How To Make Fruit Leathers

That's what they were called when I was a kid. Fruit roll-ups or fruit snacks is the name you see now-a-days. They are very easy to make if you have a dehydrator. I don't use my dehydrator often, but during the summer it is put to good use. The fruit leather that is highly coveted at my house is the Rough & Ready Wild Yellow Plum leather. This is a plum tree that grows wild in the foothills of the Sierras. My parent's original tree was down by their pond. It was a grueling walk in the summer to get them. That made anything done with the plums that much more precious. Grueling because the pond is at the bottom of the hill. We used to joke that it was a 1/2 mile down and 2 miles back. It's summer, it's hot, it's uphill and now you're carrying bags full of plums. They are tiny plums the size of a cherry, so you need a lot to do anything with them.

What I do first is fill my clean sink with water enough to wash the plums. I pick out the leaves, sticks, bugs, and bad plums if any and wash them up. I then usually fill my biggest pot to over filled with plums. I set a lid on the top of the pile and turn the heat on to the first setting. Just as low as it can go without being off. Probably within an hour the lid is fitting nicely on the pot. I don't add any water. I let this cook on the stove on it's lowest setting until the plums are squishy. At this time I take a slotted spoon and spoon all the solids out into a bowl. The juice that's left over I save to make the worlds best jelly. Now it's time to run the plum solids through the food mill to get out the seeds and skins. I've found over the years it saves me time to run my clean hands through the cooled plums and pull out as many seeds as I can first.

After the food mill I have a bowl of plum pulp. This is what I use to make the fruit leathers.

Above is the bowl of the plum juice I save to make jelly. It has nothing to do with making fruit leathers, but it is nectar from the Gods for making jelly. Cover and stick it in the fridge until you're ready to make jelly.

Into the bowl of plum pulp I stir in just enough sugar until it tastes good. It's pretty sour to begin with. This time I had 12 cups of plum pulp and added 4 cups of sugar.

I cover my dehydrator tray with a sheet of plastic wrap or the pulp will run right through. I also tape down all 4 corners as they occasionally blow up and cause a mess. I spread 2 cups of sugared plum pulp out on the plastic wrap. It is now ready to go into the dehydrator. It takes about 12 hours to dry. I do this in the evening and then it's ready the next day after breakfast when I have time to deal with it.

As you can see the dried fruit leather just peels off. It is tasted for quality control as one should do with any food them make. :D In my house this may be the last time I get any fruit leather before consumed by the kids.

It tears easily for sampling. hmmm not sure better have another taste.

Oh no the teenagers have found out they are out of the dehydrator and ready for eating.

Well Allison how does it taste?

Can you stop for just a minute to give me an answer?

OK your mouth is too full to answer.... I'll take that as my answer. It must be good if one wolf's it down.

I sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, so they unroll easier.

I then roll them all up.

I cut mine into thirds, which makes a generous fruit leather serving.

Put them in a ziploc bag and put them either into the fridge or freezer and watch them disappear.

You can make these with any fruit. This is the season to get wonderful ripe fruit hopefully you'll known someone with a fruit tree or you can go to the farmer's market.

Can't Concentrate On Knitting!

Why? Because I have poodle-itus. If I go some where and there is a poodle I have a hard time taking my eyes off of it. Especially if it is really cute. As was with the little poodle below. He was adorable partly, because I'd never seen a poodle so small in person. Obviously a little old man, but still as cute as ever. He was probably about 5 maybe 6 pounds. They called him Perroito, which means "little dog" in Spanish.

He wanted to visit with all of us ladies that had gathered at Bernadette's house for our Machine Knitting monthly group. He sniffed all of us and our belongings. Sticking his head into a bag here and there if it were open and smelled particularly good to him. After a while he had laid down under the feet of one particular gal and she went to pick him up to move him. All I can say is he turned all teeth and growling. He didn't bite her, but made us think he would. His owner apologized greatly telling us he's old, has arthritis and his ribs are very tender. As long as nobody tried to pick him he was the friendliest cutest thing. And can we hardly blame him for letting us know not to pick him up.

One of the gals brought out a sheep she had knitted on her knitting machine. It was about as big as Perroito and he saw it immediately. He trotted over as if saying, "For me?!" Us dog lovers thought it was pretty funny. The gal with the sheep was not amused that he was trying to take her sheep. Can't blame her she worked hard on it I'm sure. Perroito's mommy said she'd make him one of his own. I didn't know how to show my kids how small he was in a picture then got the idea to take one of him next to my purse.

When I got home I took a picture of my miniature next to my purse. Quite a big difference in sizes. I often wonder why they refer to the size of my poodle as a miniature, because there isn't anything miniature about her. She's 23 pounds of poodle muscle. She thinks she's small as she jumps on you or walks across your belly, so she can get to the other side of the couch or bed. When she plays she's a brute. I often refer to her as "you vicious thing" when we play. I probably shouldn't do that, because that just eggs her on.

