Dishes for Thanksgiving Dinner * Food & Drink

Are you hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year? Ever dreamed of having a set of dishes just for Thanksgiving? From William Sonoma to Pottery Barn we looked around and found some sweet classic dinnerware that are heirloom worthy.

Feather Plates at Pottery Barn 

Pumpkin Platter at Sur la Table 

Gold Plymouth Dessert Plates at William Sonoma

Plymouth Turkey Platter at William Sonoma

Vintage Ironstone Platter at Provisions by Food52

sweet and simple participates in affiliate programs

Growing Tomatoes * Blight * Heirloom Series * All Natural Anti-Fungal Spray

You planted, cared for and loved your tomatoes with hopes of a hearty harvest of juicy sweet tomatoes. You dreamed of thick slices of tomatoes a top a delicious garden fresh tomato sandwich to only find this....

photo credit  

The leaves of your tomato plants are turning yellow curling up and dying. What happened? What did you do wrong. Nothing really. Your tomatoes have blight. What is blight and how on earth did my tomato plants get it?!?

Blight is a fungus. It's pretty easy to get rid of but it's also pretty easy to spread. As soon as you see this yellowing and curling of the leaves follow these simple steps to cure your tomato plants of fungal blight.

• When working with your plant with blight DO NOT touch any other plants before washing your hands
• Cut (do not break) off all the dead and yellow leaves and tomatoes. These are the parts with blight. Not to worry if you are down to just a few leaves. At this point most of the plant's energy is going to growing your tasty tomatoes.
• Throw away the contaminated parts in the trash or burn them. DO NOT put them in the compost pile.
• Wash your hands and tools.
• Make our Sweet and Simple Anti-fungal plant spray and spray all the leaves and plant down to the soil. 
• To prevent more blight make sure your plants are not over crowded. Fungus likes dark and moist. 
• Water from the bottom of the plant such as a drip line hose. 
• Tomato plants like the soil to dry out a bit. DO NOT over water. 

Crisis diverted. Enjoy all those tasty Home Grown Tomatoes!

Sweet and Simple Anti-Fungal Plant Spray

• quart glass canning jar
• all purpose spray bottle
• 1 quart pure water
• 1/2 teaspoon natural dish soap
• 1/2 teaspoon Spark Naturals pure essential Melaleuca oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Spark Naturals pure essential Lemon oil
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Add all ingredients to quart canning jar. Add lid then shake vigorously to mix oils soap and water together. Pour into an all purpose spray bottle. Mist garden plats effected by fungus such a blight and dusty mildew to kill fungus. Use as needed as soon as possible to prevent the death by fungus. 

Having this all natural chemical free fungicide on hand is a must for the home gardener. 

Store in a cool dark place until needed again.

Sweet and Simple Tip: I recommend purchasing the Spark Naturals Essential 4 Pack for a great discount as well as having the 4 basic oils we always use on hand. Use our coupon code SweetandSimple for an added 10% discount!

Note: Sweet and Simple uses Spark Naturals pure essential oils because of the trusted quality and purity of the oils. Spark Naturals is a Sweet and Simple affiliate. 

Food & Drink * Heirloom Tomato Sandwich

One of my favorite summertime memories is picking fresh tomatoes from my Grandma's garden for tomato sandwiches. Those sandwiches were made from wheat bread, tomatoes, salt and mayo, nothing more. Sandwiches are a great meal during the hottest days of summer when you don't want to turn on the oven. Our heirloom tomato sandwich is a grown up version of the tomato sandwiches of my childhood.

Heirloom Tomato Sandwich Recipe

• 1 medium heirloom tomato {per sandwich}
• fresh mayonnaise {homemade is best}
• pink Himalayan salt
• fresh cracked black pepper
• roasted garlic ciabatta bread
• field greens

Slice tomatoes to desired thickness. Slice ciabatta bread to desired thickness. Add mayonnaise to both pieces of bread. Layer tomatoes and lettuce field greens topping with salt and pepper. Eat open faced or top with second piece of bread. Enjoy!

P.S. The tasty beautiful heirloom tomatoes for our photo is from my sister's amazing organic garden!

recipe & photo by April A. founder & editor-in-chief 

Food & Drink * Tomato Jam Recipe

We have a special foodie guest this week sharing tomato recipes for the abundant end of summer tomato harvest, Sam Henderson of Today's Nest. Have you been wondering what to do with your tomatoes? Sam has some amazing recipes to share with you. Enjoy!
xo
april-living the sweet life


The summer growing season is well upon us. Home gardeners around the country are filling their garden beds with tomatoes to complement their summer menus. Pretty little specimens pop up in salads and sandwiches, but what about those that are not quite as visually appealing? We have even bigger plans for them.
A good tomato crop can mean far more tomatoes than you can possibly eat. If you plan properly, though, you can enjoy the flavor long into the winter months. Use your bumper crop of tomatoes to make these simple recipes that can be canned or frozen for later use.

Sidenote: All of these recipes for the week specify roma tomatoes. While it is not necessary to use that variety, they often have a higher ‘meat’ to seed ratio. If you use another variety, you may wish to add a little to compensate for the difference.

Tomato Jam Recipe
By Sam Henderson

This will come as a bit of a surprise to many. While not very common, this tomato jam is at once savory and sweet. It is loaded with spicy goodness. Try this tomato jam on a cracker with a bit of goat cheese or spread it atop a meatloaf. You might even like it in lieu of ketchup on an artisan burger.

Before you start:
This tomato jam will be most appealing if you have removed all of the seeds beforehand.
Turn up the heat a bit by adding another jalapeño.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ pounds tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 medium jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• ½ tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves

Instructions:
1. Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring
frequently.
2. Reduce heat to low and cook for 60-90 minutes, stirring often.
3. When mixture reaches thick jam like consistency remove it from heat and allow to cool
completely.