Thyme and Lime Flavored Blueberries with Tofu Avocado Cream

Blueberries are BEAUTIFUL…DELICIOUS…and HEALTHY! No wonder they are one of my favorite foods!

For a comprehensive and authoritative summary of the many health benefits of blueberries, see the excellent Huffington Post article (published online in 2011) by Leo Galland MD.

This post is about an awesome blueberry dessert — one that reminds me of a mixture of blueberry pie and key lime pie – but guilt-free! And, yes, this recipe involves parchment paper, which might make it seem difficult and complicated, but trust me, working with parchment paper is easier than wrapping a present! And the results are dramatic and delicious! This dessert will delight you and wow your guests! I guarantee it!

And…if you have kids at home…you might want to ask them to help you — or let them make it all by themselves. This recipe is really EASY and FUN to make!

So let’s get cooking!

Thyme and Lime Flavored Blueberries with Tofu Avocado Cream

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cold tap water
3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1, 10-ounce block of firm tofu
1/2 medium-size, ripe Hass avocado
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

For garnish: fresh blueberries and fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut 4 pieces of parchment paper, each 12 x 12 inches. Place each square of parchment paper over a small bowl (for example, a cereal bowl). Carefully place 1 cup of the blueberries into the center of each piece of parchment paper. (Note: This takes two hands, because with one hand you need to make a well in the center of the paper for the blueberries.) Set bowls with blueberries aside.

In a cup (or small bowl), mix lime juice, honey and water until fully mixed. Spoon 2 tablespoons of this mixture over each serving of blueberries. Then sprinkle the fresh thyme leaves evenly over the blueberries.

Using 4, 18-inch pieces of raffia or kitchen twine, tie each bundle of blueberries tightly and finish it off with a little bow.

Place the 4 packets of blueberries onto a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. (Note: I tested the time with frozen blueberries, and it was the same!)

While the blueberries cook, place tofu, avocado, honey, vanilla extract, salt, and thyme leaves (2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves) into the work bowl of the food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process for 30 seconds; scrape down the sides with a spatula; process again for 30 seconds to 1 minute; scrape again, and process again if needed, until fully blended and smooth. Using a spatula, remove the tofu avocado cream from the food processor and place the cream in a small bowl. Garnish with fresh blueberries and a sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves.

When the blueberry packets have finished baking, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the packets of blueberries cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

To serve, place each packet of blueberries in a small shallow bowl and then place each bowl on a plate. As you can see, the packets are very dramatic and beautiful! So this is how I like to serve them at the table. But to make it easier to eat, it’s good to trim the packets to within about an inch of the tie. So I pass a pair of scissors around the table and let everyone do their own trimming.

After a little trimming — and a lot of laughing about how this reminds everyone of kindergarten — it’s time to open the packets. (Be prepared for “oohs” and “ahs”!) Then pass the bowl of Tofu Avocado Cream so everyone can top their blueberries with a dollop or two.

Ingredient notes

• Blueberries –  This recipe should be made with highbush (cultivated) blueberries (not the small wild blueberries).
• Lime juice – If you don’t have fresh limes, use store-bought organic lime juice which comes packed in glass jars. A really nice product to have on hand!
• Thyme leaves – You can store fresh thyme leaves (on stems) in your freezer so it’s ready when you need it.
• Tofu – For this recipe, use the tofu that comes packed in water and found in the refrigerated section.

Equipment notes

• Parchment paper – The unbleached parchment paper (kraft or light brown color) can be found at health food stores and it is a much better choice than the bleached (white) parchment paper. Who wants bleach leaching into their food?!
• Raffia – I like the look of raffia (what you see in the photos) but plain kitchen twine will do. If you choose raffia, make sure it’s the natural raffia – not plastic. Plastic will melt in the oven.

Recipe note

• I have entered this recipe into the “Make It – Blog It – Win It! Blueberry Recipe Contest for Bloggers.” Results will be announced on or before 20 September! (I will let you know how it turns out…) Meanwhile, if you would like to leave a message about this recipe, please do. I’m sure the contest judges would like to know what you think!

