It’s the middle of summer and some of you parents out there may be desperate for more ideas of fun activities and healthy snacks for the kiddos. We’re here with another fantastic idea for not only a healthy snack but a fun recipe to make with the kids, especially on a rainy day! Just make sure you are supervising during the hot handling portions of the recipe, of course!

These fruit roll-ups contain two ingredients – fresh fruit and just a hint of sugar to keep the rolls from being too tart. They come together easily and the hardest part is waiting for them to finish drying out in the oven! We used banana, strawberries, and grapes, but you can easily substitute mango for banana, any berry for strawberries, and another type of grape for the black grapes.

Have fun experimenting!

INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. You can make all three of these roll up flavors or stick with just one! Blend each fruit separately in a blender, cleaning the blender out between fruits, until each fruit is a smooth puree. Pour each puree into its own small saucepan. Stir in 1/3 cup of sugar in each fruit puree flavor (you can also triple the amount of one fruit if you want just one flavor and stir in the full cup of sugar once pureed). Cook the purees over medium-high heat until simmering. Simmer until the fruit puree no longer has a liquid and if thick and tacky. For the bananas, it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes, but the grapes and strawberries take a bit longer - approximately 30 minutes. Remove from heat and pour each puree onto a lined, rimmed baking sheet. Use either aluminum foil (greased) or a silicone baking mat. Spread the purees out into thin layers, trying to make a rectangle as well as you can.

Bake the fruit purees for approximately 3 hours, or until no longer tacky. Remove from oven and carefully turn out each fruit leather onto a piece of wax paper. Roll the leather into a tight log and cut into roll-ups using a knife or kitchen scissors. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.   Recipe & Photos by Meghan Bassett