Fruit roll up is a happy memory from when I was a kid. 💭
They were a sweet and light snack from the grocery store that melted in the mouth.
It was (and is) a cross between fruit + candy.
They came wrapped up in their own packaging and were attached to cellophane that I liked to play make things with when I was young. They were rolled up like scrolls.
Almost like the Dead Sea Scroll minus the ancient writing.
…And not that far back, my young days was when posters were the rage so anything rolled up meant happy entertainment or enjoyment.
Playing around, I haven’t had a fruit roll up like those until now as an adult. 😋
Decades later and these parchment paper looking treats are naturally preserved…
These were like the ones that ruined me to never want any other fruit roll up wannabes. 😅
These are the REAL DEAL.
Making these fruit roll ups bring me joy (...and maybe for you too?) because they resembled packaged old-fashioned fruit roll ups that you would buy at the store… minus additional sugar that’s not needed for these.
As thin as they are like sheets of music, these stack up nicely! 🪵…
Thin as paper and pretty as rice paper too.
They’re as durable as leather.
Technically they fall in the leather fruit category but are as smooth and supple as suede.
My mom was a dressmaker, so she played a role in influencing my fabric choices where I learned lighter materials are usually higher quality.
And I’d agree about that with this light leather fruit material…
These feel light and feathery (not leathery) and are very apple healthy! 🍏
Plus, they last for weeks at room temperature.
Made with apple they are a great fall snack that can be made year round.
It’s almost like wrapping paper… or maybe it’s an old map or a key to hieroglyphic history. However you want to call it, it’s a SWEEET fruit roll up.
Oh, and kidding aside, the BEST part is (…can you tell I’m getting excited that it just gets better? 😊)…
You can make these in your home oven in one hour and 20 minutes with just 5 minutes of prep time.
How’s that for predictability?
…Seriously it’s that easy!
They are fun (and dare I say relaxing) to make and everyone of all ages will love them! 💕
They make a great sweet snack without any artificial ingredients.
And actually just 2 sweet and natural ingredients that make a perfect duo. 🍏🍯
Using applesauce, you don’t even have to turn the stove on to cook down apples and de-core them… and they will turn out even better. Because for one, the apple fruit roll up will be more even.
…The first time you make them, don’t freak out because they turn transparent on a baking sheet.
Don’t worry, it’s there. 😀
…I tried that once with Aquafaba because I heard you could make meringues that way… and POOF! I wish I could say that was magic, but it was more like a trick. 🪄
They dissolved into thin oven air… but I digress.
These fruit roll ups will turn out… I promise.
These are the proof…
I’m so happy to share these with you through the screen. And I hope they make your day like they did for me the first time I made them. 🍥
(And maybe this will keep the kiddos staying happy and cavity-free as low-sugar goodies with plenty of sweetness… that are substitutable for a certain candy holiday 🎃).
And if you’re into experimenting (like I am gladly doing with sweets), you can try other flavors.
Keep in mind they will take longer to bake with more complex ingredients.
You will know when you touch or look at the baked fruit roll up whether it’s dry and done, or half-baked and almost there….
In this one, you can see here that the dry section is on the upper right area and the rest of the fruit roll up is not done… simply pop it back into the oven.
Change the time but don’t mess with the temperature.
This one took another 20-25 minutes to finish… and was worth the wait. ⏲️
These are no fuss-no muss apple fruit roll ups you can bake in under 2 hours. This will make 4 - 4 inch roll ups that are about 9 inches long.
Course Snack
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Equipment
Silpat silicone baking mat on sheet pan
Ingredients
24 ounceapplesauce cups, unsweetened
2tbspraw honey (high quality)
Instructions
Thoroughly combine apple sauce in a bowl and add honey. Tip: use a high quality honey with a smooth consistency.
Smear the mixture into a thin layer on a Silpat (silicone sheet) laid out on a baking pan. Tip: Use different light to check that there are no "holes" that show up with shadows.
Bake on 200°F/100°C for 80 minutes. Tip: if you add or experiment with other more vibrant colors and flavors, they can take significantly longer. You'll know it's completely done, when the fruit roll up is one uniform color and dry throughout to the touch.
Let cool completely and then start to peel at one corner and then slowly peel up the entire fruit roll up. Roll up, slice, and enjoy!
