No Simmer Strawberry-Nectarine Fruit Roll Ups

This post contains affiliate links. 

Back-to-School with

Blendtec!

Today I’m partnering up with my sister who blogs over at The Craft Patch for some Back-to-School fun. Blendtec sent me a new blender and I’ve been blending up all sort of goodness. 

If you aren’t familiar with the  Blendtec, it is like the Ferrari of blenders. Yes, there’s the Porsche of blenders in Vitamix, but I’ve thoroughly examined both and have to say I am a Blendtec gal.  If Blendtec is the Ferrari then I’ve been driving an old junker for the past 10 years. This baby has a touch screen and can blend just about anything. You’ve probably see their youtube “will it blend” series. If it can blend an iPhone then I’m pretty sure it can handle anything I throw at it in the kitchen. I’ve been experimenting with a ton of different things and for the next week, while the giveaway runs, I’ll be sharing some of my cool blended recipes.

I have a sweet little friend named Everleigh who will be turning two this year. She has some serious medical complications that she has fought through time and time again in order to be with her family. Everleigh has had some serious tummy troubles. Her parents got a Blendtec which enabled them to make homemade baby foods using real food. Her tummy aches disappeared! I can’t help but share their story. How cool is it that a kitchen appliance can change someone’s life?

Every summer I make fruit leather with all the delicious summer fruits (and sales.) It makes for a great back-to-school treat for lunchboxes. Now, usually I have to cook the fruit down, puree it, and then dehydrate it, but not with the Blendtec. Just pop some fresh fruit in there and 30 seconds later you are ready to move straight to dehydration. This was a shockingly big deal to me. It has made making fruit roll ups way too easy. We go through the stuff like crazy so this has made it crazy easy.  I’m giving the instructions for if you don’t have a dehydrator. If you do have a dehydrator, just do step 1 and then follow the manufacturer’s instruction for your dehydrator. 

Prep Time: 5 to 10 minutes (depends on how fast you can hull strawberries and such)

Dehydrate Time: 2 to 12 hours (dependent upon humidity)

Yield: 2 jelly roll pans

Ingredients

2 lbs strawberries, hulled

5 nectarines, pitted and peeled (peeling optional, it’s a textural thing)

1/2 cup sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. In a

Blendtec or other high power blender, puree strawberries, nectarines, and sugar.

2. Line 2 jelly roll pans with parchment paper. Pour half of the puree on one pan, and the other half on the second pan. 

3. Put jelly roll pans on separate racks in your oven. Turn the oven on to the lowest setting your oven offers (200 degrees or below). The low heat won’t cook your fruit, but it will slowly pull the moisture out and dehydrate it. If you are in a high humidity area, this may take a while. If you are in the dessert, it may only take 2 hours. Fruit leather is done when it is no longer tacky to the touch. 

4. Remove from pan and cut into strips. Roll up and tie with kitchen string if desired. Store in an airtight container. Stays good for 1 month.

***Note: If you have to leave the house and don’t feel comfortable leaving the oven on, just turn it off while you are gone and turn it on again when you get home. It’s pretty flexible that way.

***Note: If you have some crispy edges that don’t roll, that’s okay. Put them in the airtight container with the rest of the roll-ups and they’ll soften up.

Disclosure: Blendtec gave me a blender to review and write this post, but all opinions expressed are my own and are in no way directed by Blendtec. 

What I love about the Blendtec:

The touch screen. It talks to me and gives me fun messages while I blend. It also keeps track of how many blends you done which is fun. I did 50 within the first week. I don’t know whether to be proud or embarrassed about that. You also get codes to entire online for prizes when you reach milestone blends. 

It fits on my counter under my cupboards. The Vitamix is too tall for that. The Blendtec was designed just perfect.

The self cleaning mode. Add a little hot water and a drop of soap and hit the clean button and it scrubs it nice and clean. 

The jar. It has the twister jar for really thick items like nut butters. If you know me at all then you know the first nut butter I made was homemade nutella. My decadent recipe is soon to come, don’t you worry. I don’t skimp when it comes to chocolate hazelnut spread. My standard is high.

The company. They are actually really cool. They treat their employees well and in turn, their employees treat their customers well. The thing has an 8 year warranty and they honor it for realsies. Have a problem? Call them. They’ll get it resolved before you know it. 

It blends. Obviously it blends. But seriously, I didn’t realize I’ve been drinking chunky smoothies and protein shakes all this time. The Blendtec makes those things so smooth they seem extra decadent and wonderful. You won’t believe how smooth it is until you try it and then you’ll  remember what I said and say the same thing: “I’ve been drinking chunky smoothies all this time!”

What I don’t love about the Blendtec:

The price. Guys, it is expensive. Here’s the thing though, I am totally into luxury kitchen gadgets. I am. Now that I’ve experienced the Blendtec I’ll never go back. If I had to buy a new one today, I would. And if I didn’t have the money then I would save up my pennies and covet it like crazy. 

Ummm, that’s all? I feel like that is lame to only have one complaint, but I seriously love this thing. My daughter gets scared when the engine revs up. Does that count as a complaint?

Share this post