Incredibly Delicious Oven Dried Tomatoes

In my post earlier I said that I would share my recipes with you if they were good and dear heavens are my oven dried tomatoes good. I ate the whole tray! So good! Here's the recipe:

• Preheat your oven to 200-250 degrees.
• Core and seed as many tomatoes as you want.
• Cut your tomatoes into whatever size pieces you'd like.
• Toss the tomatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and rosemary.
• Place the tomatoes on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.
• Bake for 3-5 hours (Time will depend on your oven and altitude. Check on the tomatoes every half hour after the 2 hour mark. I baked mine at 200 for 4 hours and 250 for 1 hour.) The longer you leave them in the crispier and more dried out they become.
• Once they become the texture that you like you can take them out of the oven and serve. If there are any left you may store them in the fridge. Not sure how long because mine are all gone :)

It Has Been a While

I'll admit it. I'm the worst blogger in the world! This summer has been busy and a lot of things have happened. I suppose I should recap a little.

1. My first Whole 30 went well but I didn't lose as much weight as I would have liked. I only lost 2.5 lbs but I lost 3 inches over all. I still consider it a success. I wasn't able to work out as much as I would have liked due to set backs in my post surgical recovery. I was dealing with nerve regeneration in my back, knee pains, and hip pains. Had I worked out more often then I think more weight would have come off. Also I had a difficult time staying away from fruit. Yes fruit is good for you and it is nutritious, but it does contain a lot of sugar. When you're doing a Whole 30 and your sugar monster is screaming at you, the only thing sweet thing you have to calm it is fruit. I would try to only eat one piece of fruit a day but many days it was two. I think this also contributed to me only losing 2.5 lbs.
2. My toxin-free action plan is still in progress. I wanted to have my household cleaning stuff completed by August 1st, but there are reasons why it is not. First of all I am able to complete all of the action plan. I do have the homemade cleansers for all areas and I have used them. However, I still have a lot of left over cleaners from my couponing days so I am trying to use them up first. Mainly I'm using up toilet bowl cleaner, laundry detergent, and fabric softener. Everything else I have either disposed of, or its still sitting in my basement collecting dust. I wanted to give some of it away but I'm not sure if giving away toxic chemicals is a good idea. If they use them already then surely they may have them and use them, but I still feel badly about offering them. I feel like I'm saying "Here are chemicals that I refuse to use in my house but you may contaminate your home and your family as much as you like." As much as I hate using my old laundry detergent and fabric softener, I have so much of it that I need to just make it go away. I'm gritting my teeth each time I do laundry. I hate using it but hopefully it'll be gone in a few months. This is one case where buying in bulk sucks!
3. I may be starting my own toxin-free beauty care business. I have been selling some of my homemade products to friends and acquaintances. If all goes well I may be turning it into a full blown business. Starting your own business is scary, but nothing worth doing is ever easy breezy. I've met some awesome people who are into "green" living and are interesting in helping me. I'm excited about the possibilities but I'm equally scared. If things get rolling I'll start selling my products on my blog as well.
4. I am currently in the midst of my second Whole 30. I started on August 19th after a Milk Duds binge. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm hoping that this Whole 30 will be even more successful than my first. I really need to work on my will power when I'm done my Whole 30. I'll post my results when I'm finished in September.
5. I have started canning!!! Yes, I am full blown Martha over here these days. Our two tiny tomato seeds have produced an abundance of tomatoes. For a household that doesn't like tomatoes as they are, this meant I had to get creative. My husband bought me a canner and I started making lots of sauce, salsa, bbq sauce, tomato paste, and oven dried tomatoes. I'm currently making the salsa and oven dried tomatoes. If they turn out well then I will share my recipes.

That is what has been going on with me. I look forward to updating you on all of my ventures. Hopefully I can keep up with my posting. Have a great day!