The Great British Baking Show season means baking time, so that’s what this light-hearted foodie is sharing about today to lean into the happy! 😋
…And as a show fan, I get giddy like a school girl. I’ve even got my hair put up in a high up side ponytail like a teen to match my feelings. 🤸🏻
Oh, but don’t worry… this will probably be my only giddy post on the show if you’re not a fan (yet). I’ll be back on the healthy earth channel 🌱 next week… so stay tuned. 📺
…And tuning this week into The GBBS also known as the Great British Bake Off show 🇬🇧 is the alarm for me (and us home bakers) that it’s time to fall B-E-ake!
But before we bake, can you guess what this is?
It’s NOT butter. And it’s not fondant even though it makes a good food illusion 💭… but neither are good to eat on its own so that rules those out.
…Well, hang on to your hat (for that finished thought), and keep reading as it will make more sense when I spill the butt-ah…
Btw… in the States, we like our good sense, scents, and cents, as we’re multi-faceted and have many preferences to show.
We’re similar to our neighbors across the pond where we have adopted some nifty baking ways. Isn’t that right, Rahul? 😊… and we love that! 🇺🇸
I also love that we get to idea mingle with our UK friends that unite the kingdoms through our grams (Instagram and convertable baking gram measurements). 🇬🇧
…and isn’t it about worldly T-I-M-E!?
Cheers! 🎉 (as in thank you in Brit-English and cheers 🥂).
Oh, and did I mention we’re getting mini-Brit speaking lessons from the show’s entertainment side? 🐿️
One lesson note-to-self: I’ll now know to bring more pants than trousers and trackies to the U.K. next time. 😉
But all-in-all, we have a lot and even more in common… both countries speaking some English-variety. We’re also closest in time zones when you consider the other Old World countries.
…And GBBO o‘clock 🕰️ helps us bridge the ocean divide. 🥧
But I will add… it’s a little weird seeing the show baked creations before the episode airs on Netflix.
…Ah, but a few seasons in… like most watchers from the States, I’ve gotten used to the spilled (butt-ah 🧈) beans. 🫘
Plus I grew up in the simpler dialup era so no complaints (not my style).
Which btw, I think I saw one of those ☎️ this week and a green sewing machine that brought me back to my youth where we had one of those in the house.
…Plus I learned a new mini checkerboard technique a.k.a Battenbergs that I heard about from the show. 🏁
And that’s what I was baking up this week in my no-pressure tent? 🎪 Well.. sorta, but not exactly!
…I get excited about sugar talk that goes straight to my head 💭… I forget for a brief moment that I’m a low-sugar baker in the comforts of my kitchen.
So swept back to reality, a MINI Battenberg marzipan dessert is fitting. Because a mini one has very little sugar.
…And this one is reaallly small! …Good for maybe a big Barbie food table.
But too small to bake a cake in unless you’re Barbie baking for Ken and then it’s never too small. 💖
But for the rest o us, an all easy marzipan sweet bite can be made in minutes. It’s like playing with Play-dough.
…So that’s what I turned my butter illusion into. And making a fancy pattern marzipan is still less time than baking.
But I couldn’t leave my oven cold.
Because butter talk inspires baking.
…So I made a healthy delicious bake, but instead of butter (or butt-ah) I used an ingredient you may or may not have heard of… MCT oil.
It sounds like a pharmacy prescribed oil, but it’s OTC… and healthy! Now we’re back on track. 🌱
The healthy fat food supports weight loss, helping the body make ketones for energy that then gives us more energy.
It’s a form of coconut oil that most or all of us know. 🥥
And so I thought only fitting to make a healthy chocolate donut.🍩
That was made coconut tasty with organic unsweetened coconut chips that also make delicious snacks on their own!
Healthy coconut flour was used to lean into the tastes of chococonut (say that 10 times). The gluten-free flour makes a denser no-rise bake that’s great for pancakes or ONE donut here…
…that’s btw how us baking peeps fit into our fave jeans so we can better thrive in our mind-bodies 😊 where we’re all slightly different tuned that’s good to celebrate in our turning world.
Speaking of jeans👖…my baking genes wouldn’t fit in The Great British Baking Show fiery baking tent. 🎪
The show competitors got that competitive gene.🙌👏🏽
…And it looks like all of them this season were very blessed.
For the rest of us, we’re watching The Great British Baking Show and doing our stress-free baking. And on that note, you can enjoy with a best melted chocolate dessert.
