Whew, that's a lot of hard work, but I bet it was worth every ounce! I LOVE roasted or grilled tomatoes. I bet if you opened one of those jars, heated it up with a little cream and a touch of olive oil.....YUM roasted/smoked tomato soup! Homemade croutons....heaven! Great job!

What you are describing sounds very similar to skorthalia, a Greek fresh garlic sauce. It has a thick texture, more like a dip and is traditionally made with potatoes. However, some cooks use bread instead. My dad & grandmother loved skorthalia with boiled beets, fried eggplant, or fried fish. I like it too even though it is strong. Freshly made is delicious, but by the next day the garlic taste is much stronger and almost too much. Skorthalia (Fresh Garlic Sauce) This sauce packs a garlicky punch! Bursting with flavor, this fresh spread perks up simple fried or boiled vegetables, and it also livens up fried fish. 6 to 8 cloves fresh garlic 1-teaspoon salt 1-cup mashed potatoes or fresh white breadcrumbs (moistened and squeezed dry) ½ cup olive oil ¼ cup lemon juice 2 tablespoons wine vinegar Mortar and Pestle: Clean and crush garlic with salt in a mortar. Add either the mashed potatoes or the breadcrumbs. Pound well until a smooth paste is obtained. Add olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar alternately in very small quantities, stirring the sauce with the pestle. Electric Mixer: Crush garlic with garlic press; mix potatoes or breadcrumbs with garlic and salt in bowl with electric mixer, adding olive oil with the lemon juice and vinegar very slowly until completely absorbed. Continue to beat until the sauce is stiff enough to hold its shape. Blender: In an electric blender, blend garlic, salt, lemon juice, and vinegar; add mashed potatoes or breadcrumbs. Add olive oil slowly. If mixture is too thick to blend, add one tablespoon of water at a time Serve with broiled or fried fish, fried eggplant or zucchini and with cooked beets and beet greens.

I usually can this one but it can be frozen too. It's from the "Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving." I've taken out one clove of garlic and added a teaspoon of crushed red pepper for zip. Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 8 cups (2 L) coarsely chopped peeled tomatoes -- (about 9-12 tomatoes or 4 lb/2 kg) 1 cup chopped onion -- (250 mL) 3 cloves garlic -- minced 2/3 cup red wine -- (150 mL) 1/3 cup red wine vinegar (5 % strength) -- (75 mL) 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil -- (125 mL) 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley -- (15 mL) 1 teaspoon pickling salt -- (5 mL) 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar -- (2 mL) 1 6-oz/156 mL) can tomato paste Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, wine, vinegar, basil, parsley, salt, sugar and tomato paste in a very large non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim (head space). Process 35 minutes for pin (500 mL) jars and 40 minutes for quart (1 L) jars in a BWB. Yield: "8 cups"

I rerun all the tomato puree, including the waste parts, through the mill a couple of times so that the only actual waste I then have left is skin and seeds, Amy. Well, sometimes there's some of the green cores, but I sure wouldn't dehydrate those. If you separate out the seeds (they can have a bitter flavor which is why I tend to remove them anyhow) and have only the skins left, they will dehydrate really fast because there isn't much to them....but then, they also will dehydrate down to practically nothing so you'll have to dehydrate tons and tons of skins to get a decent amount of powder. Lisa, lol. We just need to fix your tomato gene. As far as I know, neither of our next-door neighbors has any plans to move although I'd love to have you as a neighbor down here. I'm trying to cut back on how many tomato plants I grow so that I have more room for flowers. The flowers have complained they'd like a whole raised bed all their own because they are tired of being tucked into little spots here and there amongst the vegetables. They're going to get their wish this year. Or, I might sneak in a few veggies or herb plants into the flowers' bed, but they'll be small ones so the flowers can dominate that specific raised bed.