Growing up, one of the only foods I hated to eat was cooked tomatoes. While I loved a fresh slice of tomato sprinkled with salt and pepper, I just didn't like the texture or flavor after being cooked.

As I've gotten older, I've started to change my opinion, and what really did it for me was oven roasted cherry tomatoes. When cherry tomatoes survive the walk inside from our garden, I collect them until there's enough to justify firing the oven up for an hour. They make a great addition to wraps, salads, or in this case, pesto pasta.

Here's what you need:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toss the above ingredients together, all to taste (too bad, you'll have to munch on one of those uncooked cherry tomatoes). Place in a roasting pan or dish and roast in the oven for about 50-60 minutes.

They will be done when the skin will start to get brown spots and split. Let them cool until warm, and then top them on your favorite pasta - in this case, I used a fresh pesto on whole wheat fusilli.

I'm a sucker for the combination of tomato and basil - there's something about the sweetness of tomatoes and the peppery flavor of pesto. I always save a small batch to jazz up my lunches in the next few days. They should keep about a week in the fridge, but I doubt you'll keep them around that long.