

Drying time will vary depending on your drying method, equipment, and items you are drying.  The usual temperatures for drying range between 85 degrees to a high of 160 degrees.  The more fragile the item the lower and longer the drying time, whereas higher temperatures are used for thicker, tougher to dry, more fibrous materials.  Usually 90-120 degrees is perfect for most items.  The time will depend on how much you are drying at a time, so just check, the item will feel, dry, tough and leathery when done.

Favorite things to dry:  Bananas, cherries, cranberries, bell peppers, onions, and garlic (I use the dried garlic and onions in mix recipes for dressings, soups, meat and poultry seasonings, etc.). 

Happy drying (and snacking)!!!

Spices, herbs, seasonings, jerkies, fruit leather snacks and other dried goods are great, but the store bought varieties are so expensive!  Drying your own herbs and spices and making your own fruit leathers or jerkies can be easy, fun, and done at home!  Follow these tips for drying your foods, and stay tuned for fruit leather and jerky recipes in the coming days!

• Do not dry garlic, onions or peppers with other fruits, herbs, or vegetables (they will pick up the flavor of the more potent vegetables).
• Dry meats separately from other foods, and do not sun dry meats as it is too slow of process (usually the temperature is too low and risk of contamination too great).
• Do not try to dry high liquid veggies or will have nothing left after the drying process.  Lettuce, celery, watery type tomatoes, and melons do not dry well. Look for more “meaty or fleshy”  fruits or vegetables (Roma tomatoes are perfect, hothouse – not so much!)
• You can eat your fruits and vegetables as dry food snacks, or you can re-hydrate them and use them in a soup or other dish (to rehydrate, soak in water 15 minutes to 1 hour, then use).
• Dried fruits and vegetables have the moisture removed from them, so there is very little danger from botulism or spoilage unless the moisture is re-absorbed. When re-hydrating dried foods, you will then need to use them in a reasonable period of time and treat them like “fresh” foods again in the amount of time that they are good.
• Only use fresh fruit and vegetables.  Never use old, damaged, or blemished food for this process.
• For added sweetness to the fruit, you can coat half way through with a 50/50 mix of honey and water or sugar and water.  This will add some time to the drying process, but will make a more  “candy” like flavor to a fruit if desired.

My new book, Eat Right for Life:  How healthy foods can keep you living longer, stronger, and disease free, which I wrote with Dr. Raymond Schep, is estimated to be released in bookstores in a few short weeks (by September 26th at the latest!).   

Book Details:

• Pub. Date: September 2010
• Publisher: KP Books (Krause Books, a subsidiary of F+W Media)
• Format: Paperback, 240pp
• ISBN-13: 9781440211324
• ISBN: 1440211329

As promised, here is part 2 of the great online shopping savings extravaganza!!!

www.FatWallet.com

www.Zappos.com

www.pricegrabber.com

www.shopping.com

Go forth and save!

You all know by now that I am crazy for deals.  I just can’t pay full price, it feels so wrong!  So, I have compiled a great list of websites that will help you save major cash on your online shopping adventures:

www.smartbargains.com

www.beezid.com

www.woot.com

www.currentcodes.com

www.shopzilla.com

But wait….there’s more!!!  Tune in tomorrow for part two of the list!

Looking for a light, refreshing lunch or dinner that doesn’t involve a hot oven?  Try this simple and delicious summer salad recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mixed lettuce
• 1/2 cup raw spinach leaves
• 1/4 cup walnuts or pecans
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• Dash of cinnamon

Directions: 

1. Sprinkle cinnamon over chopped apple
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl
3. Top with your favorite dressing (mine is hibiscus or raspberry vinaigrette)
4. Serve and enjoy!

TIP:  Need to add some protein?  A diced chicken breast is the perfect partner to top off this delicious meal!

