Farm Sunday - Preview - Free Veggie Plants to grow your own fresh food

As we mentioned on our Facebook page we have lots of tomato plants and a few other veggie plants to give away, left over from the Master Gardener Plant Sale.

If you want some let us know. They'll be available for pick up on Sunday 04/15/2012 either on the farm or if you are in Edna we may can scoot them in to you.

This is your chance to grow your own healthy, delicious fresh food! Message us or call us to reserve.

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Dinner on the farm - Heart Healthy Spaghetti & Veggie meat sauce

We start this dinner by cooking the whole grain pasta in a stock pot of boiling water. Read your labels! Not all whole grain pasta is made the same. Read the ingredient on the package. Does your pasta start with bleached flour? Then it's not truly a whole grain product. Often times I find that the store brand is much healthier food than a major brand.

While the pasta is cooking we saute 1/2 c diced celery, 1/2 c diced onion, 1/3 c bell pepper and 2 tbl minced garlic and 2 zuchinni's diced and 2-3 tbl dried herb italian seasoning. While this is cooking we add in 1/2 lb. 97/3 or leaner ground beef or ground chicken or turkey. You could also use fresh shrimp, diced chicken breast or not add any meat at all.

If you'd like less calories you can always brown the ground beef first then rinse it by putting it in a colander. Then, return it to the saute pan and add in the vegetables to cook. 

When the vegetables are about half cooked we add in 2 large tomato's diced and continue to saute this mixture until the vegetable are almost done. I like the vegetables to be almost done, not too soft.

Drain the pasta when it's done to your preference. I am a "beyond al dente" fan and cook it until it is a bit softer.

You can also top this with Parmesan cheese if you'd like. Read your labels for serving size.

I love this dish as it is so versatile. With just basic ingredients you are serving a healthier pasta yet introducing vegetables into a traditional meat sauce dinner.

Let me know if you try it and your version of Heart Healthy Spaghetti.

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Life on the farm - Growing potatoes the easy way!

This is the year to grow potatoes even if you live in an apartment and only have a balcony with partial sun!

That's right. Anyone can grow potatoes with limited space. Just grow them in a container.

We take containers of all shapes and sizes and drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

Then we fill the container with 4-6" of soil or mulch.

Next we cut potato eyes from seed potatoes or old potatoes in your refrigerator. Lay several on top of the soil and cover with another couple of inches of soil. Moisten the soil and wait....

This tub has been filled with soil and
the potatoes are growing.

As the potato plant grows add more soil to the container covering the stems of the potato plant but leaving 4-5 inches of the plant exposed. The plant will grow taller and as it does, add more soil or mulch over time until the container is full. Then just let the potato plant create potatoes under the soil.

It takes a couple of months for the potatoes to form so be patient. Keep the soil moist but not wet.

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Dinner on the Farm - Easter Dinner

It's a beautiful weekend in South Texas! A great time for good, healthy food on the patio.

Yesterday John smoked a Smithfield ham on the smoker. Yes, it was a smoked Smithville ham but something about cooking it over oak wood in our smoker makes it so much better. We never worry about the sodium content in the ham as we don't eat many things with sodium. Our rule of thumb is to keep our sodium intake under 1000mg's or less a day consistently. If we don't add sodium to the rest of the things we are preparing we should be in-line with our daily intake.

With the ham we will have deviled eggs from the abundance of eggs the hens are laying using simple ingredients and no sodium. I used garlic powder instead.

I will also steam some cauliflower and saute some zucchini in olive oil with garlic and onion to complete the meal again, no sodium, just the full flavor of the vegetables. If the vegetables are fresh you do not need to add anything to them.

Hope you are having a blessed Easter.

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