Anyway, enough lamenting about what is to come, let’s talk about the fun that we had this weekend! We spent the weekend in the Poconos and even though the weather wasn’t great, we still managed to spend a bunch of time outdoors and have some fun.

On Saturday night, we went to the West End Fair. Growing up in NYC, the West End Fair is the only real country fair I’ve ever been to, and this was our second year going.

Alex got to go on the rides, eat cotton candy and feed the animals in the petting zoo. We also got to check out lawn mowers, tractors and headstones. As soon as we saw flyers for the fair, Tommy started joking that this year was going to be the year he buys his, but we left empty handed, thank goodness. Can anyone explain to me why headstones are sold at the fair? I just don’t get it!

On Sunday we did some shopping and spent some time walking around Main Street. We walked over the the dam, which makes a really pretty waterfall on the river.

On Monday, it poured almost all day, but we got to spend some time outdoors between downpours. I found some roller blades in the garage, so I strapped on the little guy’s skates and we roller skated for a bit.

We also put the dehydrator to good use and made pineapple and mango chips. Alex isn’t a huge fan of pineapple, but he ate almost a whole dehydrated pineapple! We brought the dehydrator home from PA and I plan on making some more dried goodies while I’m off from school this week.

And that was our weekend. Nothing too crazy, but just the right mix of active and rest.  We are going away next weekend for my birthday (woohoo!) and I cannot wait!

What did you do over Labor Day weekend?

The post Labor Day 2013 appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

Being a huge fan of jerky and dried fruit, I was excited to try it out. Since we are trying to follow paleo, I also figured that the dehydrator would be lots of help in the snack department, as well. This  weekend I became best friends with the dehydrator. I kept it simple for my first experiment and did something that I figured would be impossible to mess up, dried apple slices. Dried apples are one of my favorite dried fruits (Munchkin’s too!). I was pleasantly surprised to see how simple it was to make a batch, for considerably less than I’d pay at the supermarket for a bag, and without added sugars.

I only had five apples in the house, but decided to go for it anyway. I peeled the apples as thinly as possible, cored them and chopped into uniform slices, about an 1/8 of an inch thick. I need to buy a mandolin to make this process easier! I also searched for this kind of corer for a while before finding it at TJ Maxx.

I laid the slices in the dehydrator and set it for 140 degrees. Four hours later…

I had my first batch of yummy dried apple chips! They turned out perfect and I cannot wait to make another batch today since my parents brought me 19 lbs of apples from PA last night.

Also, if you do not have a dehydrator, you can achieve a similar result from your oven. Just set it as low as it will go and place the apple slices on a wire rack so that the hot air can circulate. The only problem with using the oven, is that they usually don’t go low enough (mine only goes to 200), but experiment and see what you can do!

What’s your favorite healthy snack? What kind of dried fruit do you like?

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