Tag Archive for: garden

Sundried Roma Tomatoes

As you may have seen in my other posts about my garden booty, tomatoes are all the rage around here. I have been canning, freezing, making salsa, oven roasting and generally gorging myself on tomatoes.

 


And with plenty of tomatoes, comes experimentation that I normally wouldn’t try. I called upon the wisdom of my beautiful mother-in-law, remembering her delicious sundried tomatoes we were introduced to on our last visit.

She shared with me her recipe (which I tweaked a little here and there because I just can’t leave well enough alone) and the results were wonderfully dried Roma tomatoes, ready to grace my pizzas, pasta dishes, crackers and more.

 


Here’s all that you’ll need to make your very own Sundried Roma Tomatoes:
You’ll need (2) 9 x 13 casserole dishes depending on how large the Romas are
20-25 Roma Tomatoes
1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
24 Garlic Cloves
Italian Seasoning
Thyme
Salt and Pepper

 


Put a large pot of water on to boil. Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Preheat the oven to 180.
Then, cut an “X” along the bottom of each Roma Tomato.

 


Once the water is at a full boil, drop a few tomatoes in at a time and allow them to boil for 1-2 minutes, or until the skin starts to separate from the tomatoes.

 


Drop the boiled tomatoes into the ice bath and let cool.

 


Once the tomatoes are cool to the touch, begin removing the skin by simply pulling at a corner and unwrapping your little tomato present.

PS-I keep the skins and add it to any tomato juice or seeds leftover from this recipe-which I throw into a ziplock bag and freeze. I use this concoction for stews, soups, etc.

 


Cut each tomato in half, lengthways and remove the seeds. (I keep the seeds for later use-see above “PS” comment.)

 


After de-seeding the tomatoes, place them face-down in a casserole dish. Divide the the 1/3 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil and pour across the tomatoes in each pan (if applicable).

 


Divide the 24 garlic cloves, placing 12 whole cloves in each pan. Sprinkle each pan with Italian Seasoning, Thyme, Salt and Pepper.

 


Roast overnight at 180 degrees for 10-12 hours, or until the tomatoes have the feel of a dried apricot.

Save the oil that remains in the pan and use for a dipping sauce.

 


Top toasted slices of a french baguette with the sundried roma tomaotes, feta cheese, cucumbers, black olives-or what ever your little heart desires.

These are tasty no matter how they are consumed!

Sundried Roma Tomatoes
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Easily use up summer's harvest by roasting Roma tomatoes overnight. Enjoy the finished product on salads, pizzas, sandwiches or by themselves.
Ingredients
  • (2) 9 x 13 casserole dishes depending on how large the Romas are
  • 20-25 Roma Tomatoes
  • ⅓ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 24 Garlic Cloves
  • Italian Seasoning
  • Thyme
  • Salt and Pepper
Instructions
  1. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
  2. Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180.
  4. Then, cut an “X” along the bottom of each Roma Tomato.
  5. Once the water is at a full boil, drop a few tomatoes in at a time and allow them to boil for 1-2 minutes, or until the skin starts to separate from the tomatoes.
  6. Drop the boiled tomatoes into the ice bath and let cool.
  7. Once the tomatoes are cool to the touch, begin removing the skin by simply pulling at a corner.
  8. Cut each tomato in half, lengthways and remove the seeds.
  9. After de-seeding the tomatoes, place them face-down in a casserole dish. Divide the the ⅓ Cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil and pour across the tomatoes in each pan.
  10. Divide the 24 garlic cloves, placing 12 whole cloves in each pan.
  11. Sprinkle each pan with Italian Seasoning, Thyme, Salt and Pepper.
  12. Roast overnight at 180 degrees for 10-12 hours, or until the tomatoes have the feel of a dried apricot.
  13. Save the oil that remains in the pan and use for a dipping sauce.

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Give-Away! My Inspirational Wrapped Canvas Prints

Dear Readers:
I’m going to get very real right now.

Momma (me) needs to make some money. Biceps took a huge cut in pay to become a firefighter and our budget is getting tighter every month. If you know anything about me, you know that I am one seriously frugal girl. We operate on a debt-free mindset (no credit cards) and are determined to be completely debt-free (student loans, our rent houses and our house) in six years or less.

 


I am making every homemade product for myself that I possibly can to save money. I considered selling these, but determined the profit margin wouldn’t be there for me while making it affordable to others.

 

6 Figure Moms
In the meantime, I did partner up with a line of inexpensive, non-toxic cleaning, beauty and household products that I believe in and am slowly building that business from home. But, that will take time.