This recipe uses chocolate and coconut chips as the sweet, and healthy coconut oil fat that used in moderation is a good sub for a delicious, weight-conscious donut.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
1cupcoconut flour
2tspcoconut oil for donut
1tspcoffee (optional)
1egg
milk (start with 1 tbsp)
unsweetened coconut chips (enough to cover top)
baking chocolate chip
coconut oil, a few drops for melting chocolate
Instructions
Gently mix the 4 donut cake ingredients by hand. Use enough milk to get the consistency closest to a cake batter (not too liquid and not too dense). Grease your pan with coconut oil and pour batter into the pan. Bake until top looks baked and a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the chocolate glaze: melt chocolate chips in a few drops of coconut oil using a bain marie (double boiler) setup. You don't need steaming hot water for melting chocolate. I used an inexpensive self-heating water kettle. I added a small ceramic cup and put inside a ceramic bowl. I poured the hot-warm water into the bowl about half way and the chocolate melts in a minute or two.
Zhugh with organic coconut chips that is recommended for a more pure coconut taste plus a crunch with kernel intact (compared to shredded coconut).
With coconut oil, this dessert will stay good at room temperature for 2 days (the day it's baked and the day after). For longer lasting, keep completely covered in the refrigerator so it doesn't dry out.
This site is all about happy and healthy living and eating ways and inspiration. If this is your first time here, I encourage you to find out more about me and this healthy lifestyle blog.
Baked Fish and Chips made healthy is a tasty way to make food count and enjoy the calories. Accompanied with a salty and tangy sour dip that has balanced tasty notes, what’s not to love?
It takes me back to travel and one special place memory from my time in U.K. 🇬🇧 hoppin’ in London Cabs after dramatically being re-routed from visiting the Mediterranean.
But, travel is always an adventure (…I think so anyway) and GOOD times…
…even if it’s serious business getting history (Stone Henge).
And then getting my bearings back up to food familiarities like these small BUT mighty food bites at Covent Garden near Westminster where I stayed…
…Even as big as London is, somehow I found the food. What a memory! 💕
And one memory dish that U.K. is famous for and you don’t have to look long and hard for there is Fish and Chips.🐟 … it’s as common as U.S. served crab cakes, corn on the cob, and potato chips. That’s a mouthful of “c’s” to say.
Saying Fish and Chips is much easier…
The common U.K. fishes sourced for the dish are salmon, cod, and haddock.
The healthiest fish are wild fish anywhere you source because the fish eat what they would in the wild… makes sense.
Most U.K. fish come from the shared seas in the North Atlantic and Norway.
My last fishy travel tale was in the Bergen, Norway fish market as I’m going down memory lane 🐟
…And in the U.S., we have our own fish markets. it’s common we source wild fish from the Northwest Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
But anywhere you are and anytime of the year, you can make your light (aka healthy) baked Fish and Chips.
And this lighter version pairs great for Wimbledon time 🎾
If you’re a fan, as you’re maybe catching points you can decide how you want to serve up your taters. An unsexy 5 lb bag of potatoes makes up points by being long lasting in your fridge and versatile for any spud dish…
And this healthy baked fish is served with waffle potato fries that doesn’t compromise taste or health… and is so simple to make.
Potato waffle fries are made with a little extra virgin oil love that’s healthy. You can use a waffle iron if you have one or you use a skillet and make potato hash or flat pancake potato shapes.
And if potatoes are not on your menu choice and you want a different style with the same basic ingredients in baked fish and chips, alternatively you can cook your fish with boiled potatoes.
This fish and potato dish is inspired from my hotel catering days as a food service professional. It has a French bistro vibe with capers and lemon sauce.
But if you just want to stick with the traditional fish and chips fare made healthy, enjoy this one recipe with no guilt.
Brush fish with olive oil to keep from drying. Add to oven at 325℉/165°C until fully baked.
For bread crumb topping, toast panko crumbs in a separate pan from fish. Set bread crumbs on the top oven shelf so they don't burn. They will toast brown in about 5 minutes or less on the top shelf.
Cook/soften your potatoes until they are mashable. Scoop out small balls about the same size and flatten. You can make the "chips" in a waffle iron or on a sautee pan with olive oil.
For the tartar sauce, mince the pickles and add to a blender with cottage cheese. Add a tiny bit of pickle juice for stronger flavor. You can do this in a Magic Bullet or similar easy blender.
Blueberry smoothie mornings start your day right with a brightening healthy boost. They can also make a great afternoon dessert with low or no added sugar other than natural fruit.
