Herbed Oven Dried Tomatoes

Oven dried tomatoes remind me of sun-dried tomatoes, except you can make them at home and they don't cost much at all! Since I can't seem to grow tomatoes myself (I have a brown thumb), I usually get a lot of tomatoes from friends and neighbors who always seem to grow too many! Another trick is to go to the local farmers market and ask for a discount on a bunch of the tomatoes rejected by buyers. They don't have to look pretty for you to make this recipe, just cut off the ugly parts and you're ready to go!

You'll need:

• A lot of tomatoes! - Washed and ready to cut.
• Olive oil - enough to coat all of the sliced tomatoes
• Garlic - 2 - 3 cloves finely chopped (more or less depending on how much you like garlic)
• Basil (and/or other Italian herbs) - dried would be okay but fresh-sliced leaves are better; use enough to get a good flavor over all of your sliced tomatoes
• Balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to a low temperature: around 200 degrees.
• Slice the tomatoes somewhat thinly, less than a 1/2 inch thick.
• Toss the sliced tomatoes into a big bowl with the garlic, olive oil, and herbs.
• Place the tomatoes in a shallow pan in one layer - you could use a cookie sheet if you line it with foil and turn up the edges so that the juices don't drip over the edge.
• Sprinkle with the balsamic vinegar.
• Bake in the low-temp oven for at least 5 hours; until they are dried out but not burned. Some recipes out there suggest 8-10 hours! Just be sure to keep an eye on them.
• You can store them in mason jars with a little more olive oil. I don't know how long you can store them--but if you keep then in the fridge, I'm sure they'll last a long time.

Use them on pasta, on bread, or with recipes that call for sun-dried tomatoes. I'm looking forward to trying them in a hummus recipe this year.