In the kitchen with Resident Munchkin- Baked Tomatoes

In my last post I mentioned my sweet neighbors and their gift of tomatoes. I wanted to do something different than the usual with them, so I decided to bake them. They turned out nicely, although I wasn't jumping up and down in my seat. Resident Munchkin helped assemble and enjoyed them as well. I think next time I'll cook them longer.

Zany Baked Tomatoes (adapted from an Eating Well recipe) 

1. Cut up some tomatoes taking up space on your counter (because they shouldn't be in your fridge. If they are, take them out now!)...the original recipe said to simply cut them in half and place cut size up. I sliced up multiple slices from each tomato instead. Place them on a baking sheet and preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Sprinkle with a little salt, pepper, oregano or any Italian blend you have laying around. Add Parmesan cheese (I had a little block in the fridge that I grated, but pre-grated is fine). If you have a little helper, this is a great project for them. Beware: cheese will end up in places in random places but smile and have them help you in the clean up process afterwards. Preferably while singing an impromptu silly song about cleaning. Quirky dance moves while singing/cleaning are not mandatory but highly amusing.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Open the oven door and say "where the heck did the cheese go?" then pull them out, add more cheese and pop them back in. Wait another five minutes or so, turn off the oven and take the tomatoes out to cool.

Zany Notes:

* I think next time I might stick them under the broiler to get the cheese a nice golden brown. We had these alongside pasta and it was a nice, light addition.

Zany's granola recipe soon to arrive! Since I tend to do a pinch of this and a handful of that, I'm going to whip up another batch and attempt to measure for all of you. Thanks for your patience!