oven*roasted*tomatoes

Tell me, friends....who doesn't love a good, wholesome tomato?

Feel free to judge when I tell you this, but I was "that girl" in elementary school. You know that girl, the weird one, the one who didn't go down the conventional road...

I was the girl who didn't like sandwiches in my sack lunch, and instead, my mom would slice the end off a vine ripened tomato, sprinkle on a dash of salt, and slip it into a round tupperware.

wait, you mean that's ABNORMAL?

what HAS become of my childhood?? - was I really the WEIRD KID??

ohman. okay. lemme sit down for a second. whew.

Ok. I think we're good now. Mild heart attack right there, but then I took another look at these pictures of glory and instantly felt better. I think I can accept being a weird lunch kid if it meant I got to snack on these on a daily basis, right?

Right. So let's get to it.

My friend [ whom I'm sure I've told you about at least a hundred times once or twice] stopped by my house last week with my weekly haul. A few local peaches and apples, and...get ready for it...16 fresh tomatoes. That's right. SIXTEEN. I was beside myself, I was hunched in the corner rocking back and forth because the engineer doesn't like raw tomatoes and ohmygosh what if they go bad!! was grasping at straws, trying to find information.

And then it came to me. 

I pulled out my smallest sheet pan, sliced those babies in half and packed them in like little toy soldiers. I turned my oven to 225 degrees [yes, you read that right]. A generous drizzle of olive oil, happy amounts of salt and pepper, and some whole garlic cloves were tucked in next.

have you seen anything prettier?

A little over 3 hours later, and they came out looking like this. 

behold. love.

If you look closely, you can see the tomato drippings that have escaped their fleshy, tender selves. Promise me, PROMISE ME that when you have let these cool and packed in a tupperware, you will grab a piece of crusty bread and soak up every. last. drop. It's that good, I promise.

note: for the last hour, I turned it up to 250 degrees to help get a little more color. You can pack these beauties into a tupperware and they should last in the fridge, drizzled with some oil, for a week or two. Or you can be like me and stick it in the freezer with plans for roasted tomato bruschetta, sauce, snackin's....stay tuned!

happy days, loves :) 
cheers!