Here is Ohio State University's fact sheet on drying fruits and vegetables. This is an informative several-page document to download in .pdf format.

Please note that it says drying outdoors is not recommended in Ohio. I would not recommend it much of anywhere these days. However, if you do it anyway, please read what the fact sheet says about freezing or heating the foods to kill insect eggs. (See? You don't really want to do it outdoors, do you?) I recommend a small electric dryer or the oven set on a low temperature. I use 150 for green onions, with the door propped slightly open, for example.

Some foods are steamed before they are dried. Read directions carefully on the chart provided, and read all the preliminary instructions. Please, do not think this is a step to skip. Directions are included for how to make fruit leathers, and some vegetables can be done in a similar way. Even if you don't have a dehydrator, you can still do many foods in your oven with the help of tips from this fact sheet.

If you are going to do fruit leathers, it does say to line cookie sheets with plastic wrap, not wax paper or foil. I would suggest buying a pack of the 14 x 14 teflon coated sheets made for the Excaliber or other square food dehydrators. However, your cookie sheet will be a different size, and this may require some trimming to use. These sheets are made specifically for food dehydration.

Dehydration

Have you ever thought about dehydrating your own foods for storage or cooking?  I have to admit that, other than herbs and onions, I hadn't really.  However, the thought has been rolling around in my head for sometime down the road when my debt elimination snowball has snowballed me out of harm's way.  Today, I was on everydayfoodstorage and they have a nice small dehydrator for about $300.  I'm going to research some more about dehydration, storage time for home dehydrated foods, and more recipes, of course!  I'll post about the things I discover.  Maybe you'll want to save toward one, too. 

I can see it would save a lot of money to dehydrate fruits and vegetables in the summer, when they are either plentiful or self-grown.  This gives me this year to see how well I do with a garden in east Tennessee.  I've only grown one in the desert, and it's bound to be different.  For one thing, I won't be planting peas in late February here to get them off the vines before the sun bakes them.  (smile)  My backyard is a hill, too.  The man next door didn't terrace last year, but I may need to.  Things to think about before planting.  What I can dehydrate would determine what I plant, too.  Can you dehydrate zucchini?  I'm not sure!  I'll let you know.