What can I do with dehydrated tomatos?

[Jodi]

Prior to becoming interested in Raw Foods, I have been dabbling in gardening. Last year I had an overabundance of tomatos in my garden. At a garage sale I picked up an inexpensive dehydrator for 4 bucks. Not the best dehydrator (the famous Ronco one), but hey...it was 4 bucks.

So, to try and preserve my tomatos, I began dehydrating them. And dehydrating, and dehydrating, etc. I have about 15 Mason jars full of them. And do not ask me why, but I planted more tomatos this year then I did last year.

What can I do with them? Are there any "cold" tomato soup recipes that are Raw? I hate that these are just sitting in the jars not being used.

Thanks, Jodi

[Rawkinlocs]

WOW!! 15 mason jars full?!? You GO girl!!

Any recipe calling for sundried tomatoes, you're good to go!

Yes, there are tomato and other soup recipes, but also marinara sauce, pizza sauce, some nut pate'/"meat" recipes, raw chili, some raw salad dressings or veggie dips, anything calling for sundried tomatoes. Most times the recipe(s) will call for you soaking them for at least a couple of hours first to soften.

But yeah, I dry tomatoes too because buying sundried tomatoes was getting old and kinda costly - so I make my own! You can also store some of them in olive oil from what I've heard and when you go to use them and/or the oil, I hear it is quite tasty in recipes.

Oh, and just a sidenote...the Ronco doesn't have a temp control does it? If not, you may want to consider the American Harvest Snackmaster sold at Walmart for about $40 (I know it's more than $4 but...) because usually the ones with no temp control are already preset to a temp that is above what is still considered the "safe zone" for raw foods to still preserve the enzymes and nutrients.

[Jodi]

No, it does not have temp control. I actually have my eye on the Excaliber dehydrator...I've put the bug in hubbies ear for possible Christmas present as it costs 200.00. I wasn't aware that Walmart has a Snackmaster one with temp control. Will have to check it out! I was not aware that the ones with out a control are set too high.

And thanks for the recipe tips. I had better use up some of these before my new harvest comes in! I also planted a boat-load of peppers of all kinds as well.

It was crazy last fall when I was dehydrating these with the Ronco model. It has 5 trays and I think I ran it for 2 weeks straight getting them done! Because it does not have a fan or temp control...i was constantly rotating trays. Definitely time to upgrade my dehydrator.


Jodi

[oodlesofoilsetc]

Jodi--

Boy I wish those dried tomatoes were mine! What a gold mine you have.

You must try Alissa's Marinara sauce--for us it's been absolutely addicting. We put it over shredded zuc or summer squash (I use the medium size shred disc from my Kitchenaid Food Processor--comes out like 1" pieces of spaghetti). Ummmm Ummm good...

I'm planting a couple of Princepe Bourgehsi tomatoes just to dry this year. The dried tomatoes are the most expensive thing on my grocery list!!!!
'til later,
Jillian

[rawpriestess]

Man - oh - Man.

I use these every single day.

At least my sun dried ones, so you would need to add some spices and herbs and olive oil, but you know what I mean.

Okay, just off the top of my head
all raw, all vegan from my personal recipes:

Sun dried tomato pesto
Marinara sauce
Pizza sauce
Burgers
Bar-b-Que sauce
Tomato and Basil soup
French salad dressing
Thousand Island salad dressing
Catalina salad dressing
Russian salad dressing
Lasagna
Ravioli
Tomato/olive tempanade on crusty garlic bread (raw of course)
Enchiladas
Pico-de-Gallo
Taco Salad
Taquitos
Spanish Rice
Cream cheese and sun dried tomato dip/salad dressing/spread
As salad toppers (espcially good if crunchy)
ground up as seasoning in a salt shaker
ground up as soup broth (super delicious)
add to any nut cheese for super fantastic flavor
add to any veggie juice for flavor
mixed with nuts and a little salt for cracker topping
soak and add a little oil and salt for a gread spread
mix with other veggies for soup
add to any nut pate' mixture for delcious flavor and added stiffener
add to any salad as is or soaked

I could go on and on--well, I guess I have already done that.

Good luck with your recipes.

[vegangelist]

yes yes yes ditto on marinara sauce. have never made Alissa's. I make the one from Raw Food Primer, with minor modifications. It is yummy!!

Also, raw in ten (yes, i know the controversy and i think he is unprofessional and immature and lots of other things...but i ordered this book long before i knew all that) has a really yummy and easy tomato soup recipe. but, that said, there are probably tons of raw books that have tomato soup that uses sundried tomatoes. the sundried tomatoes give a thickness and body to the soup (and marinara too) that you would not get otherwise without cooking.

kristi