I've discovered the easiest way to make jam. Or, close enough.  You can do this with pretty much any fruit. I chose strawberries because they were in season. I think they're out now but for some reason they're still all over the place.

All you need is:

Fruit
Sugar

That's it.

It's equal parts fruit and sugar. I used about 3 cups of strawberries to 3 cups of sugar. It seems like a lot of sugar. And, to be honest, I don't always use that much. Depends on my mood. I think here I used 2.5 cups. But, feel free.

You just hull and slice the berries, put them in a sauce pan and pour the sugar over them.

Over medium high heat smash up the berries a bit with a potato masher and bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer.

Simmer over medium low heat for about 30 minutes. Or, until it gets thick like this. Take it off the heat and let it cool. It gets thicker as it cools.

Once it's cool, put it in jelly jars. I don't boil jars. I don't use pectin. No one has died as a result. I think if you wash the jars in your dishwasher or really hot water, you're good. 

You can't keep this in a cupboard though. It has to be refrigerated or frozen. I freeze it all the time. I don't know how long it will last because we eat it a lot. But, I think I've kept some in the freezer for 4 or 5 months and it was fine.

This is really good with blackberries too.

This is it on a scone. Yummo!

I haven't posted any food lately. Well, other than Italian food...made by Italians. I meant food made by me. So, I thought I'd share a super easy way to make your own sun dried tomatoes...without the sun.

Tomato season is winding down, but these days you can get at least decent tomatoes all year round. But, this recipe is best (of course) when tomatoes are at their finest.

Here's what you need:

Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Sugar
Dried Thyme

That's it. Preheat your oven to 500. Yes, 500.

These tomatoes are smallish. In between a cherry tomato and a regular sized one. This recipe works great on cherry tomatoes but I wanted to try out a little bigger one, just for kicks.

Pull any stems off the tomatoes and slice them in half. Lay out, cut sides up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a good amount of olive oil. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, a few pinches of sugar and a few pinches of dried thyme.

They'll look like this. Then you smoosh them all around to make sure the oil coats them all over.

Then they'll look like this. But you need to turn them so they're all cut side up again. This is the most work you will do on this recipe. 

Then you put them in your 500 degree oven. As soon as you shut the oven door (THIS IS IMPORTANT) turn the oven completely OFF.

Now that they're in there...DON'T OPEN THE OVEN DOOR for at least eight hours. I usually think to make these at about noon. I have left them in the turned off oven for a day and a half because I forgot about them. They were no worse for the wear.

Normally, when I use cherry tomatoes they look more like a traditional sun dried tomato. These were a bit bigger. Delicious, nonetheless. Pop them into a container and keep in the fridge. DON'T forget to scrape in any of the oil in the pan too. 

I use these in pastas, salads, or on sandwiches. Yummo. And how easy are they?