Baked Apple Chips and Banana Chips

This year I have started something new. It's not a New Year's resolution, it's a lifestyle change! I know everyone says that when they don't want to be labeled as a resolutioner, but really, I'm trying to change the way we live. 

I'm a snack kind of person! I love to snack on foods all day long. Once we started to really look at the foods we eat, and see what is in them, I had to put all the snacks down. I was eating potato chips, crackers, granola bars, candy, pretty much anything we had in the way of snacks, I was eating it! You might be thinking, "those don't sound to bad." Well, they are not that bad, until you see how they are made. When I think of a granola bar, I think of the following ingredients, oats, nuts, dried fruit, honey and peanut butter. Yummy! When you look at what is in the granola bars you get from the store, it might have all of that yummy stuff in it, but it also has some other stuff that you don't need. 

Here is an example of the ingredients in the granola bars you get at the store. ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR????? Why do you put artificial flavor in granola bars? That's when I was done. I decided that if I wanted snack food or junk food, or anything in between, I was going to make it myself. I don't care how many added vitamins are in there, I don't want the other garbage that they are also adding to it. It defeats the purpose of the vitamins in the first place. 

I haven't made Granola BARS yet, but I have made No Bake Energy Bites, and those things are AMAZ-BALLS! And you can really just add whatever you have on hand! I didn't have the coconut last time, so I just left it out. And I added Craisins one time too! 

Waiting for things makes me snack a lot as well, and since we are "waiting" to see where we are moving to next, I need a lot of snacks! Chris and I made Banana Chips and Potato Chips earlier this week.

I don't have a picture of the Banana Chips just because I didn't have time to take it! They were gone before I knew it! These Potato Chips were cut with a mandolin and baked at 400* for 30 minutes, flipping after 15 minutes. 

Yesterday I made some Apple Chips! I looked up a recipe on Pinterest and all I could find were ones that say to cook them for 6-8 hours......Ummmm, this mom doesn't have 6-8 hours. So I sliced them with my mandolin, dipped them in lemon water, sprinkled them with cinnamon and baked them on 250* for 2 hours, turning after 1 hour.

I watched the first batch like crazy! I didn't want the to burn. They started getting golden and the sides started turning in, that's when I flipped them. 

And it's just that easy! Use your favorite fruit and go for it! You will be supplying your family with healthy snacks and they don't have any added ingredients! No preservatives, no corn syrup, no artificial flavors! My kids love them and that is why I love making them for them!