A dessert blueberry smoothie is super easy to put together in minutes. No baking needed and cool enough for hot temperature days.
And smoothie ingredients in this blueberry cheesecake one are simple and healthy. 🫐 So often we want something sweet in the day.
And instead of going for a high calorie and refined sugar shake or food dessert bite, a blueberry cheesecake smoothie could be the fix for our sweet tooth.
The sugar source is all-natural fruit.
The healthy notes:
Blueberries that have AA goodness in Anthocyanin Antioxidants.
And another great point with blueberries is there is no traces of fruit leftover. So you can enjoy the fruit and not have to think about disposing a seed or core, or recycling a can.
Blueberries are a super smart food choice for more reasons than one!
And this blueberry treat is combined with cottage cheese that gives a balanced cheese “cake” taste. Plus, you’re getting protein, B-vitamins (B-6, B-9, and b-12), calcium, and more.
Blending in a ripe peach 🍑 is the perfect pair (not pear 🍐).
Peaches have lycopene antioxidants like tomatoes. And for a tad more sweetness and Vitamin C, pineapple juice will do the trick.
Hope you give the blueberry smoothie a try and instead of being loaded down, enjoy the healthy energy. ✨
And if your body craves more sugar, adding a little maple syrup sweetness is a good balance to tip this over to the happy dessert edge you deserve while staying cool to your body.
It’s a mysterious term that you don’t hear often. It’s a miracle and life changing event like being born. You only do it once by choice, if ever. And then usually as an adult. It’s a personal decision.
Similar to an important event like getting married or landing a dream job that can be highlighted milestones in your life, there’s no taking back.
And like the potato waffles pictured above that started out as another form of the same food, these spuds can’t go back to before. The recipe is below. 🧇
You can’t take back what’s already happened in the past and you can’t go back in your mother’s womb. Or in this born again case, back into your pre-born again old identity.
Once you’re born again, you’re alive with the spirit living inside you. In the Bible, it’s the same as the Holy Spirit. There are no accidents in becoming Born Again… like the miracle of life.
The story of your real life birth from your birth parents may have sounded like you were an accident oops! baby, but it was no spiritual accident.
And it’s another miracle.
In choosing to be Born Again, you won’t have signed up if you’re not ready.
The choice to be Born Again requires a level of maturity that you’ll know when, and your spirit will help prompt when.
Likely, it has been building up inside you. And one day a water baptism opportunity will show up and call you.
And if you do go through, no other earthly person would know whether you’re born again or not unless you told them or they witnessed your water baptism.
The event is the primary marked outward expression. It’s equivalent to an official wedded ceremony and is spiritual bonding bliss.
But unlike most marriage weddings, the dress code is casual wear like a tee-shirt that will get soaken wet and you will too, as you’d be fully immersed in water either in a bathtub of sorts or outdoors in the open waters.
I know this experience because that’s what happened to me. And as life is an adventure, I never set out for that mission.
I didn’t grow up religious either. This was something I grew into gradually. Never having been baptized before and then for the first time, that’s when my Born Again life began.
Born Again Feelings In the Beginning
It was an ordinary day with extraordinary impact. You never forget the day. You wonder how being submerged in a pool of warm water can be so profound. But it is.
And you’re never the same person you were, again. Because you apply meaning to what just happened in your ceremony.
For one, you get to be a butterfly experiencing more of life’s abundance compared to a caterpillar’s existence with even more limitations.
It has unforgettable, deep feelings like the day you experience a once-in-a-blue-moon total eclipse as it’s happening…
You feel chills and something deeper emotionally happening inside you that you can’t explain with logic and leaves you with a wave of tears and emotions.
Or when you see a painted sky where something is special in the air around you even if you’re the only one who notices.
And you know life is not just what you see in your daily busy life. You know there’s so much more meaning and that can make you want to discover more about yourself and your potential.
You know you were touched by the Universe in love and finding out what that means for your life can be the greater step.
When you’ve already been leading a spiritual life and have gained Biblical knowledge that precedes a baptism day, you know the source of what you’re experiencing.
You know there’s a spirit living inside you.
Referred sometimes as the wind or a dove 🕊️, it’s the same spirit that connects us all under the sun.
There’s an energy that connects us all.
It’s also the guided handed helper, comforter, and all-knowing messenger all rolled-up-in-one.
And those first few days and weeks after baptism, you’ll likely be intentional to live out life differently.
After The Born Again Honeymoon
But then after some time has passed, you’ll have forgotten your baptism event day like everything else in life.
