We love CHIPS!

When our daughter was little she used to say, "I want the crunch crunch." We think this meant chips. The girls loves her chips! Who doesn't love chips. They are so crunchy and salty and good!

This weekend I made veggie chips with zucchini (which I still have an abundance of) and sweet potatoes. They were really good and super easy.

My mother-in-law bought me a food dehydrator a couple years back and I love it. I use it all the time to dry fruit but I'd never done veggies because I had never wanted to take the time to cut them so thin.
Well this year for our anniversary my Gramy gave us a mandolin. So now I am completely set!

If you don't have a food dehydrator you can use your oven but research it online. I'm not exactly sure how to do it that way but I know it can be done. If you don't have a mandolin you can just use a knife but slice thin.

Here is what I did:
Wash the veggies.
Put an apron on the husband.
Got him busy with the veggies and the mandoline (guys like things like this, it's sharp and fast)
After the veggies were thinly sliced I spritzed them with olive oil.
Then I spread them out in a single layer on the drying sheets of the dehydrator.
Sprinkled lightly with sea salt.
The salt intensifies as it is dried so really, go light on the salt!
Set the temperature for 125.
Waited
5 hours later I had fresh dried zucchini and sweet potato crunch crunches!

I found the following information here on health benefits of dehydrating.

Dehydrating: Health and Nutrition Benefits Dehydrating is the process of slowly removing all of the water from fresh vegetables and fruit to make healthy, cheap, raw and long-lasting snacks and treats.

The dehydration process retains almost 100% of the nutritional content of the food, retains the alkalinity of fresh produce and actually inhibits the growth of microforms such as bacteria. Fresh foods can sometimes contain simple yeasts, mould and bacteria; however, by inhibiting the water content their growth is considerably reduced. Dried vegetables and sprouts are naturally low in ‘bad’ fats, yet high in fibre and nutrients. Although a very small amount of Vitamin C is lost, dehydrating retains all Vitamin A (or Beta Carotene) in plant foods which is an essential anti-oxidant. Minerals such as selenium, potassium and magnesium are also preserved giving you minerals in a perfect balance. A dehydrator is an excellent way to ensure that there is always nutrient-dense, raw food readily available so that you do not snack on junk!