Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Baked Apple Chips

Ingredients: Apple, Sugar, Cinnamon (sugar and cinnamon optional)
Cook Time: 6-8 hours at 170-200 degrees

Fall is the best time to find an abundance or ripe juicy apples. You can do a lot of things with apples. You can make applesauce, bottle apples, apple pie, apple crisp, apple fritters and one of my favorites, apple chips. You will need apples, sugar, and cinnamon. 3 ingredients for a wonderful treat that's much more nutritious (and delicious) than potato chips.

You may peel the apples if you wish. It won't really make a difference. I use a peeler/slicer, so it peels them automatically as it cores and slices. This gadget it awesome! It saves a lot of time in the kitchen with apples and potatos. The one I have is a lot like this...

 
 Core and slice the apples. My slicer slices them to about 1/4" thick. Next lay the slices on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (aluminum foil also works). Sprinkle as little or as much as you'd like of sugar and cinnamon on the slices. You can also choose to go all natural and not season your slices at all. They are great either way! I usually do about half with sugar/cinnamon and half without anything.

Place sheets in the oven and bake at the lowest setting your oven will go (between 170-200 degrees) for about 6-8 hours. Yes it takes a long time, but it's well worth it.  Do not be tempted to turn up the heat. You want to dehydrate the apple slices, not cook them. You can also use a dehydrater if you would rather. 
 
To check if they are done, take a chip off the sheet and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes. After cooling, it should break in half just like a chip. If after the apple has sat at room temp, it bends but doesn't break, let them bake a bit longer. When they are done, remove them from cookie sheet and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!  

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Newest addition to our family

Meet Belle, the newest addition to our evergrowing animal family.


My husband and I both grew up with horses. My family owned them mainly as pets and my dad used them for hunting and packing. I loved my horse growing up and did a little barrel racing when I was a teen. My husbands family broke yearlings and raised race horses. So it seems fit that we should have one of our own. We bought this beautiful girl from my dad who has decided to slim down his little barnyard. We are very excited to have a horse of our own so that our boys can learn to appreciate and love this wonderful animal as my husband and I do.