The feelings wear off. And you’ll want to set reminders to what you want your life to be about post-baptism.
You’re back to your life reality, except you have a desire to do better and grow further.
You still carry the same mind as before (pre-baptism), and you’ll still make mistakes like all us humans do.
But now you are aware that you can lean into your deeper gut or heart feelings where your spirit is for higher answers, and trust those be the ones best if you want to live a life of meaning and purpose designed for you.
Pre-Born Again life, you may have called these gut instincts. They still show up as whispers or hunches, but now you’re aware they’re as real as you are.
So you’re now a little wiser and want to live the higher ways of living. You’ll want to learn from like-minded others and to help you with interpretations from the one resource manual guide (the Bible).
And as a new butterfly now, you went through a transformation. Your human wings are invisible as are your changes.
There’s no going back into your chrysalis.
You can choose to become more humble as you see through another higher lens.
Looking back, I could see that I acted pretty foolishly when I was younger, but I thought I was invincible and smart at the time.
And had I stayed as is, today those would be regrets… but I know I needed to go through those phases to get to the season of maturity needed. That’s usually how it is.
And then by learning lessons, never wanting to go back to those old ways that we’ve grown out of.
Been there, done that, got the kid T-shirt. And now I have an adult baptism shirt (and you can too).
What to Expect With A New Life
Expect to have favor in your daily walk if you maintain a deep relationship with your spirit and God. Also expect for you to be the change as nothing changes around you for certain prayers.
That goes for the details of ordinary daily life from when you walk out the door, run errands, are working, and then are back home.
You also give up some control of your life (yes, more than what you have been experiencing). But you gain more control in other areas explained below, as you keep reading.
And remember, none of us are in control anyway.
For me, that was the hardest part at first.
Letting go was not my strong suit. Because I did life on my terms my way as a strong-independent person.
I learned and was groomed that way since I was a kid.
I’m still fundamentally that person, but I exchanged control for a more fulfilling purposeful and creative life.
I started out my adult life mostly in the structured corporate work life. And had I not been made aligned with my identity (Born Again) and my second act of my life’s work, then I would’ve missed what was in the cards dreamt up for me before I was born.
Dreams I never had when I was younger.
What I did feel when I was younger and in my late-20s and early 30s, was that something was missing inside.
Daily life didn’t seem all that exciting even though I had a good job, health, stable work-life balance, side hustles, great relationships, a lakefront home, nice cars, and everything else that I thought I needed.
And yet I felt unfulfilled.
I thought there had to be more.
That didn’t feel like wisdom at the time. It felt like self-pity.
Then suddenly I lost a job and a career when the industry was wiped out.
About two years after that incident, I got Born Again.
And that’s when life got really quiet around me. I was working but the work was easy.
I found I had time to look at personal and spiritual development areas that I didn’t delve into before.
That’s part of the inner peace that comes with being Born Again, knowing that you’re provided for and having some direction to seek levels of growth.
You know when doors shut it’s not a coincidence and that forces you to keep looking in other directions. And when they do open, you’re magically aligned.
I had work situations like that which were problem-filled but since I was anointed to be there, they immediately got fixed without my fixing.
Those bittersweet open doors were short-lived.
But in those experiences, I starting realizing this life isn’t about what you do. It’s about what you’re becoming in this life.
And on the journey, you can be proud to look in the mirror at who you are that’s not just the aged person staring back.
You’ve transformed fear, anxiety, and worry that don’t have to take over and permeate life. Especially fear.
When I was a child I was afraid of everything from lightning, darkness, to boogie monsters. And then as an adult, the opportunity to exchange fear for love became part of the process.
We can grow away from those unproductive beliefs. When you take action to move toward love that’s part of being Born Again, then you choose to exchange those negative earthly feelings.
It’s also co-created, as you seek toward your growth desires and the spirit helps you from the inside.
You can count on that as the spirit isn’t earthly.
You’re never alone. Not for one moment. When you seek help, you get help, truth, and comforting answers. They may not match or exactly match what you thought you wanted.
But as your perspectives align with the higher ways, you know that they guarantee your highest and best use in this life. So don’t worry if you feel you’re blooming late. You and your spirit will help you grow and make up for lost time.
And you can use the weekend brunch potato waffles as a reminder that these waffles started as mashed potatoes, and became these plate tasty treats. You can find this potato waffle recipe, potato dip, and other brunch waffles.