Tomatoes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes...

I love cherry tomatoes. Of course, not just any cherry tomatoes, my dad's cherry tomatoes. Every year, my dad grows his tomato plants from seed. And by far, the best variety is the Gardener's Delight cherry tomatoes. They are perfect devoured fresh from the vine, amazing in salads, and divine dried! With all the extra tomatoes I have right now, I have been drying all my oven will hold. The trick to drying the cherry tomatoes is cutting them in half and placing them on a rack cut side up. Then set your oven for 170'F (or lower if you have a drying setting in your oven as I do), and let them dry over night. It usually takes about 8 hours on 170'F, 10-12 hours on 140'F. Once they are dry, they are like candy. They don't last very long in my house, so I tend to keep them in a jar in the fridge. If you dry them crisp, you can vacuum seal them in a glass jar and keep them longer on the shelf. They are amazing thrown in sauces and soups through out the winter!