sun-dried tomatoes

i’m addicted to appliances. there i said it.

i stalk them on amazon.

i drop hints to my family.

you can hear me saying “hey babe, how cool would it be if we had ____ to ____” and then you hear “mer, really. we are running out of room”. and then i say “well…you know, it would be really awesome for the kids to make there own ___” and then he says… “whatever”. which means i second guess myself for months and then one day purchase it out of no where because i have purple tomatoes.

get it. i have issues.

in my defense, i have been eyeing a dehydrator for years. ok, well, maybe just one.

i’m fascinated with drying my own food. i mean really, i have like 100 tomatoes on my vine right now that would be amazing dried.

i can put them in sauces, i can add them to sandwiches, i can ground them and make my own spices…see where this is going. i can really just find any excuse to buy appliances.

so anyway, i bought a dehydrator with my 20% off and $5 off coupon at bed bath & beyond. i dragged the kids there after diving lessons with promises of “as seen on tv” products (they love them) and dried fruit.

ready.

i. love. it.

we came home and immediately unwrapped the box. we washed it per the instructions and got to work.

first up…2 trays of tomatoes. bananas. apples.

dying…sweetest bananas i have ever had. and those apples…man. the tomatoes, well folks, i’m in love.

this mornings adventure includes nectarines, grapes and yes, more bananas.

do you have a dehydrator? what is your favorite thing to dry?

to make sun-dried tomatoes in oil

google how to make sun-dried tomatoes. there are tons of recipes (mostly all include having your oven on for 10 hours at 200 degrees).

after dehydration, place in jar with oil, garlic and basil. that’s it. refrigerate for a week or 2 or freeze.