I have done both in my dehydrator - fruit leather pretty much exactly as baf65 has - I think I did the same as well and not enough sugar (trying to keep the sugar levels down as you do). It really is easy.
DH and DS number 2 also make beef jerky...the book says not to marinade your meat...they did lol. I can't tell you what they used as DH did it and he just makes one up as he goes (as you do
) but it was really nice. You don't get very much jerky for your meat though. Just be sure not to over dry your jerky or you will never be able to chew through it... they make it for DS to take away on Army Cadet camps (well that is their excuse to make a huge batch that doesn't last past one camp lol)
Oh DH just said to try and keep your pieces the same size as much as you can...or dry pieces the same size on the same try so it is easier to keep an eye on them and remove the whole tray when ready and the rest can keep drying. He's clever