The Domestic Engineer: Sweet Roasted Tomatoes

My hubby plants a lovely garden every year. I'm convinced he can grow just about anything if he wants to. Tomatoes are something that he grows and we seem to have a lot of. The season starts for us with a few tomatoes. Then we have a bunch.
This poses an interesting challenge for me. What all can I incorporate tomatoes in besides sauces? And, is it possible to have a side dish of just tomatoes, prepared somehow? Yes.
With a bunch of roma tomatoes in need of being eaten, I went to foodnetwork.com. I remember seeing on there a recipe that involves roasted veggies tossed in pasta. Tomatoes must have their own recipe somewhere as the star, right? Yes! Ina Garten has a delicious recipe for roasted tomatoes posted.

I whipped up the dish along with my pre-planned menu of sweet and spicy pork ribs and wine and garlic sauteed mushrooms. Everything went together perfectly! The tomatoes were far better than I thought they would be. I could see this recipe being prepared for a party, or maybe even a way to try to get kids to eat tomatoes since they are a bit sweet.
I made a few changes to the recipe to suit my needs. Feel free to look back at Ina's version as well as mine and prepare how you wish!

Sweet Roasted Tomatoes serves: about 4

12 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise, cored and seeds removed (easy to do with a spoon)
2-4 tbl. olive oil
1-2 tbl. balsamic vinegar
1/2-1 tsp. garlic powder
1-2 tsp. sugar
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up on a baking sheet, in one layer. Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes. You may not need all 4 tbl, it really depends on how big your tomatoes are.
Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes. Then sprinkle the garlic powder and sugar over the tomatoes, and as mush salt and pepper as you like.
Bake for 25 minutes. (I used my toaster oven and it worked perfectly) The tomatoes will flatten out and look burned- but that's just the balsamic vinegar, don't worry. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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