Time to Rekindle my Love for Sewing

It's that time of the year again. My two lovelies are back to school. I already miss them. However, I'm sure when they get back home this evening, there will be lots of fun as well as frustrations to be had.

In the mean time, all I can do is to dress them appropriately, pack healthy lunches and snacks, and send them off on the school bus.
For the first time in months, I went for a 20 minute solo walk around the neighbourhood.
When I got home, I drank my cup of coffee in utter silence, something that seemed impossible just half and hour before. As I sat there, I contemplate sweeping the floors. Or folding the giant pile of laundry. Or reorganizing the closets in preparation for the cooler season. I can think of so many things to do.

But then, I remember. The Blogs! I miss reading the blogs and catching up with the bloggy world.
I miss the sewing. The crafting. I really do. I can't wait to plan the next project. Let's just put this whole housework thing on the back burner, shall we?

So, here I am once again, reading and getting inspired by my blog friends, writing (writing!!) once again on my blog after a very spotty track record of summer posts.

Here I am.

The Oven-Dried Tomatoes Experiment

Without fail, around this time of the year, I am inundated with delicious cherry tomatoes. This is not a complain, as one of my daughter is nicknamed the "Tomato Monster", due to the fact that she would eat up a whole pint of cherry tomatoes if she happens to come upon them.
Alas, even the Tomato Monster is no match for the abundance of tomatoes that happen to ripen all at once!
This year, I decided that I will attempt to oven dry tomatoes. I love the flavour of sun-dried tomatoes and will often put them in salads and home-made pizza. The thought of being able to transform this bowl of cherry tomatoes,

 into delicious concentrated morsels of tomato goodness, makes me very happy indeed, my friends!
For most of these cherry tomatoes, I decided to just slit them slightly so that the juices can evaporate:

For some of the larger ones, I decided to cut them into halves:

 I also used some roma tomatoes, I decide to slice them and remove most of the seeds.

I brushed the cookie sheets with olive oil before placing the tomatoes on them. Into a 180 degree Fahrenheit oven they went.

So here's what I found

• The sliced Roma tomatoes took about 6 hours. Any longer than that, they are no longer juicy. You get tomato chips instead. Just saying! The absence of seeds was nice
• The halved cherry tomatoes took about 8 hours to reach the perfect consistency. Delicious!
• It took wayyyyyy longer to dry the whole cherry tomatoes. I actually turned off the oven, left the tomatoes in the oven overnight, and restarted the process the next day. So, I would guess that I took 12 hours. They taste like raisins, only better!
• If you can't stand the tomato seeds, I would suggest sticking with bigger tomatoes and remove the seeding as you slice. I didn't mind the seeds, as the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes made up for them.

I ended up with a good amount of dried tomatoes that is now in the freezer. Seeing as a little goes a long way with these, they should last me for a good 6 months.

 It's easy, but it takes time. There you go!