Sacrifice

To sacrifice is not something a teenager normally does willingly. My daughter had 13 inches of her hair cut off for Locks of Love. Getting one's hair cut is not something someone would normally regard as a sacrifice. Unless you're someone who likes their hair long as my daughter does. Getting her hair cut is almost like running around without clothes on. Not only did she make this sacrifice once, but this is the 2nd time she's done it.

When my daughter was about 9 I had a friend who found out she had breast cancer. She found out right before summer. She had a lumpectomy and then went right into chemo therapy. We talked about the fact that she'd lose her hair. She is like me pretty matter of fact. Why worry about something you don't have control of. Just go with the flow and make the best of it. I found a pattern to make a scarf like hat and made her about 5 in different fabrics I thought she'd like. I drove her kids and my kids to day camp, so she could have some time to herself knowing the kids were having fun. I drove her to chemo therapy treatments when her husband couldn't. I even drank shots of wheat grass at Jamba Juice with her as was her after chemo ritual.

It was my daughter though I think that made the most thoughtful gesture in donating a part of herself.... her beloved pony tail. She was 9 years old and already thinking of others. I have to admit she's always been a kind soul. In preschool I called her my Goodwill Ambassador. She broke up fights, mended hurt feelings and help injured students to the office and she was only 4.

She found out about Locks of Love during my friends ordeal. When she heard about their program of taking donated hair and having wigs made for children who have lost their hair she was in. We went to a salon that advertised a free hair cut and they'd mail in the donated pony tail. The length of the pony tail was to be 10 inches. The hairdresser said let's make it 12 inches to be safe. SNIP! My daughter wasn't expecting her hair to be up to her ears. More like shoulder length. She got an adorable hair style. About 2 months later I asked if she wanted to go trim up her cute doo and she said, "No Mom I'm growing it out for Locks of Love."

So, it's been 5 years of growing. She said she wanted to make sure it was good and long so it wouldn't be up to her ears this time. I said I would cut the pony tail before we went. No she wanted the hair dresser to do it. The hair dresser is the mother of her soccer team mate. She really likes her and trusts her. We get to the salon for her appointment. This time I'm helping with the measuring as my daughter had called me over for help. First thing the hair dresser did before we could holler "NO!" was snip off 2 inches of the bottom of her pony tail declaring it too whispy. Then we measured the 11 inches of hair to make sure it would be long enough. I just shrugged my shoulders, smiled at my daughter. and said, "Good thing your hair grows really fast. I've been teaching her not to worry about things we have no control over too.

The hairdresser cut her hair exactly as a picture my daughter, the artist, had drawn. With my daughter's natural waves the hairdo looks great. After the initial first week of shock my daughter has gotten use to it and loves it too. After a few weeks past I said we should make an appointment to get your hair trimmed. She said, "No mom I'm growing it out for Locks of Love."

Don't Call Me Old!

I had gone to the grocery store to deposit a check. As I rounded the corner there sitting in the place of the original ATM was this newfangled machine! I smacked my forehead and said, "I'm too old to learn a new machine!" Then I covered my mouth in disbelief that I just said that. How many times had I heard that phrase uttered by grandmas, grandpas, great aunts, great uncles, the 95 year old neighbor across the street and now even my mom and dad. I've always thought what is the matter with them it's not that hard to learn how to use an answering machine, a VCR, a computer, a DVD player, a cell phone, or an mp3 player. Well, I was in my 20's and 30's when I thought that. Now I'm pushing on 50 really hard and when I saw the ATM I truly thought I was too old. I could also understand the reason why they said it. I felt like my brain was too full. I couldn't learn another blasted thing.

I mean what was wrong with the old ATM it worked fine? In the 80's I was the first person in my group of friends and relatives to jump on the ATM band wagon. I loved it and encouraged everyone to get an ATM card. Now we're in a new millennium and the bank feels the need to change the ATM? It seems unneeded like the remake of "Footloose". Why do people feel the need to change a good thing?

I had this whole conversation in probably 2 seconds in my head while standing and staring at the machine. The only thing that jolted me from my shock was another potential ATM user getting ready to walk past me and take MY turn. I put my feet back into gear and approached the ATM. I vowed that I would never be too old to learn something new ever again. I'm going to master this puppy.

As I looked at the ATM it really hadn't changed much at all. It had gotten a face lift, because I think the original ATM was from the 80's. I then noticed that depositing a check was slightly different. Instead of typing the amount of the check and then putting it into an envelope one just inserts the check. It says that it will scan your check and read the amount and show you a picture of your check. My check was for $78. A picture of my check appeared on the screen and I have to admit that was pretty cool. Then it asked me a question "Deposit amount $10?" I had to laugh as that new machine wasn't quite as high tech as it wanted to be. It gave me an option to input the correct amount and then my deposit was done. It asked, "Do you want a printed picture of your check?" I didn't really need one, but said yes just for giggles. Proof I had conquered the old age monster.