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

BREAKFAST and EXERCISE — good food and bone-building exercise

Roasted Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup

Roasted Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup

I went to the farmer’s market and came home with about 20 pounds of tomatoes – all seconds. What a delight to have so many beautiful tomatoes of all sizes, colors, and stripes! And what fun to take the afternoon to turn these beauties into a delicious soup!

With just a few simple and healthy ingredients, this wonderful and healthy soup is easy to make. It just takes time.

To find out more about how tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and oregano help to prevent cancer, see these earlier posts:

• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Thyme and oregano

Ingredients

about 20 pounds fresh tomatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

12 Monamifood Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes

Fresh thyme

Fresh oregano

Freshly ground black pepper and a little salt, to taste

A few extras, if desired:

• A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• A few tender tips of fresh thyme
• A squeeze of fresh lemon – very nice, especially in cold soup!

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes for cooking:

• Large size tomatoes – Using a sharp serrated edge knife (cooking gear recommendation at end of this post), remove the spoiled sections of each tomato. Cut each tomato in half (through the widest midpoint; not thru the stem). Separate the large tomato halves that feel soft from those that feel hard.

• Small and medium size tomatoes – Using a sharp serrated edge knife, remove the spoiled sections from each tomato.  This will result in odd shaped pieces. That’s perfectly OK.

Take two, full-size baking sheet pans (with lips on all 4 sides) and line each one with a silicone baking mat, such as such as a Silpat mat. (See cooking gear recommendation at end of this post.) If you do not have a silicone baking mat, that’s OK, you can use parchment paper or just use  a silicone pastry brush and brush the baking sheet with olive oil before you place the tomatoes on it.

As your oven and the number of baking pans you have permits, fill each silicone lined baking pan with either:

• Large and hard tomato halves, face down

• Large and soft tomato halves face up

• Small and medium size tomatoes so that as much of the cut sides of tomatoes are exposed as possible

Notes:

• When tomatoes are placed cut side down, they roast AND steam at the same time, which helps large and hard tomatoes cook faster. When placed face up, the tomatoes just roast, which probably gives a slightly better flavor, but I decided to opt for faster cooking which also takes less energy.
• If you need to reuse the same pan to roast a second batch of tomatoes, be sure to wipe the surface of the baking sheet and the silicone mat with a paper towel to remove the burnt, or soon-to-burnt, bits that will end up tarnishing the taste of the soup.

Generously grease all of the exposed surfaces of the tomatoes with olive oil. (I just poured about a tablespoon of olive oil — per baking sheet — into the palm of my hand and rubbed the exposed surfaces.)

Start preheating the oven to 450 degrees F.  (Note: No need to waste energy waiting for the oven to preheat; just pop your baking sheets into the oven as soon as they’re ready to go.)

• Place the baking pan with the large tomato halves on the top rung of the oven.
• Place the baking pan with the small and medium tomatoes on the shelf that’s two rungs below the top rung.

Here is the timing that worked for me:

• Hard tomato halves, face down on the top rung of the oven — about 60 minutes or until they looked like this:

• Soft tomato halves, face up on the top rung of the oven — about 40 minutes or until they looked like this:

• Small and medium size pieces of tomatoes when cooked at the same time as the large tomatoes — about 40 minutes, but they were on the third rung of the oven, underneath a pan with the large tomatoes.

When the roasted tomatoes have cooled down enough to handle, use your fingers to slip off the peels; discard the peels. As needed, use a sharp serrated edge knife to cut off the hard stem ends and cut the large tomato halves into a few smaller pieces. Discard the stem ends.

Place the cooked, peeled, and stem end-removed tomatoes into a large non-aluminum pot. (Aluminum reacts with tomatoes.)  Pour the juices from the baking pans into the pot.

Here’s what my 20 pounds of tomatoes cooked down to!

