Dehydrator Foods- Sun-Dried (dehydrated) Tomatoes & Banana chips

One of our family staples has become sun-dried tomatoes-- ok- we don't really sun-dry them, we dehydrate them instead-- but, we get the same effect.  I've read about all the folks in California and other continually warm climates that actually "dry" tomatoes in the sunshine.  I tried that in the summer, but couldn't seem to keep the flies and bugs away, so I prefer the easier, in-door method of dehydrating.

We make a myriad of snacks and food in the dehydrator, but my all-time favorite is the tomato!

During the summer, I try to keep at least one to two dehydrator trays of tomatoes going each day.  With a plentiful summer tomato harvest, I can end the summer with 5 to 6 gallon-sized bags full of dehydrated tomatoes.  We use them all winter long in salads, soups, recipes and just to snack on.  They look and taste very different than the pale shrunken looking "sun-dried" tomatoes you get from even a nice health food store.

Check out the beautiful vibrant colors below!  The golden tomatoes are my favorite for flavor.

I've learned the best way to keep them fresh all winter is to freeze them once they are thoroughly dehydrated (they will be crispy like chips when you store them in the fridge or freezer).

Another very tasty dehydrated food is the banana!  Once again, we dehydrate at 110 or below which does take a little longer, but it's totally worth it in order to keep the raw nutrition intact.

Thinly slice the bananas and spread in a single layer on a vented dehydrator tray.  One extremely yummy (but somewhat time consuming) treat is to roll each sliced banana piece in shredded coconut and dehydrate.  They seriously tastes like candy!  Store them in the fridge to keep crispy, otherwise they will be chewy at room temperature, even when thoroughly dehydrated.

Another great thing about the Excaliber is that you can dehydrate many flavors at one time with no fear of "flavor bleeding"--- tomatoes will not taste like bananas and visa versa.