If you’ve ever visited a school playground at lunchtime, I’m sure you’ve seen the all-mighty roll-up. These fruit straps (if you can even call them that), are a frequent and common snack among lunch boxes nationwide. Roll-ups are seen as an easy and tasty way to get some fruit into your kids. Unfortunately, a lot of the time these convenient snacks contain not so convenient ingredients and are laced with maltodextrin, sugar, oil, artificial coloring and more. To be honest, you know what they don’t contain a lot of? Real fruit. Roll-ups contain fruit puree, which is basically a fruit that’s stripped of all its fiber and essential nutrients, leaving us with just fructose and sugar.
In fact, I found a roll up the other day with over twelve ingredients which made me question why we associate them with fruit at all! I know. You’re just as shocked as I am right now. I’d like for you to take your mind back to the good old days, where children were sent off to school with apples from the farm down the road and a handful of just-picked bright blueberries from the garden. Doesn’t that just sound blissfully wholesome?
This revelation sparked me to create my own fruit roll-ups for my latest book, Supercharge Your Life, made with just three simple ingredients, not twelve. You can even wrap them around your fingers like the traditional ones! By swapping out pre-packaged foods filled with ingredients we can’t even pronounce. With real and wholesome food, we’ll be able to thrive naturally.
Lee Holmes from Supercharged Foods is a nutritionist, author, and chef. She realized that many of us are living a time-poor and work orientated existence and set about making recipes not only classic and elegant but also simple, quick and easy to prepare to enable everyone to cook nutritious meals from scratch without having to be a Cordon Bleu chef. All her recipes contained in Supercharged Food are gluten, wheat, (mostly) dairy, yeast and sugar-free and fortunately don’t taste like cardboard so are suitable for the whole family. And the great thing about her recipes is that they can be customized to your own taste and dietary requirements as there is no one size fits all when it comes to food. Download Lee’s latest eBook now for free — Healthy Holiday Hacks.
Organic, Easy-To-Make Strawberry and Chia Roll-Up
Makes about 12
Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb 2 oz/3 1/3 cups) strawberries, hulled and halved
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons rice malt syrup, or stevia powder to taste
- 1 tsp Love Your Gut powder
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 65°C (145°F) or its lowest temperature and line two baking trays with baking paper. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds, until puréed. Pour onto the baking trays and spread out evenly with a spatula. Dry in the oven for at least 3 hours, until the mixture is no longer sticky and the consistency is leathery but not crisp (see tip). Cool to room temperature, then either slowly peel the fruit off the baking paper or use a sharp knife or a pair of scissors to cut into portions with the paper still on to stop them sticking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days. When ready to use, roll up portions and secure with string.
Other Great Combinations To Make:
- Raspberry + mango
- Apple + sweet potato
- Peach + banana
- Strawberry + basil
- Raspberry + vanilla
- Apricot + cinnamon + turmeric
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Supercharged Tip:
To test whether your fruit roll-up is ready, pick a corner and peel it slowly off the paper. If it pulls apart or seems sticky or damp, it needs to go back in the oven. To make the other flavor combinations, replace the strawberries with the same volume of the suggested ingredients, and combine with the chia seeds and rice malt syrup in the same way.
While you’re here, check out Lee Holme’s 4 steps to your healthiest gut ever.