Using an immersion blender (cooking gear recommendation at end of this post) chop/blend the tomato pieces so that you get a smooth yet chunky mixture. Heat the mixture over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until steam starts to rise from the pot. During this time, stir the pot occasionally with a sturdy silicone spatula and scrape the bottom of the pot so as to prevent burning. When the steam starts to rise from the pot, turn off the heat. (Cooking briefly helps preserve the fresh taste of this soup.)

Add 12 Roasted Garlic Flavor Cubes (mine were made in a silicone mini-muffin pan and were only ½ inch high) to the pot and then stir to dissolve and mix the roasted garlic into the soup.  Using a pair of sharp kitchen shears, cut the fresh herbs finely and let them fall directly into the soup. Stir to mix.

Note: I don’t think you have to measure the herbs, just use as much as you like. This photo will give you an idea of how much I used:

Fresh tender thyme and oregano on saucers

I did not cook the soup any more at this point. I just cover the pot and let the herbs meld into the soup for about 15 minutes.

Soups on! (Thanks to Ricky Dahne for the beautiful bowl)

• To serve hot, heat and serve as is or mixed with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice. with a little olive oil drizzled over each serving and a few tender tips of fresh thyme for garnish.

• To serve cold, refrigerate the soup in small glass bowls (so it can cool down quickly) and then, if you like, mix in some fresh squeezed lemon juice. Serve garnished with olive oil and fresh thyme, if desired.
• This soup freezes well.

Cooking gear

Note: I do not have a relationship with any of the companies whose products I mention on this blog. I simply want you to know about my favorite cooking and food related products are so that you can have a more successful cooking experience.

• My favorite serrated edge knife that’s great for tomatoes and other soft fruits and veggies with skins is Ergo Chef’s “Knuckle Sandwich 5 ½ inch utility knife – ‘Draggon Dagger’ with Fork on Tip”.  I had a hard time overcoming the look of this knife, but it works so well…that I forget what it looks like! Some of you may even like its looks! If you decide to buy it, talk with the folks on the phone first; they’re very helpful. Have them explain to you how to hold the knife. Grasping a knife the right way, makes a  big difference.
• Silicone baking mat, such as such as a Silpat mat.
• Immersion blender: Phillips 4 Speed Hand-Held Blender . Only the metal parts of this immersion blender touch the food.

A few other notes….

• If you would love to make this soup — or another healthy soup like this one — but you just do not have the time…you can buy great freshly made, seasonal, salt-free, soups (made with as many organic or pesticide free foods as possible) from 100 Bowls of Soup which are carried at the Organic Butcher of McLean in McLean, Virginia. Also, when the farmer’s markets in Northern Virginia are open, you may find Katharine Mardirosian, the mom who started 100 Bowls of Soup, offering tastes of her delicious high-quality soups at the markets, including the one in Reston, VA.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Why thyme and other herbs that are part of the ‘labiate family’?

The herbs in the “labiate family,” for example, mint, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil and rosemary are rich in a substance called terpenes “that have been shown to act on a wide variety of tumors by reducing the spread of cancer cells or by provoking their death.” (Anti-Cancer, David Servan-Schrieber, page 109).

For recipes with thyme, see:

Thyme and Lime Salad Dressing

Roasted Grape Tomatoes with Thyme

Spinach and Onion Crustless Quiches

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Baby Romaine and Arugula with Tomatoes, Blueberries and Mango

Did you know that…

• Baby romaine lettuce comes in absolutely gorgeous deep red and green leaves?
• Arugula is a cruciferous vegetable and therefore has the same anti-cancer properties as broccoli and cabbage?

This salad of Baby Romaine and Arugula with Tomatoes, Blueberries and Mango is stunningly pretty, absolutely delicious, and wonderfully HEALTHY — a great way to enjoy summer’s bounty.

BABY ROMAINE and ARUGULA with Tomatoes, Blueberries and Mango

For each serving of salad

1. Fill a dinner plate with a couple handfuls of Olivia’s Organics Baby Romaine (absolutely gorgeous green and red leaves) and one handful of Olivia’s Organics Baby Arugula.
2. Scatter 1/2 cup of each of the following over the salad greens on the plate:

• bite-size chunks of tomato
• bite-size chunks of peeled mango (I used a champagne mango.)
• fresh blueberries

3. Scatter 1 tablespoon of chopped walnuts over the salad greens.

4. Scatter 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves over the salad greens. (See tips about fresh thyme leaves below.)

