It’s tomato season, and cherry tomatoes can be especially prolific.
You may have a surplus of tomatoes in your garden, overpurchased at the farmers market, or been the recipient of a neighbor with too many of their own, but it can be hard to use them up.
Letting vine-ripe, summer tomatoes go bad feels criminal, not to mention costly.
Tomato Confit will change your summer cooking. It is the answer as the ultimate summer all-purpose glow up for salads, sautés, and sandwiches. It’s also a fantastic appetizer with sliced baguette or raw slices of summer squash. And, it can be a side dish, too! Served hot, warm, or chilled, they are intensely flavorful, umami-rich bursts of sweet and savory tomato candy.
This issue of Good and Good for You™ also shares
- Best Life Living Tip: Walk this Way (Can’t you hear Aerosmith? #iykyk)
- Self-Care Strategy: Growing Gains, Not Pains
- Ideas and Inspiration: Yes, Do Make a Face Like That!
Hey — thanks for opening this email! I get the “open rate” stats, and I thank you. It’s important to me. I write this newsletter to help both of us, all of us. Writing this helps me stay on track and fill my brain with info and inspiration that is good and good for me, too!
Read on for more, including this simple and seasonal oven-roasted Tomato Confit. It’s the ultimate summer condiment with only 5 minutes of prep and endless ways to use it.
Best Life Living Tip
If you are new here or this was forwarded to you, welcome and thanks for reading. Each week, you can look for a quick 5 minute read with a best life living tip, self-care strategy, something for inspiration, and a healthy seasonal recipe…..
Simple walking can change your life. (This is not news, but maybe this info will be the tipping point that gets you off the sofa and into your sneakers.)
Manoush Zomorodi, host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour, recently shared that, according to neuroscientist @wendy.suzuki that just 45 minutes of brisk walking (2–3 times a week) can protect the parts of your brain most vulnerable to decline.
Even one walk? It sharpens your focus for two hours.
The Mayo Clinic says regular brisk walking can also help you:
- Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer, and type 2 diabetes
- Strengthen your bones
- Improve your mood and sleep.
- Improve your balance and coordination
- Strengthen the immune system
- Reduce stress and tension
Did you see what I did not do? I did not talk about weight!
This is about health gain, not weight loss.
Can’t walk fast or far? Start by doing the best you can with what you’ve got.
You can do it!
Self-Care Technique
Outdoor gardening benefits both body and mind by providing exercise that improves heart health, builds strength, and increases flexibility. It also helps reduce stress, lift mood, and enhance cognitive abilities.
But the deal is that not everyone has access to land or even a deck for a potted plant.
Growing plants inside can be good and good for you, too
Indoor gardening also relieves stress, boosts creativity, increases productivity, enhances focus, and promotes recovery.
Don’t have a green thumb? Try low-maintenance plants like pothos, Zanzibar (ZZ plant), and sansevieria aka Snake Plant. (They can tolerate neglect and infrequent watering. Alternatively, consider cacti, succulents, or air plants, which don’t even require soil.
It’s the act of caring about the plant and being mindful.
Sure, a basket of homegrown tomatoes is awesome, but chilling out in the wonder of a hen and chicks succulent on your coffee table is pretty cool, too.
Ideas and Inspiration
It only makes sense that moving facial muscles would promote strength and flexibility, too! I’ve been giving it a try working with the habit-stacking technique and trying to incorporate it into my nightly wind-down.
Harvard Health says there’s not much proof, but it certainly can’t hurt….
If nothing else, it relaxes face muscles which can help with getting to sleep.
Give it a try.
Good and Good for You™Living Spotlight
To heck with skinny. It’s about being healthy and strong! Check it out!
Wearing a baseball cap or a T-shirt with an inspirational message can serve as a personal reminder of your values and aspirations, providing a positive mindset throughout the day.
It also allows you to express your identity and beliefs to others.
Be loud and proud about you!
Make it Count
Hope you love this Tomato Confit!
Tomato Confit can change your summer! It’s great to keep in a jar in the fridge. Add a spoonful to green beans or use as a topping for fish. Toss it with pasta. The applications are endless. Slip it into your summer repertoire for apps, easy meals, and add-ons.
Many Tomato Confit recipes are swimming in oil. This Good and Good for You™ recipe for Tomato Confit uses as little oil as possible.
Thanks so much for reading. Please follow on IG @virginiawillis for more best life tips, self-care techniques, ideas and inspiration, and healthy recipes. As long as you’re doing what’s Good and Good for You™ more often than not, you’re on the right track. 🙌🏻 You can do it!
Bon Appétit Y’all!
Virginia Willis
Slow Roasted Tomato Confit
Ingredients
- 2 pints of small tomatoes, such as cherry or grape
- 4 peeled garlic cloves
- 4 sprigs of fresh herbs such as basil oregano or thyme
- ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 300. Place the tomatoes, garlic, and herbs in a medium ovenproof dish or skillet.
- Add the oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast uncovered until the tomatoes are shriveled and the juices have rendered, about 2 hours.
- Serve hot, warm or room temperature over bread, pasta, vegetables or meat. Keeps in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