 


We drive a paid for, slightly used (hah!) 8 year old van that badly needs new tires. I happily bike all over town so that we don’t have to buy a second car and so that I can burn some extra calories.

That said-I need a job and have been sending out resumes one right after another. This blog pays me diddly squat and being a self-employed writer is either feast or famine. And, as of yet, no one has offered to pay me to sit around looking cute. Dang them.

 


“The Harvest”
After talking with my mom this morning, she got my creative juices flowing. She reminded me of the prints with scriptures that I made for their bookstore and wondered if it wouldn’t be feasible for me to sell them through Etsy (which she pronounces Es-ty) or something similar.

I instantly thought this was a brilliant idea! I have decided to sell the following prints as wrapped canvas prints.

And, I’m giving one away to a lucky winner! Enter now for your very own FREE inspiration wrapped canvas prints.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 


“His Sheep”
These inspirational wrapped canvas prints are made from original photographs that I have taken around the country as I travel. Each photograph has a significant meaning to me, which I will share with you in a personalized note along with your order.

Now, here’s the lowdown-these wrapped canvas prints are totally customizable with your choice of inspirational saying, scripture, last name-whatever!

The canvas is either .75″ or  1.5″ deep, with the print bleeding all the way to the edges. The best part is-there’s no need to frame this. When you receive the wrapped canvas print, all you need to do is decide on where you want to hang it.

 


“His Pathway”
These make great gifts for pastors, friends, grandparents-and they look perfect at home or in the office.

 


“He is my Rock”
If you don’t happen to win this giveaway and still can’t live without one of these, here are a few prices for you to reference (but you can email me if you have a particular size in mind that I haven’t listed):

8 x 10- $49
10 x 14- $59
12 x 16- $64
16 x 20- $75
20 x 36- $169

*These prices include Free Shipping! Please allow 2 weeks for delivery of your item.

“The Light”
Let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts. I am excited to hear what you, my dear friends, have to say! Don’t forget to enter the give away!

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Festival of Foods

Dear Readers:
My garden this year has produced, and produced and produced (every pun intended). I almost can’t keep up with it-neither can my freezer. I’ve been harvesting daily, canning, freezing, dehydrating and when all else fails, inviting others over to stuff them full of veggies.

I hope to prolong and save back as much of the garden’s goodness as possible. I thought I’d show you all what I’ve been up to.

 


Roasting whole cherry tomatoes has become a favorite past time. I throw these on a pizza, a sandwich or I just eat them plain. Yum. I’ll do a large batch, freezing several small baggies for later use.

 


To use up cucumbers, I concocted a cuke salad adding black and red beans, red onions, vinegar and stevia. So tasty.

 


Of course, canning is a must. I’m set for the next couple of years in the salsa, whole tomatoes, jalapeno pepper department.

 


My little $5 dehydrator has been pushed to its limit and has seen the likes of tomatoes, green beans, okra and peppers. I freeze most of the dehydrated items to use in recipes down the road.

 


And Bicep’s favorite are my chocolate zucchini muffins. So, I made lots of them-96 to be exact. Most I freeze, but I pull out a few from time to time if he’s been a good boy.

 


This is the only thing my garden hasn’t produced, but that I love to make-granola! I make 4 batches at a time and freeze 3 ziplock bags full for the future.

 


Biceps even got in on the action and for the first time ever, made french baguettes. They were amazing.

My poor little freezer-I have pushed it to the limit. I stuffed it so full of awesomeness that the air wasn’t circulating and nothing was freezing. Our ice cubes were water squares.

I think it’s safe to say that next year, I’m saving up for a chest freezer. End of story.

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It’s about Bloomin’ Time!

Guess what’s blooming around my backyard? My garden is showing the signs of its intended purposes.

 


Hello, little banana peppers. Soon, you will be pickled in hopes of adorning one of my Whole Wheat Pizzas. Get ready. I have a lot of plans for you.

 


And my dear spicy jalapenos…how could I not have a garden without you? Not only will I dehydrate you and can you, but I will be making sweet, sweet Jalapeno Jelly out of you. (Geez, what were you thinking?)

 


Dear Tiny Tomatoes. How I long for you to ripen, to turn red and to be atop a crispy baguette slice in bruschetta glory! Or, perhaps I will make a little Spicy Salsa out of you. The possibilities are endless.

I count down the days for the harvest, eagerly awaiting your maturity. I love you, dear garden.
In the words of many a pastor across the midwest that I’ve met, eaten chicken fingers with and sang on their stage as a pre-teen, “Don’t let me down, cuz’ my waterin’s real good.” Amen.

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