5. If desired, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of Fresh Lime Salad Dressing (see recipe below) over each serving.

Ingredients – Fresh Lime Salad Dressing

To make 1 serving (about 2 tablespoons):

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make 4 servings (about 2 tablespoons per serving):

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions – Fresh Lime Salad Dressing

Place the salad dressing ingredients into a little bowl and mix with a fork or a little whisk until fully mixed.

TIPs: Fresh thyme leaves

1. If the thyme  is very tender and you are using the tips of the plant, then you really do not need to take the leaves off the stems. Just use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the stems and the leaves into small pieces.
2. If the thyme is not that tender, then you will want to take the leaves off the woody stems. Here’s a nice trick for doing that easily!

• Wash the fresh thyme and spin dry it.
• Place the spun-dry thyme into a quart-size plastic bag for the freezer and freeze.
• When the thyme has frozen, remove the bag with the thyme from the freezer, and without opening the bag, take hold of the sprigs of thyme and rub them vigorously against each other. Very soon, almost all of the leaves of thyme will fall off the stems and end up in the bottom of the freezer bag!
• Now when you need a teaspoon of fresh thyme, just spoon it out of the freezer bag!
• Note: To be kind to the environment, re-use the plastic bag — without washing it. When you’ve used up all the thyme leaves and only the stems remain in the bag, keep the stems for your next pot of soup. Also keep the empty plastic bag, as is, in the freezer until you have some more fresh thyme to put into it.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Note to Readers: Add fresh thyme to your quiches

Just want to let you know that…

After posting the recipe for the Caramelized Onions and Roasted Spinach Crustless Quiches (and that was after making it at least 25 times), I discovered that adding fresh thyme made the little quiches even more delicious! And, since thyme is an anti-cancer food in its own right, (as explained in my earlier post, Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Thyme), go ahead and add plenty of thyme when you make these quiches.

Just buy (or grow) fresh thyme, wash it, dry it, and store it in your freezer in plastic freezer bags. (I don’t think that the plastic will interact with the thyme, so it’s fine to store in plastic in this case.) Freezing the thyme in a plastic bag makes it easy to remove the leaves from the stems (as explained in the Roasted Grape Tomatoes post) and it will still taste fresh.

Enjoy and be healthy,

~Leni

SPINACH AND ONION CRUSTLESS QUICHES

After creating the recipes for Egg White Puffs and for Carmelized Onions and Roasted Spinach, it suddenly dawned on me that I could combine the two recipes and make Spinach and Onion Egg Puffs – now fondly known as Spinach and Onion Crustless Quiches.  Wow! They turned out great and my family and I have been enjoying them for breakfast, lunch, light dinners, and snacks ever since!

SPINACH AND ONION CRUSTLESS QUICHES ( aka SPINACH AND ONION EGG PUFFS)

Makes 6 crustless quiches (each one the size of a muffin)

If you would like to see a video showing how this recipe is made, just click on this link for the YouTube video that I made with the help of my friend Ludo Van Vooren, who served as my director and film editor, and my husband, Charles Nazare, who cheered me on. Also a big thanks to my friends Shelley and Fred and cousin David who looked this video over and told me it was good enough to share. I had my doubts, but I’ve swallowed my pride and learned to live with the fact that I don’t look as young as I used to when I made my other videos…and I’m out of practice, besides. But making this video was fun, so I plan to do more of them for this blog in the future. I hope you enjoy viewing the video.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil (for greasing the inside of each muffin cup)
• 6 tablespoons caramelized onions, prepared according to the post, Monamifood Caramelized Onions & Roasted Spinach
• 6 tablespoons roasted spinach, prepared according to the post, Monamifood Caramelized Onions & Roasted Spinach
• About 1½ teaspoons ground turmeric
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  
• Aleppo pepper or any mild red pepper, such as paprika (not the hot variety). The purpose of the red pepper is to give the quiche a nice warm color.
• fresh thyme leaves (or dried thyme leaves or dried oregano – or a mixture of these), to taste
• 1, 16-ounce container of liquid egg whites
• 1 tablespoon shredded or grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Equipment Prep Step

