Real Homemade Apple Chips

On a previous post, I mentioned that my life has been in an upheval lately.

Well I'm ready to share.

I've been converted to The Real Food family.

The 2 main sources for my guidance and inspiration come from

DaNell over at Weed 'em and Reap.

And Lisa over at 100 days of Real Food.

I've been heading towards this transformation for a long time,

not really knowing that is what I was headed too.

I have been making things from scratch for a long time.

Trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables and whole grains into our diet.

Avoiding processed as much as possible.

Learning about sprouting grains and the huge nutritional benefits.

Maybe it stems from watching some of the people around me

that are unhealthy and have many, many health problems.

And as I do more research, I have found that many of these problems

can be reversed or eliminated just by changing what we put into our bodies.

Maybe it comes from scripture.

I'm a Mormon.

If you don't don't what that is, you can go here to learn more.

One of the things that we believe in is modern day revelation.

One of those revelations has to do with what we eat.

What's good, what's bad.

There's the easy part for me, no smoking, no drinking.

But learning what I should be eating and why is a learning process.

The Scripture that I think had the most impact on me is this verse:

 4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of^aevils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of^bconspiring men in the last days, I have ^cwarned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—

The evils and designs of conspiring men.

Scary.

If you want to read the whole chapter it is here.

And the more I read about what goes into processed foods,

High Fructose Corn Syrup, pesticides, hormones, etc. etc. ETC, 

I'm at a loss as to what to feed my family.

Until now.

I always sprout my wheat.

My counter has a bucket of wheat either soaking, sprouting, or drying on any given day.

I also make kefir.

Both Milk and Water.

That has been a learning process as well.

I will share more on another day.

But let's start with something simple.

Since its apple season, that is the easiest place to start.

My kids love fruit as a snack.

We also love making the twirly apples for their lunches.

But sometimes it's nice to have some dried fruit.

This is super easy.

A good option if you don't want to spend the time is here.

But I want to do it myself.

So I pulled out my Apple Corer Slicer.

It makes quick work of slicing the apples

and you get even thickness slices.

5 1/2 apples will fill up 2 cookie sheets.

If you don't want the peels, this tool will take them off for you.

I wanted to leave them on.

Once you cut the apple slice down one side with a paring knife.

This makes the rings.

There are 2 ways to make the Apple chips.

1. In the oven.

Preheat your oven while you get your trays ready to 200 degress F.

Put a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet.

Spread out the apple rings in a single layer.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake for 1 hour, then rotate trays and bake for another hour, or until desired crispyness.

Let cool and store in an airtight container.

2. In a Food Dehydrator

Place apple chips sprinkled with cinnamon on trays lined with parchment paper.

Dry for 10-12 hours.

Again store in an airtight container.

I've done both methods.

Both work well.

My personal preference is to use the dehydrator because I don't have to

heat up my oven for 2 hours, but the end result is very similar.

Choose what works for you.

An easy Real yummy snack!

Yummy.

Healthy.

Real.

There will be lots more recipes as I complete this tranformation to all Real Food.

Be sure to come back often!