How to make your own frozen Mashed potato cubes

I love the frozen mashed potato cubes found at Trader Joe’s, Better than potato flakes, they are so convenient- just take out 8 cubes for two servings, But they are so expensive, I was thinking how to do my own and after searching the internet Here is what I came up with:

Mashed potato cubes (Just like Trader Joe’s, minus the plastic bag!)

Make mashed potatoes according to your recipe. Mine is new potatoes or Yukon golds or fingerlings a little milk and a little butter. Cut the potatoes to about 1” cubes and boil until tender (a fork easily goes in them and they slip off quickly). Then take a Masher some milk or crème and mash them- Skins and all- Add the butter while mashing.
Option 1A - Take a pastry bag, when the mashed potatoes cool, and put a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Make little dot’s of mashed potato on the cookie sheet
Option 1B – same as above but if you don’t have a pastry bag simply use a melon baller or a spoon and scoop them out onto the cookie sheet.

Option 2- My Frigidaire came with a great set of small cube sized ice trays. Well the damn thing has an Ice Maker built in so- I stole the Ice Trays from it and filled them with Mash Potatoes and stuck them in the freezer.

When fully frozen, take them and put into a container and keep in the freezer until ready for use.

To prepare them, simply take 4 cubes of mashed potato per serving, put in a bowl, you may want to add a teaspoon of water per serving and microwave for 30 seconds and stir them. 2-4 servings might require more time

How to make seed balls

Picture: heavy petal blog

I recently hosted a giveaway on Rob's World. I gave away seed ballz a great product made by disabled adults. I recently found out how to make seed balls. This is great for guerilla gardening. You simply throw a few seed balls on a vacant lot. And PRESTO! A flower filled meadow. They are also great for regular gardening- Birds don't eat the seeds- they grow great! Thanks to Andrea at Heavy Petal Blog for this great post!

How CVG Makes his own Topsy Turvy planters

CVG's topsy turvey planter





My friend, Cheap Vegetable Gardner makes some amazing things on the cheap. In this post he shows how to make your own upside down tomato planters out of a 2 litre soda bottle. It's great to have such smart, creative friends!




UPDATE: My upside down tomato planters:

Yet another Mint Tin Project

I love this altoids Mint tin I bought years ago- Nice to finally have a use for it. I put a clock works in it that fit just right- now it is a clock for my bathroom!

How to repurpose an oil lamp

I made an electric lamp out of an old oil lamp I bought a few years ago.

I bought a swag lamp kit and ran it down through the arm of the oil lamp and put the scket where the wick should be

Domo Arigato Mr Roboto

Everneed a helping hand in the kitchen, Well make a robot. This is Mr. Roboto. He is made from a Trader Joe's mint tin. And some bolts and nuts, a couple of unistrut clamps and a toy airplane for flashing eyes. And his job is to hold recipe cards.

HOW TO MAKE A MINT TIN FRAME

First you need a mint tin- this one held some green tea mints from Trader Joe's- I peeled the stickers off - then wiped down with WD-40 to remove the glue. The cool thing about this tin is there is a plastic window already built in it- so place a picture in the window (hint if you print a pic on regular paper your can make faint lines by rubbing the back side againts the "frame" of the window then cut and edge the picturec in the window. I put a magnet on the back to put it on the fridge.