Many years ago when Rick & I bought our first house, I was able to have a real garden of my own. It had perfect soil and I could grow whatever my little heart desired.
One thing that I had always wanted to grow was my own herbs. I hated the fact that the stuff I bought in stores tasted slightly more than nothing, and the color always seemed to be “off.” I wanted to be able to flavor my dishes with something more than salt, pepper and Lawry’s.
The only problem was, I needed a way to dry them. I knew I could put them in the oven or hang them, but neither idea appealed to me. So for Christmas one year my Mom bought me a Ronco Food Dehydrator. The. Best. Present. Ever.
Not only could I dry my oregano, chives and countless other herbs, but I could also make fresh apple and banana chips for the kids! Heck, if I was really ambitious I could make jerky (although I’ve never been that ambitious… ever).
That silly electrical piece of plastic was another notch in my belt in food preservation. And I worked the heck out of it! Until we moved to the Northwoods where it remained in storage for years due to the worst soil conditions on the planet.
This year I decided to dust it off and put it to use for something I’ve never made in my life.
Dehydrated tomatoes. I had seen a friend of mine post about doing this and thought “Why not? ” After canning 80 pounds of the stuff, I was starting to get a little burnt out with all the prep-work. Dehydrating them was less time consuming, and I wouldn’t be letting anything go to waste.
And the verdict? Yummers! What a flavor-packed piece of wonderfulness! When Nichole tried some this past weekend she was really surprised at how great they tasted, and she came up with a fantastic idea for a new food product: Chocolate covered tomatoes.
Because, naturally, everything is better with chocolate.
6 Responses to “Little Pieces of Wonderfulness”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Ahh yes, back when Ronco was the greatest brand ever lol bring to mind the cartoon Ren and Stimpy when Stimpy always bought new things and the famous words always appeared “by RONCO!” And hey, the choco-maters have already happened: http:/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooneythecerealbaker.blogspot.com/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney2012/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney06/~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooney~sandyrooneychocolate-covered-sun-dried-tomatoes.html 🙁
But they’re not on the market yet… we still have a chance! 🙂
I did a bunch of these last year and I have no idea what to do with them. Are you just going to snack on them or are there recipe plans?
I tried making “sauce” from some that I powdered up….meh.
Great to snack on, and you can throw them into soups and sauces.
You’re dehydrating has always been wonderful, Mom…EXCEPT…remember the Cilantro?! I remember coming home from school and the house smelled like the worst BO EVER! I remember you saying, “Nope, never again!” lol
Remember I woke up in the middle of the night and threw the whole batch outside… the stink was terrible! I still can’t eat Cilantro… makes me ill.