Life is busy. Harvest. School. Chores. Appointments.
Do you remember this picture?
Well those ended up being two loads in the food dehydrator. I tried slicing them on the thick side by hand. Missed using my mandolin which makes things go lighting fast but we like the texture of the thicker slices.
In the midst of doing that I realized I have a garden as well as an orchard. I walked around the garden this afternoon and realized I had a bunch of plum tomatoes that need to be canned as well as some big slicer tomatoes. Well, I still had dinner to make and so the canning was not an option. I prayed and God reminded me of how easy it is to roast tomatoes.
First I line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray. Then I dump sliced tomatoes and garlic on the pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
I used a variety of fairly meaty tomatoes. I don’t know the names of any of these as they were given to us by our wonderful friend Bryn.
I roast them at 350 for about an hour. You really need to keep an eye on them as each tomato has a different water content and can cook faster or slower because of that.
I had five trays all together and thankfully since I have four ovens I was able to cook them all at the same time.
The smaller tomatoes cooked faster than I expected. I could have taken them out a little sooner.
These ones look better.
They will still be delicious. I like to put them in Ziploc freezer bags and then bring them out during the winter and make something wonderful and full of summer flavor. I have pureed them with cream and fresh Parmesan cheese for a wonderful pasta sauce. In the past I have roasted cherry tomatoes and those go nicely in a stew or taco soup.
The stress of this past week is taking its toll. I wish I was one of those moms who handled it better. But alas, I am not. I get grumpy. Focused on the tasks before me and forgetting the innocent bystanders (a.k.a: love ones). I am glad we are back to Bible Study Fellowship. The boys and I had our first night on Monday. It is good to be back in the Word. I’m even happier that my eternity doesn’t depend on me behaving perfectly. I have a savior who did that for me and imparts that to me. We are studying the life of Moses this year. Yup, that means all of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It will be wonderful to study this friend of God. There is a lot to be learned. We are all looking forward to it.
We started AWANA last Thursday and look forward to the boys memorizing God’s word and spending time with their friends. This will be Joshua’s last year and he is on track to get the Timothy Award for memorizing all of his verses each year for the past seven years. It is such a good program. Both boys have participated since they were three years old. Those first three years they learn just a few words of important verses. Now they memorize multiple verses and whole psalms. When they are done they will have memorized hundreds of verses. It is one of those things that we know was a good decision.
I’m praying for my friends in the Estacada area and hoping this rain today will help the fire fighters get that forest fire under control.
Have a great day,
Karen
Dear Karen,
When I read all of your achievements and how much you have gotten done in such a short time, I feel woefully inadequate. You are an amazing woman, but we tend to let the fire burn so brightly sometimes, that we almost burn out.
The autumn is coming, and winter, when you and your family will so enjoy the fruits of your labor. ~~~ I continue to enjoy every inspiring blog that comes over, and just want to remind you that I receive no comment back if you would ever write one. For that, email works just fine. ~~~ Love to you all.