• If you are going to cook these quiches in a microwave oven, you will need a 100% food-grade silicone muffin pan (for regular, not mini size muffins).
• Unfortunately, in a microwave oven, the food in a muffin pan does not cook evenly. (The food closer to the walls of the oven cooks faster than the food farther from the walls of the oven.)  So using a pair of kitchen shears, I cut my silicone muffin pan into 6 muffin cups as you see below. Now I can arrange the muffin cups in a circle for even cooking.
  

My silcone muffin pan after surgery to separate the muffin cups

Directions (Microwave cooking)

Note: Oven cooking directions are given below the microwave cooking directions.

• Using a pastry brush and olive oil, lightly grease the inside of each silicone muffin cup with olive. (You may not need to grease these muffin cups. If you find that your little quiches slide out of their cups without greasing the muffin cups, that’s great; just skip this step.)

• If you can, remove the glass “go round” inside your microwave oven and place it on your kitchen counter. (If you can’t remove the glass “go round” from your microwave, then just use a large round microwaveable platter.) Arrange the 6  individual greased silicone muffin cups in a circle on the glass “go round” or round platter. Try to make sure that each of the cups is about the same distance from the outer edge of the glass “go round” or platter.
• Put 1 tablespoon of caramelized red onions inside each of the muffin cups.
• Put 1 tablespoon of roasted spinach inside each of the muffin cups.
• Sprinkle a scant ¼ teaspoon of ground turmeric into each of the muffin cups.
• Sprinkle a little freshly ground black pepper into each of the muffin cups.
• Sprinkle a little Aleppo pepper into each of the muffin cups.
• Add as much fresh thyme as you like to each of the muffin cups
  
• Shake the container of egg whites (as it says on the carton). Pour the liquid egg whites into the partially filled muffin cups, filling each cup almost up to the top. You will use – or almost use – the entire container of egg whites.
• Using a small spoon, gently mix the contents of each muffin cup to distribute the veggies more evenly.
• Place the “go round” or platter with the filled muffin cups into the microwave oven.
  
• Cook on high for 3– 4 minutes or until outer half of each of the mini quiches is starting to look slightly cooked (not so runny).
  
• Carefully rotate the each muffin cup 180 degrees so that the inner edge becomes the outer edge.
• Cook on high for another 2-3 minutes or until there is no more liquid remaining on the top of each quiche. In the final minute or so as they cook, you see them puff up high above the top edges of the muffin cups and then drop back down when they’re done. It’s dramatic and fun to watch!
• If desired, top each little quiche with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, and heat for another 10-15 seconds to melt the cheese.

• When the muffin cups are cool enough to handle comfortably, remove them from the oven.

One muffin cup with a Spinach and Onion Crustless Quiche inside

• Invert each muffin cup and the little quiche should slide right out. When you turn the quiches  right side up they look beautiful — and, I think you will agree, taste GREAT!

Directions (Oven cooking)

• To cook these mini quiches in a regular (not microwave) oven, follow the directions given above, but bake at 350 degree F — either in a silicone muffin pan or in regular metal muffin pan. I made three little quiches in my toaster oven (using cut-up silicone muffin cups) and they were ready after baking for about 20 minutes. It should take around that long to cook these in a metal muffin pan, too.
  

