{In the kitchen}

 A lot of these:

Italian Prunes

We started with these, from my parents' tree.  Then we got some more from our neighbors and some more from my aunt.  Some of my kids like them fresh, but mostly we like to dry them and especially we like to make fruit leather.

I realized the other day that we've had our food dehydrator since we got married.  It was a gift from Mark's parents- either for a bridal shower or our wedding, I forget which.  Either way, it has been happily drying fruit for us for 15 years!

My mom always used to do this with our prunes while we were growing up, so that's how I learned you could make your own fruit leather.  It's so simple.  After washing and pitting the prunes, just puree them in the blender.  (You can use any fruit, I imagine.  We've done prunes, pears, apples, peaches- or a combination of those.  Currently we're doing just prunes since that's what we have right now.)  Then pour it out onto a tray (I rub it first with coconut oil so it will come off easily), smooth it out evenly, and dry for 8-10 hours (overnight!) and then peel it off in sections and wrap it up in saran wrap.

It is time-consuming~ doing it in batches (we only have 3 of the fruit leather trays, and one other tray for the dried prunes themselves).  But still: worth it.  Easy-peasy!  (Ella has taken over and is doing them now, and the other kids like helping, too.)  And ta-da!  Free, healthy snacks for the kids.