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Since it’s the end of February, I’ve been trying to come up with an idea to replace the Valentine’s Day candy corn that have been in a decorative jar on our dining table. I couldn’t think of any green candies to go in it for March and St. Patrick’s Day, though.

Last week I was walking down the aisle at the grocery store and passed by the bags of dried beans. The bright green split peas caught my eye and I grabbed up three bags (about $1 each).

I use split peas pretty often for cooking and know that the bag always recommends that you wash the “field dust” off the peas before using them. I figured I’d rinse them off this time as well, even though I wasn’t cooking with them.

What I didn’t realize was that they get pretty clumpy when they’re left to sit after being wet, so my husband and I dumped out the colander onto a baking sheet lined with towels to let them air dry, then broke up any further clumps we found.

Overall it worked out really well, and makes a nice little decoration for St. Patrick’s Day!