Leftover Cheesecake....oh bummer

There is an ice cream parlor in Sacramento that sells frozen chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick. It is so good that while you're eating it a wall comes up and blocks out all the troubles of the world. So, eat it slowly.

The ice cream parlor is not close to us, so a few years ago I thought I'd try making my own with "leftover cheesecake." Is that an oxymoron? I only say that, because we don't normally have leftover cheesecake. It is VERY difficult to hide a few pieces to dip in chocolate.

With some "leftover cheesecake" my first experiment was with straight melted semi sweet chocolate chips. Don't get me wrong it was good... VERY GOOD... but one did feel like they were going to go into a diabetic coma while eating it. Like a moth to a flame we couldn't stop eating it. A wall comes up and also blocks out all your common sense to protect yourself from a stomachache.

When my brain turned back on my first thought was the cheesecake slice was too big and the chocolate too thick. So, second try my son cut the slices thinner and applied the melted chocolate chips trying to scrap some of the chocolate off. Again good... VERY GOOD, but still was a bit overwhelming, but one couldn't stop eating it.

This time I decided to try a Magic Shell recipe we use for ice cream. We started making our own Magic Shell, because it's expensive and you don't get very much in a bottle. Who wants a Magic Drizzle... we want a SHELL. Since I get chocolate chips at Costco I found a recipe that is easy to make and much more in one's budget.

Homemade Magic Shell

8 servings
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup corn oil

2 servings
1 1/2 ounce semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon corn oil

Microwave until all is melted. Stir together and pour over ice cream.

Here are all the homemade magic shell ingredients in a double boiler. I use canola oil as I never have corn oil around. I'm also using a double boiler rather than the microwave as I wanted the chocolate to stay liquid as I coated each cheesecake slice.

Long before I start the chocolate process I should point out that I put a stick in each slice and put them in the freezer overnight. When frozen they don't fall a part or fall off the stick as you coat them in chocolate. I happen to have these 8" Wilton cookie treat sticks on hand. Wooden sticks would probably be cheaper and would work equally well if you have them on hand.

Using a double boiler you want water in the lower pan to simmer slightly and not touch the bottom of double boiler. If you don't have Pampered Chef's fancy dancy double boiler one could use a heat resistant bowl that sits on top of a pan. I did that for many years.

Stir until everything is melted and has a creamy consistency.

I began spooning the chocolate over the frozen cheesecake. If you dip it won't fit all the way in and the chocolate will start melting the cheesecake and it starts to fall a part. Spooning went quickly.

Once coated I found that I needed to do a minor tap on the side of the double boiler to get some extra dips off. Also lightly scrap the bottom of the cheesecake on the edge of the double boiler; otherwise, a large pool of unattractive chocolate will form on bottom. Is that another oxymoron "unattractive chocolate?"

I set each chocolate coated cheesecake on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.

See no pool of "unattractive chocolate" at bottom of dipped piece.

Into the freezer they go. I do this in a 2 day process *looking over both shoulders* just so there are a few days of NOT eating cheesecake in this house. I try and get more fruits and vegetables into the family before next cheesecake frenzy. This could easily be done in a day. Freeze in morning, dip in afternoon, eat at night.

Erik taste testing new coating... he did pick the first one with the big pool of "unattractive chocolate." Don't have to worry about those pieces going to waste with chocolate lovers around.

"Erik is it too thin?"

"No mom it's good." Later he did say it could be a bit more chocolaty. We'll try using half the butter and oil when we continue our experiment in making the world a better place with homemade chocolate covered frozen cheesecake.

My baby has graduated!

I just love my Canon Powershot. I'm always amazed by the photos and movies. I was pretty far away from the graduation ceremony and no way to get any closer for a decent still shot. So, thought I'd give the movie feature a try. I was able to catch this precious moment. I'm very pleased with the results. I just missed getting Erik's friend's name on video, but I got his gal friend in front of him. Of course I got my son and followed him almost back to his seat.

May's Christmas Card Challenge Completed

I now have 25 of my 50 card goal done. It's usually December 15th by the time I hit this mark. That's when I start deciding who gets a store bought card and who gets a handmade card. By then I know I'll never get 50 done and I'm tired of trying. This new plan of making 5 cards each month until November worked out so well last year I decided to do it again this year.
This month I used a ghosting technique I learned about 5 years ago. I couldn't quite remember how I did it. With some experimentation while I listened to the short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (free on www.librivox.com by the way) on my iPod I figured out how to do it.

Later I found a tutorial for this technique on Split Coast Stampers. The technique is called Ghosting. As the tutorial said, "It's not scary at all." It was very easy. I had all the materials and tools and was able to crank out 5 cards easily in an hour. The length of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by the way. Did I enjoy the story... that's another post. I very much enjoy making my cards with the Ghosting technique.