Dried Tomatoes

Because we were moving, I decided not to try to grow anything this past summer. It was kind of a sad decision for me to make, but it didn't make sense to put a lot of time into a garden that we would leave just before harvest. So I was happily surprised when a volunteer tomato plant popped up in the garden at our new house.

This little plant has been awesome! On Sunday, I picked over 2 pounds of grape tomatoes and today I picked another pound.

I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes, though my husband can eat them by the handful. So I decided to dry them. It concentrates the flavors and you can use them like sun dried tomatoes. I like to chop them up and sprinkle them on macaroni and cheese.

I used the dehydrator this time, but you can also make them in the oven.

It's so stupid easy that you don't even need a recipe. Just wash your tomatoes, cut them (little ones like grape and cherry can just be cut in half), and then space them with some room in between on the racks of a dehydrator, set it for vegetables (about 135 degrees Fahrenheit) and wait until they're dried out and leathery. This batch took about 18 hours. Store them in a freezer bag in the freezer, and you'll have them through the winter, if you can avoid eating them all at once!

ps. Don't forget to enter my mug giveaway! It's ending in 5 days!