It’s certainly not one of the prettiest breakfasts, but this banana pecan oatmeal is a definite favourite in our house. And for good reason! By recommendation of a friend, I started making this when Miss G was a newborn and I was a constantly starving nursing mama. It was quick and easy to throw together, it satisfied my raging hunger come morning, and was delicious too – sort of like dessert for breakfast. I’m pretty sure I ate it most mornings for months, and it’s no surprise that Miss G now loves it too.
One of the few ready-made packaged foods I buy now and then is organic all-fruit fruit leather strips. They’re a very special treat for Miss G and I don’t feel horrible about letting her have one once and a while (as long as her teeth are brushed extra well that day), but I’ve always known that I should probably be making them at home instead. Recently, our local grocery store stopped restocking their organic fruit leather supply (I think they’re getting rid of the current stock and then no longer carrying them) and they were down to just two lonely strips on our last visit. It was the perfect push I needed to try making my own. 
Today I asked Gracen if she’d like to try making some fruit leather of our own, and she responded enthusiastically with, “Sure! Purple ones.” so I decided we’d try a berry variety first. Since we don’t really buy many berries when they’re out of season, we went with what we had in the freezer – strawberries, raspberries, and wild blueberries. Plus an apple and half a lemon for texture and a little kick.
As we were prepping the fruit, which really only consists of peeling and coring the apple, we decided to add a banana in the mix for sweetness.
With all of the ingredients ready to go, Gracen popped them into a large pot…
Then squeezed the lemon on top…
And added a little bit of water.
Then we popped the mixture on the stove to stew over medium heat for a while.
About a half hour later, this is what we had.
We let it cool for a little bit and then dumped it in the food processor to puree for a bit.
With our mixture nice and smooth, we lined a baking sheet with parchment paper…
And poured our berry mixture on top.
Using a spatula, we spread the mixture out to cover the entire base of the pan (on our next attempt, I’d spend a little more time getting it as evenly as possible) and put the pan in the oven on the lowest temperature.
Eight and a half hours later (yes – it takes a long time!) this is what we had.
We carefully peeled off the parchment paper…
And then I used kitchen scissors to cut it into strips.
A little parchment paper and baking twine later, we had our own homemade {and healthy!} version of a Fruit Roll-Up. ☺
Only I would try to amp up the nutritional value of bananas… Haha! I kid. (Kinda.) The truth is, Miss G has been on a 
Here’s the ingredient lineup… Bananas (ripe, but not overripe), roasted ground flax seed, and cinnamon. 
Start off by peeling the bananas and making sure all of the white stringy things are removed.
Chop them into coins (maybe about a half inch thick?) and set them aside.
Next, pour some roasted ground flax seed into a container with a lid (or a zip close bag).
Enthusiastically dump some cinnamon in too.
Put the lid on the container and give it a little shake.
Place the lid on the container again and shake until all of the banana coins are well coated.
Next, place the coated banana pieces onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Place the tray in the freezer for at least an hour.
Serve them frozen to your excited toddler and watch them disappear. (Without a word of a lie, Gracen gobbled up our entire batch – and that was after a full meal!)