Dried peaches

Aren't these beautiful?  My husband sliced up a bunch of peaches and dried them in our food dehydrator.  I bought our Nesco dehydrator a couple years back as a birthday gift for my husband.  I wasn't sure what he would think of the gift (especially because it was a selfish gift on my part; I've always wanted a food dehydrator).  But he was really excited to get it, and it's truly been a gift that keeps on giving.

My husband has become in expert in making dried apples.  He slices them perfectly, then sprinkles them with a little powdered fruit preserve (you can find it with the canning supplies in the grocery store) and some cinnamon and sugar.  Whenever there's a sale at the grocery store for 99-cents-a-pound apples, I stock up so my husband can make dried apples.  We even gave them away last year as Christmas gifts, to rave reviews from our family.

He's also dried all kinds of fruits, including pears, peaches (again, these were 99 cents a pound a few weeks ago) and pineapple.  Believe it or not, we also love dried carrots!  My husband adds them to his homemade "hamburger helper" -- what he calls his quick-fix supper of hamburger, egg noodles, onions, dried shitake mushrooms (from the Asian food store), beef boullion and dried carrots.  Sounds a little odd, but it's delicious.

We bought our Nesco dehydrator at Amazon.com and highly recommend it if you're interest in a smaller-scale dehydrator.  Do you use a food dehydrator at home?  What are your favorite foods to dry?