If you are under a pile of snow or simply in a cold climate, chances are your children are screaming “bored!” Would you like a few minutes to yourself? Then grab a potato and some bird seed or leftover garden seeds and be ready for a little time to get things done.
To make a potato pet planter, you will need a potato, dirt, bird seed or other seeds. Fresh herb seeds are especially nice, such as basil, oregano, parsley or chives.
We used golf tees for legs, which I found to be a bit unstable but useable. You can also use nails, toothpicks, pushpins or even broken pieces of a chopstick. Anything goes for the eyes, including googly eyes, tacks, cloves or buttons secured by pins. A pipe cleaner can be used for a tail.
Give your child the potato and allow him or her to hollow a portion of the top out with a pointed spoon. The hole has to be big enough to hold the dirt and seeds.
Once the hole is cut, let your child decorate, adding the legs, face and tail. If you don’t have anything to use for a face, the potato can be carved with a safe tool. Finally, add the dirt, some seeds and a bit more dirt on top. Put the potato planter on a plate and water gently when finished.
Our potato pet has to be watered daily. It took about a week for the seeds to begin to germinate. They are starting to grow nicely, but have another week or two to go.
These potato planter pets are a great craft for daisy, brownie or girl scout meetings too. They are also excellent as student gifts on Mother’s day.
If you grow your own potato pet with your child, send a picture and I will post your planter picture on Agoosa!
This week I was desperate for a side dish. I had some penne, but not much else. Then I remembered an almost empty jar of Bela Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes in the fridge. If you find these sun dried tomatoes at Costco, be sure to bring a jar home for times like this.
With just a few ingredients, I made a rich and amazingly delicious pasta side dish – thanks to Bela Sun Luci!
First, I sautéed some garlic in olive oil and added a pinch of course sea salt. Then I cut the sun dried tomatoes in to strips and added them to the pan.
While I was doing this, the pasta was cooking. I drained it when it was al dente and added the pasta to the pan. Then, for the simplest secret of the whole dish, I put a bit of the oil from the tomato jar in to the pan. After a few shakes of hot pepper flakes, it was done.
You can turn this in to a main dish by adding chicken, shrimp or even pork. Or simply add a favorite cheese to give it a bit more protein.
Simple? Yes. But this was one of those accidental dishes that everybody raved about – from the teenage sons to the nine year old daughter. And the next day? “Is there any of that pasta left?” Unfortunately, the answer was no. It was just that good. Thanks to those amazing Costco sun dried tomatoes!
Do you have any quick and easy pasta dishes you would like to share?
