We will feature a guest post once per week here on our Eating Eden blog! The guest posts will contain recipes, gardening tips, health & food information, studies on God's Word or a combination of topics!

Our first guest blog post comes from our friend Jennifer at Life In The Nest! She blogs about her making homemade apple and banana chips. This can be a great project with your kids, and dried fruit is such a healthy snack! Thanks for sharing, Jen!

Homemade Apple and Banana Chips

Last week I grabbed a bag of apples and an extra bunch of bananas to dehydrate. They weren’t on sale, but I shop at Aldi, and their regular prices are always great.

I love to dehydrate just about anything, and there are so many advantages to doing so.

I can make healthy snacks for my kids at home or their lunchbox. Also dried food is great for camping or picnics; either by it self or part of homemade trail mix.
Dehydrated food takes less space and lasts longer than canned or frozen food.
Dehydrated food is easy! Takes less time than canning.

My son loves helping me make apple chips - it’s because he likes to use the apple peeler. I don’t blame him; it’s one of my favorite kitchen gadgets too! Do you have one of these?

Man, when I got mine, it revolutionized my world! (A little too dramatic)? Maybe, but seriously, this thing peels, slices and cores an apple in seconds!

To dehydrate apples and bananas, simply peel, slice, and place in a bowl of lemon or lime water. It’s best if the water to lemon/lime ratio is 4:1.

Place the fruit on a towel and blot off the excess water. Then, just arrange the fruit on the trays of a dehydrator.

How long?

I have a very simple kind of dehydrator; there are no timers or temperature settings (this baby’s a garage sale find! ). I just watch my stuff and when I like how dry it is, I take it out. The apples took about 18 hours and the bananas took about 24 hours.