From the Oven

To get this much put away in a weekend, you have to be creative about overlapping tasks. These tomatoes just required me to set the oven to low and leave them alone for about 11 hours. We slow roasted some tomatoes and froze them last year. They've been a delicious alternative to canning tomatoes and our freezer is due for a restock.

The same can be said for dried tomatoes. A batch of these went into the dehydrator to replenish our stash. The size of the dried pear and sun gold tomatoes is just perfect for adding on to a pizza or tossing into salads and pasta.

These next two don't exactly qualify as preserving, but they came out of my oven this weekend.

I've been making my own granola once or twice a month for the last handful of months. It is cheaper then buying it and there are endless combinations of fruits, grains, seeds, nuts, sweeteners, oils and spices to play with. Variation on this recipe have become a favorite. This batch included sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, golden raisins and dried cherries.

Speaking of cherries! I subbed in cherries on this Herbed Fruit Crostada recipe. Let me just say, almond frangipane smells so fabulous that I just wanted to crawl right into the food processor so I could bathe in it! This crostada recipe was how I happened upon Piece of Cake. I did a bit of researching after hearing the idea for the crostada with rosemary on The Splendid Table. I am so glad that I did because everything I have made off of that blog has been super delicious. I can vouch for the Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies with Candied Ginger and for the Ginger Beer Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting. And, now I can vouch for the crostada, too.

After making that mint syrup, I felt bad just tossing the sugar soaked mint leaves, so I did a little experiment. I baked them to dry them out and harden the sugar. When they felt right, I took them out and cooled them. I would describe these as candied mint leaves. My plan it to use them as a garnish on something minty. I also snacked on a few and can tell you they are just fine as is, if it comes down to that.