Questions about some of Alissa's recipe in her book

[blueberries]

Hello everyone! I have snuck ahead in my reading of Alissa's LOLF book to look at some more recipes, since I am on day 6 of 100% raw and need more ideas and after reading the ingredients in many recipes I have some questions like:

What kind of spices am I supposed to be using? For instance many recipes call for things like parsely, cilantro, oregano etc., if it doesnt specifically say "fresh" does it mean to use the dried spices?? And how do we know they are raw? Wouldnt most companies dry them at a higher temp.? I know they are more than likely just for flavor but I want to make sure I am doing this right.

Also, I see alot of recipes that I am leaning toward have sun-dried tomatoes in them. The ones I found in the store have sulfur in them so I wouldnt touch them, is it possible to do my own "sun-dried" tomatoes in the dehydrator? Are they just dried tomatoes and nothing else? I have a garden just busting full of tomatoes about to ripen and I will have more than I can possibly eat fresh so I would like to do that if it is possible.

Thanks again everyone!

[Veganforlife]

Hey bb - I use fresh herbs when I can, but will use organic herbs from the HFS. They may be processed, but I use such a small amount, I'm not gonna let that get in my way. Organic is way better then say McCormick spices or Dollar Store spices that come from who knows where.
I successfuly dried some tomatoes. I slices them between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick, laid them on the mesh screen and dehydrated until they were pliable and have them stored in a canning jar. The first time I sliced them way too thin and it was a disaster. What worked well was the plum tomatoes, but I'm sure regular ones will work fine too. I think if you do a search you'll find some more answers to this. Both the herbs AND dehydrated 'maters.
Good luck!