Jack be limbo, Jack be quick, Jack go unda limbo stick

So, I'm moving.  But I don't exactly when or exactly where.  In about ten days Mike and I are flying up to Spokane to look at houses and hopefully put in an offer but until then I am in limbo.  I walk around the house in circles.  I walk outside and stand in my front yard, look around, and walk back inside.  Being in limbo is no fun.  But there is a cure - it's a boring one but it really works - stay busy.  So to cure my limbo blues I've been drying peaches, making bread, and yesterday I make home dried tomatoes.

Last weekend we went up to Mike's parents in Boise and they have an amazing garden - they let me take as many tomatoes as I wanted - so I filled a big paper box full of beautifully ripe tomatoes.  Brought them home and made me some home dried tomatoes.  My mother in law also let me borrow her dehydrator.

I love love love sun-dried tomatoes but I had no idea how much better home dried tomatoes would be - they are AMAZING.  They are slightly sweet because they were ripened on the vine, they're slightly salty, and they're bursting with savory tomato flavor.  YUMMY!!!

It was a pretty simple process too.  I dunked the tomatoes in boiling water for 60 seconds - then into a bath of cold water.  Once they were cool enough to handle I took them out and their skins slid off easily.  I then quartered the tomatoes and put them in the dehydrator - as easy as that.  It took like 14-15 hours in the dehydrator for them to be ready so start early so you don't have to get up at 1 AM to check them like I did.

My favorite thing to do with dried tomatoes, beside just popping them in my mouth, is to make a sun-dried tomato pesto - I put this on sour dough bread with fresh mozzarella and a few basil leaves and then toast it - SO SO YUMMY!