• Apple slices going brown?  Sprinkle a small amount of lemon juice over the inside of the apple to keep them looking fresh!
• Celery go bad faster than you can eat it?  Remove it from the plastic bag and wrap it in tinfoil before refrigerating, or cut it into slices and place in a container filled with water and store in the refrigerator.
• Want fresh coconut but frustrated trying to get the husk off?  Simply soak the coconut in cool water for a 1/2 hour to an hour and the husk will come off quickly and easily.
• Can’t tell if your eggs are still good or past the point of no return?  Fill a pan with cool water and add 1 tsp salt.  Place your eggs in the water - if they sink they are fresh if they rise toss them out!
• Cooked pasta noodles clumping and sticking together?  Immediately after draining the hot water, rinse with cold water! This will separate all of the noodles and also avoids overcooking once they are drained.

Baked ziti is one of our favorite family dishes, but since we are making a great effort to watch our calories, fat, and un-complex carbs, it has been off limits.  We had really been missing our ziti, so we slimmed it down last night and it was great!!!  The texture was just a little different, but it was still delicious and much lighter than our regular recipe.  Give this lightened up version a try and see what you think!

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces whole wheat ziti or rigatoni noodles
• 16 ounces lean ground turkey
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (you can make your own sauce using the recipe on page 114 of Quick Fix Healthy Mix)
• 8 ounces of freshly shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup reduced fat Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook noodles according to package directions
3. In a skillet, brown ground turkey & chopped onion
4. Once the ground turkey is done, add 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce and turn down heat to simmer
5. Spray a 9×13 baking dish (glass or light metal) with non-stick spray or lightly grease with reduced fat olive oil
6. Pour 1/2 of the cooked pasta into the bottom of the baking dish
7. Evenly spread the ground turkey, onion, and spaghetti sauce on top of the cooked noodles
8. Sprinkle 1/2 of the shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese over the ground turkey, onion, & sauce layer
9. Pour the second 1/2 of the pasta evenly over the cheese layer
10. Spread the second 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce thinly over the pasta (I use a spatula or big spoon to make sure all the noodles get a thin layer of sauce so they don’t dry out)
11. Sprinkle the second 1/2 of the reduced fat mozzarella cheese evenly over the sauce
12. Sprinkle a thin layer of reduced fat Parmesan cheese over the top of the entire dish
13. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes and enjoy!

Vegetarian?  Use eggplant or zucchini instead of ground turkey, or just enjoy the baked pasta with cheese!

The sides of the walking trail my family and I frequent are overflowing with ripe blackberries, so we just couldn’t help but take our buckets and spend some time in the sun picking fresh berries.  Once we got home, I realized we had way more than enough to eat on top of our cereal or oatmeal in the morning and with a little Truvia sprinkled over them for dessert.  Even though I am not much of a baker (my skill lies much more in cooking), I decided a pie was the way to go and this recipe, which was featured in the Los Angeles Times, was simple enough for me to be successful and tasted good enough to buy a slice at a restaurant!!!!  Since I am a novice baker I didn’t attempt the homemade crust (maybe next time), but the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts worked great! 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh blackberries (washed and drained)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar plus 2 tsp sugar (divided)
• 5 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mold one prepared pie crust into a 9 inch pie plate (make sure to press out any air bubbles)
3. In a large bowl, whisk together salt, sugar, and flour
4. Gently stir the blackberries into the bowl with the salt, sugar, and flour
5. Drizzle with lemon juice and gently stir again (until you don’t see any white sugar or flour, the entire mixture should take on the gorgeous purple color of the berries)
6. Pour the berry mixture into the pie plate (over the crust)
7. Brush the edges of the bottom crust with water
8. Lay the second crust over the berry mixture and fit edges inside the bottom crust
9. Fold bottom crust edges over top crust edges (this can become more like rolling over than folding over)
10. Press edges tight against the pie plate with a fork or your fingers
11. Cut several small slits in the top crust (with a sharp knife) to vent while cooking
12. Bake for one hour
13. Cool for one hour, eat (maybe with some vanilla ice cream), and enjoy!!!