Notes

• After posting this recipe (and that was after making it at least 25 times), I discovered that adding fresh thyme made the little quiches even more delicious. And, since thyme is an anti-cancer food in its own right, (as explained in my earlier post, Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Thyme), go ahead and add plenty of thyme. Just buy (or grow) fresh thyme, wash it, dry it, and store it in your freezer. Storing in your freezer will make it easy to remove the leaves from the stems (as explained in the Roasted Grape Tomatoes post) and it will still taste fresh.
• If you are out of fresh thyme, no problem. Use dried thyme or dried oregano leaves. Oregano and thyme (as well as rosemary, basil, and mint) are members of the terpene family and have anti-cancer properties.
• These Crustless Quiches do not freeze well. But you can store them in your refrigerator for a few days.
• By using a silicone mini muffin pan (cut up into individual cups), you can make mini quiches. (And, if you don’t want to cut up all your silicone bakeware, use the pan as is and take out the cooked mini quiches and return the pan to the microwave to cook the rest.) I served these mini quiches at a party not long ago and they disappeared!
• I learned the hard way that if I follow the manufacturer’s direction that came with my silicone muffin pan: “do not place in the dishwasher,” then the muffin cups remain non-stick and I do not need to to grease the muffin cups.
  +++++++++++++++++++++++

And here’s another Crustless Mini Quiche recipe from Monamifood: Updated Crustless Mini Quiches. The newer version does not require silicone muffin pans. And it is easier to make. However, it does not include turmeric. I now use turmeric (including fresh turmeric) in a lot of other foods I cook, so I don’t mind not having some for breakfast.

Enjoy and be healthy,

~Leni

TOMATOES and THYME: Roasted Grape Tomatoes with Thyme

Why tomatoes and thyme?

Researchers have found that lycopene, found in tomatoes, helps fight cancer, as explained in my earlier post, Sun Dried Tomato Flavor Cubes. Also, terpenes found in thyme, help to fight cancer, as explained in my earlier post, Basil Pesto Flavor Cubes.

ROASTED GRAPE TOMATOES with THYME

I had just finished baking a few batches of biscotti and the oven was still hot. So I thought: What can I cook now while the oven is still hot? With two pints of beautiful grape tomatoes on hand, I decided to bake the tomatoes so as to have a great side dish to go with the fish we are having for dinner. (By the way, Lady Moon Farms Organic Grape Tomatoes are currently on sale at my Whole Foods store – and maybe at a Whole Foods near you – for only $1.99 per pint, and that’s half their usual price.)

Ingredients

2 pints grape or small cherry tomatoes (organic, if possible)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Salt to taste, if desired

1 – 2 teaspoons fresh thyme (leaves), to taste

It can be tedious to strip thyme leaves off of their stems, so here’s a time saving tip I just discovered for making this process quick and easy (and, contrary to what I had stated earlier, I just found that this works whether the thyme has woody or soft stems!)

• Wash the fresh thyme and spin dry it
• Place the spun-dry thyme into a quart-size plastic bag for the freezer and freeze.
• When the thyme has frozen, remove the bag with the thyme from the freezer, and without opening the bag, grab onto the sprigs of thyme and rub them vigorously against each other. Very soon (or in no time at all), almost all of the leaves of thyme will fall off the stems and end up in the bottom of the freezer bag!
• Now when you need a teaspoon of fresh thyme, just spoon it out of the freezer bag!
• Note: To be kind to the environment and save yourself some more time, re-use the plastic bag — without washing it. When you’ve used up all the thyme leaves and only the stems remain in the bag, toss out the stems, but keep the bag, as is, in the freezer. Then just add more clean fresh thyme and repeat!

Directions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the grape tomatoes onto the baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes and mix them around with your hands so that all the tomatoes are lightly coated with olive oil. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt, if desired, to taste.

Place the pan with the tomatoes into the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes; stir the tomatoes around gently. Bake for about 10 more minutes, or until the tomato skins start to shrivel and a few of the tomatoes burst.

Caution: When you open the oven door, you may get hit with hot steam. So keep your face away until the steam dissipates!

Remove the pan from oven and place the tomatoes and the juices from the tomatoes, if any, into a container for serving or storing in the refrigerator.  Scatter the thyme over the tomatoes; mix gently.

Serve and enjoy:

• With Egg White Puffs or Sauted Herbs for Breakfast (one more herb won’t hurt!).
• As a side dish with baked or sauted fish, chicken, or tofu.
• As a topping for a slice of whole grain garlic toast!

Enjoy and be healthy,

~Leni