My original plan was to make tomato powder out of all the dehydrated tomatoes today but I remembered how I like to use sun dried tomatoes on pizzas and in most Italian recipes. I decided to try my hand at packing some of them in oil.
There has been a lot written about botulism in oil packed tomatoes but I have yet to find a story about someone really getting sick from them so I'm trying it. I'll let my in-laws test them first!
After the tomatoes got dry enough to bend but not crumble I went through these steps:
1) Sterilize pint jars and lids in boiling water.
2) Peel 4 to 6 cloves of garlic (hint: put the cloves in a container with a top and lots of extra room and shake the snot out of it for about 30 seconds. This will get most of the paper off.) and pick 4 to 6 basil leaves.
3) After the jars cool to room temperature drop in a clove of garlic and a basil leaf. 4) Pack jar half full with dried tomatoes and pack down with a wooden spoon handle or something along those lines.
5) Add garlic and basil then fill to within about an inch and a half to the top of the jar with tomatoes.
6) Pack down really well the a wooden spoon handle and add last garlic and basil to top.
7) Fill the jar with good olive oil to within an inch of the top of the jar and pack again to release all the air bubbles.
8) Store in the fridge for up to a month. (This is what I've read but I'm still checking to see why the shelf life isn't longer.
It's that easy. Aside from the dehydrating for close to 36 hours the process probably took 10 minutes. 
Now I'm ready for some vegan Mexican Stew and Margherita Pizza! Yum!
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