Tomatoes are Good For Your Skin! (and a recipe)

In my quest to forever join my 2 passions of anti-aging skin care and food, I've come across some information about tomatoes! Did you know that tomatoes are good for your skin (I didn't!). OK, I'm not suggesting you slice a tomato and rub it it on your skin but I am saying that a diet rich in tomatoes can do wonders.

Why?

In a word, Lycopene! Lycopene is found in including tomatoes (as well as watermelon and grapefruit - but to a lesser extent). In addition to its cancer fighting properties, Lycopene is good for your skin because:

* It protects you from environment damage, including sun damage (and pre-mature aging!). 
* In reduces roughness of skin
* It helps the skin to produce collagen by reducing the enzymes which destroy collagen.

More good news... if you like cooked tomatoes, you are in luck! Tomatoes actually contain higher amounts of Lycopene when cooked!

Recipe: Oven Dried Tomatoes
One thing I like to do is make oven dried tomatoes. They are great and can be used in salads, pasta, on sandwiches, or as a side. I make it to taste so the recipe is not precise (sorry!)... but here it is:
1. Slice 3-4 plum tomatoes (about  1/4 inch thick) and lay them in a deep baking dish.
2. Mix together some olive oil, (low sodium) soy sauce, herbs de provence, and sugar and spoon it over the tomatoes. (This is to taste. Play with the ingredients until you find the right combination for you.)
3. Mince 2 cloves of garlic and add a little onto each tomato slice.
4. Bake at 250 until tomatoes are cooked through (not burnt).
5. Store in the mixture you made in Step 3 (make more mixture if necessary).

(I always refrigerate this.)

Enjoy!