They can be rehydrated in any liquid, including wine or stock, and pulsed in the processor to form a sauce and the powder can be reconstituted with water to form a sauce, but I usually add that to canned sauce to punch up the flavor & extend the volume. Processed with olive oil/garlic/basil, they make a good dip and a base for salad dressing. They can be added to soups/stews/casseroles as is and those are better than canned stewed tomatoes, IMO. My main reason for drying is it is less work and takes up less space.
Commercial tomato sauce is something I haven’t been able to replace for spaghetti or chili. It is such a bargain when you look at how many tomatoes and how much time/energy it takes to get something as thick and as consistent. Ditto tomato juice. I really prefer commercial to home canned.
This will be the first year that I have a large quantity of dried tomatoes to experiment with. Maybe we can have a food thread this coming winter to share recipes from our summer produce.
I've pinged our food ping list leader, as well two ofthe other frugal foodies I know!!!
Thanks for all the great info on drying the maters, I've pulled out my dehydrator and dusted it off. I haven't used it in years and my 9 year old doesn't remember it ever being used, so she is currently fascinated with it :)