Do you ever want to grab all of the gummy, colorful snacks that are marketed for children and eat them for yourself? Well, we cannot blame you, but you also do not need all of those artificial dyes, preservatives, and other processed ingredients. What if we told you that you could make similar fruit roll-ups to the ones you enjoyed as a child? In fact, you can make healthier versions of those without the added sugars, preservatives, and artificial ingredients!

How To Make Fruit Leather

Maybe you have some extra produce that you need to use up, or perhaps you need a healthy snack to satisfy your sweet tooth. Are you a parent that just wants your kids to enjoy healthy snacks? If any of those things apply to you, fruit leather is the answer. It is very easy to make and you can get creative with the flavors. Although a dehydrator is preferable to make fruit leather, you can also use your oven on the lowest setting. Just keep in mind that most ovens do not go as low as 115 degrees F, which is the temp at which dehydration is acceptable for raw vegans. Anything above that temperature renders the recipe cooked and no longer raw vegan. 

Let’s Get Down To The Basics

The only ingredients that you need to make your own fruit leather are ripe fruit and potentially fruit juice. Let’s go over the steps that you’ll need to take:

• Prep your fruit: Make sure that you wash your fruit, even the ones that you are going to peel. Peel any fruit with a skin and pit anything that has a central seed. Core any fruit with a large core and boil down anything that is very hard; your blender will do the rest of the work.
• Sweeteners: There is no need for added sweeteners for most fruit leather recipes. If you feel that the fruit is too tart on its own, you can add some pure maple syrup or raw agave nectar. Add one tablespoon at a time to the blender and taste until it is to your liking. Naturally sweeter fruits like apples and bananas can also be used to sweeten fruit leather. 
• Gather your tools: You will need a blender, parchment paper or silicone sheets, baking trays (for the oven method), dehydrator sheets for dehydrating, and scissors or a pizza cutter to cut the finished product into strips. 
• Preservation: You want the fruit leather to last, especially if you make a large batch. You can roll the fruit leather up and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two months. Store in the freezer for even longer by rolling the fruit leather in the parchment paper and keep in a sealed freezer bag. 

Success Tips

If you want your fruit leather to remain a lighter color that is similar to the color of the fruit, you can add fresh lemon juice while blending your fruit. This is a great step if you want to use lighter-colored fruit leathers that contain mango, guava, pineapple, peaches, or apples. Thicken your fruit mixture by adding banana or thin it out by adding a little water or fresh fruit juice. If using harder fruits, such as apples, consider boiling them first before adding them to the blender with your other ingredients. 

After you blend your mixture, spread the mixture on the baking sheet or dehydrator tray until it is about 1/8-1/4-inch thick. If you can see parchment paper through the puree, it is too thin. A good rule of thumb is to spread from the inside to the outside of the tray. The outside will cook quicker than the inside, so that spreading method will help you achieve an even layer. Ideally, use the back of a silicone spatula or spoon to achieve this thin, flat layer. 

When Is It Ready? 

The fruit leather is ready when it isn’t sticky and doesn’t indent when you press on it. It should not have the original shine it did when you put it in the oven or dehydrator. Once the fruit leather is fully dehydrated, it is very easy to peel off the parchment paper and you can easily cut it into strips, especially if parchment paper is underneath. Before you store the fruit leather, make sure it is completely dry to prevent condensation from accumulating in the container. Continue reading for a couple fruit leather recipes. 

Apple Cinnamon Fruit Leather

Get your snack on…raw vegan style! With these apple cinnamon fruit leather strips, you get the flavor and nutrition that you don’t get from packaged fruit leathers. Embrace the great combination of apples, cinnamon, and pears!

Click here to make the recipe. 

Mango Fruit Roll-Ups

Looking for a healthy snack to pack in your or your child’s lunch? This is super easy, healthy, affordable, and did we mention easy? Try it today!

Click here to make the recipe.

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Fall is a season that keeps on giving, especially when it comes to tasty produce. This recipe features two fall favorites: pears and apples. In case you haven’t noticed, grocery stores are replete with pears and apples at the moment. With so many varieties, how can you know which to choose or what to make with them? That’s where this recipe enters the equation, and we can only hope that it’s a stepping stone for you to explore more seasonal produce recipes.

Most fruit leathers or roll-ups contain an array of processed ingredients, including artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, and more. It’s also common to see corn syrup or sugar at the very beginning of the ingredient list. Folks, these so-called “fruit” leathers contain no fresh fruit at all. Even “natural” fruit leathers that cost more money don’t really contain fruit. In fact, some contain “dead” fruit. If you don’t know by now, raw vegan foods are “living,” in that they contain living enzymes and nutrients that don’t “die” during the cooking process. Fruits in these sugary snacks are typically boiled prior to dehydration. That means that the nutrients are gone, but you still get the flavor.

With these fruit leathers, you get the flavor and the nutrition. What more do you want out of a snack?

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Regular fruit leathers typically contain corn syrup, fruit from concentrate, sugar, hydrogenated oils, dyes, and other ingredients that are too difficult to pronounce. That isn’t the case for this apple fruit leather! Apples are plentiful in the fall, so get your hands on some and make this!

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There is something to be said about a good snack. Sometimes the search for a really tasty and satisfying snack can seem like an impossible task, though. When this happens, we often settle for a bag of unhealthy chips or open a sugar-filled treat to eat something just for the sake of eating. Rather than eating something unhealthy, go for a nutritious snack that will keep you satiated between meals.

When it comes to snacking healthily, the options can seem slim or boring. This is only because a lot of people are unaware of how to prep healthy snacks. The way to set yourself up for snacking success is to make snacks ahead of time. Whether you are cleansing or not, it is easy to go off the rails if you don’t make snacking easy. While healthier snacks are gaining popularity, making your own snacks is a great way to maintain your healthy diet. Try the following snacks and let us know how you like them.

Apple Cinnamon Fruit Leather Snacks

If you don’t want to worry about buying a processed sugary snack from the vending machine at work, make this tasty apple cinnamon fruit leather and bring it with you!

Click here to make the recipe.

Raw Carrot Cake Energy Bites

Imagine your favorite slice of carrot cake in one little healthy bite that you can enjoy guilt-free. You have just found that recipe.

Click here to make the recipe.

Dehydrated Rosemary Flax Crackers

Calling all snackers! This cracker recipe is the exactly what you need to satisfy that salty craving while cleansing. And they’re healthy!

Click here to make the recipe.

Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

Finding healthy snacks that you can consistently enjoy can feel like a chore. We’ve alleviated that search with this sweet & crunchy snack.

Click here to make the recipe.

Cranberry Pistachio Energy Bites

These quick and easy-to-make energy bites are packed with great flavor and a ton of nutrients. The best part is you don’t have to bake them!

Click here to make the recipe.

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Some people think that packing a lunch is just something that you do for your kids. Others pack their lunches every day to save money and they usually consist of leftovers or simple sandwiches. More recently, people have jumped on the meal prep bandwagon to follow diets or fulfill certain nutritional quotas. Whatever the reason for packing a lunch, we fully endorse it, especially on National Pack Your Lunch Day, which is annually observed on March 10th.

Packing your lunch is a great way to make healthier meal choices, provided your lunches aren’t comprised of meats, processed foods, sugars, and tons of simple carbohydrates. If you have a salad with a grilled chicken breast packed for lunch, for instance, you won’t be choosing the first restaurant (typically an unhealthy one) you see to eat at on your lunch break.

Lunch Fact: In 1935, Mickey Mouse was the first licensed character to appear on a lunchbox.

One of the best things you can do for your health is to stop eating out for lunch. Sometimes the stress of work, or even deciding where to eat lunch, can make you decide on unhealthy food options. This is why it is best to meal prep your lunches for the week. You can guarantee that your lunch will be healthy, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.

Are you going to meal prep for this upcoming week? We have some great snack, salad, breakfast, and entree recipes (below) that you can make today or tomorrow and have them ready for each day of this upcoming week. We hope you get creative! Let us know what you packed for lunch in the comments below.

Chocolate Banana Chia Seed Pudding

Want to eat chocolate for breakfast without feeling guilty? Sounds like you need this nutrient dense chia pudding to rev up your mornings.

Click here to make the recipe.

Homemade Apple Cinnamon Fruit Leather Snacks

If you don’t want your kids to have processed sugary snacks in their lunch, make this tasty apple cinnamon fruit leather for them…or for yourself!

Click here to make the recipe.

Rainbow Ginger Raw Slaw Is The Perfect Prep Meal

Whether you are enjoying this as a dinner salad or prepping it for healthy lunches, this slaw is raw and you’ll be in awe of the flavors.

Click here to make the recipe.

Kale And Quinoa Salad With Black Beans

The curly green kale is massaged in a zesty, lemony dressing with a hint of spice. If you want to prep it in several containers, hold off on dressing it and store the dressing in a separate container.

Click here to make the recipe.

Chocolate Coconut Energy Balls

Watch out chocolate coconut candy bars because there’s a better, healthier, tastier version in town. Make these energy balls to have tasty treats in your lunches this week.

Click here to start prepping your lunches.

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