Double Delicious Cookbook Give Away!! (and some rambling)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, we cut down our Christmas tree for the first time ever this past weekend.  I grew up having an artificial tree during the holidays so I was really excited to go out to a Christmas tree farm and search for that one perfect tree.  As much as I hem and haw about the environmental aspects of doing this I just wanted to do it just this once.  

It was a fun time.   Hmmm, where do I begin?  Let's see, first, horse drawn carriage rides seem fun and Christmas-y until you have three little ones trudging through a tree farm laden with horsey poo land mines, luckily no one stepped in one!  Hmmm, what else?  How about having a two year old insist on not walking anymore while you are trying your hardest to push your click-and-go stroller through said tree farm while your husband is watching your older child AAAND trying to cut down your tree (mental note: next time bring the jogging stroller!!)  And, to make it even more fun how about having your 4-month old poo all over her onesie and not having a change of clothing for her?  We won't even mention that my 4-month old was actually IN a onesie and a pair of legwarmers and nothing else even though it was fuh-reezing outside (anyone else's husband dress their child like this?  Husband, we do own such things as baby pants, socks, jackets, coats and snowsuits in size 3-6 months!)  Anyways, if you think that this would be fun than you should definitely come Christmas tree shopping with us next year :-)  Naw, really all in all it wasn't too bad, these things are to be expected if you have children...right?  Funny memories to last us a lifetime that's for sure!!

Alright, so where was I heading with this...oh, yeah.  So, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and because this time of year always puts me in such a cheery and festive mood I'm feeling like giving away a little something, something from me to one of you.   Because I truly appreciate you for coming back again and again to read my blog.  Because of all the sweet comments and emails you write to me.  And heck,  just because you are such lovely folk!

Soooo, what is up for grabs you ask?  

How about a fun cookbook to help you make some delicious meals for your family now and in the new year?

Would you like to have this baby sitting next to you in the kitchen as you slave away at the stove?

That's right, I'm giving away a copy of Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook, Double Delicious!!

Ummm, and it truly is Double Delicious.  

It's a continuation of her first cookbook in that she still adds purées to her foods but in this book she also focuses on food for the whole family.  That means, some of the recipes are a bit more grown up, not just kid's foods.  

And, it's already a New York Times bestseller!!

We could all use recipes with more fruits and veggies and whole grains, right?  

This cookbook even has a calorie count at the bottom of every recipe (for those of us that like that sort of thing!)

This is one of my favorite recipes from the book, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies...YUM!

(secret ingredient:  Pumpkin!)

But, then these muffins are pretty tasty too (and those cinnamon rolls!!)

Yeah, I guess I'm a bit partial to the sweets...can you blame me.

Check out this Balsamic Chicken Sandwich, looks so good doesn't it?

And guess what?  There's broccoli purée in there.

See, so not lying!!

Broccoli purée in THIS sandwich...seriously!

Alright, so do you wanna win this sweet cookbook. It's the perfect Christmas gift, the pictures alone will make you want to cook up a storm for your loved ones!!

Okay, so here's how you can win:

1.  Comment on this post and tell me your favorite Christmas cookie, I love trying new ones!!

2.  If you follow my blog leave another comment (and thankyouverymuch!)

3.  If you 'like' Smashed Peas and Carrots on Facebook leave another comment (gracías!)

4.  If you follow me on Twitter, go ahead and leave another comment!!  (mercí!)

Cool, so good luck to you all!

Giveaway ends next Tuesday, December 7th 

(I'll announce the winner the next day!!)

Wat'cha Talking About Willis?

{Brought to you by Eloise, 4.5 months old}

I hope those of you that live in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Did you go crazy Black Friday shopping?  

We had a meal that made me want to bring out my maternity pants.  Seriously. That. Good.

No Black Friday shopping for me...it's going to be a Handmade Holiday if I can help it  :-)

Okay, so we are off to buy a tree.  Wish us luck, it's a chilly day and we have three leee-tle kids.  

What are we thinking?  

Weebles Wobble and $100 HasbroToyShop.com Gift Card Giveaway!!

With 3 children under 3 in my house, I often get asked how I stay sane.  While I'll admit that we do have our share of meltdowns and tantrums, we also have a lot of fun...being silly!

Come check out how me and my little ones get silly with our Weebles and also enter the Giveaway for your very own Weebles Prize Pack and a $100 Gift Card from HasbroToyShop.com by clicking HERE!

{Psst, what a great giveaway to get your Holiday shopping done!!  Christmas is only a month away...just sayin'!!}

Cinnamon Chip Bread

Ahem, as Thanksgiving is only 3 days away I figured I'd throw a recipe up for some Cinnamon Chip bread!  ...Huh?  Yeah, it's not a Thanksgiving recipe but more of a straight up any time of year type of recipe, ya know what I mean?  I figured that the blog world is full of Thanksgiving recipes and ideas right about now so wouldn't it be grand to just give you something you could make today or tomorrow or well, anyday...just for funsies!  

This recipe is super easy, just mix the ingredients together and let proof...really don't let the yeast scare you!!  You can find cinnamon chips in the baking aisle alongside the chocolate chips in most any store nowadays, I even spied them at Wal-Mart.  They are super yummy particularly in this bread but also in muffins, cookies and pancakes...really, not lying here.  Okay, well enjoy your bread...maybe for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning?  :-)

Cinnamon Chip Bread -print this recipe HERE-

5-6 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp yeast

2 eggs

2 cups water

1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups cinnamon chips

Mix 2 cups of the flour, sugar and yeast together in a large bowl.  Begin adding eggs, water and oil, the dough mixture should be slightly runny.  Add salt, cinnamon chips and the remaining flour until the dough starts pulling away from the bowl (you may or may not need the last cup of flour).  Place dough in another greased bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise for one hour.  Then shape dough into two greased bread pans and cover again with a clean towel.  Let rise for another hour or until doubled in size.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes...Voila!  You now have some easy-peasy yeast bread!!

Place 2 cups of flour in your mixing bowl...

Then add your sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp yeast and mix well.

Then add the water, eggs and oil...

Your dough mixture should be runny at this point...kinda like cake batter!

Then add your cinnamon chips, salt and remaining flour (one cup at a time!!)

Once the dough starts pulling away from your mixing bowl it's ready to proof!!  

Place the dough in a greased bowl (I grease mine with cooking spray) and cover with a clean towel.  Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for one hour.  This picture is after the first hour of rising.

**I like to put it in the oven at a very low temperature like 125 degrees or so.  If your oven doesn't go that low (my old one never did, ev-ah!) than you can just place a pie plate on the bottom of your oven (not turned on!) and fill with boiling water.  This will make your oven a warm environment for the bread to rise.  You may need to heat up the water once or twice within the hour's time too so what I did was just boil water in my tea kettle cause a full kettle of boiling water stays pretty hot for quite a while.**

After the dough has proofed for one hour, take it out and shape it into two greased bread pans.

Cover with a clean towel and let the bread dough rise for another hour!

Check out that dough...doubled in size, Wahooooo!

Your bread dough should look like the picture above after your second rising!

Then just bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes...

And you'll get this...........

YUM!!!

Don't you just love fresh, warm bread right out of the oven!

Mmmm, cinnamon-y smells throughout your house!

Your family will LOVE you!

Pinky swear :-)

Happy Monday Y'all!

Celebrating 4.

This weekend we are celebrating my little man's birthday.

Happy Birthday Noah!

{Check out Noah's awe and excitement over a sparkler candle!}

Dear Noah, 

At the sweet little age of four you are already so grown up!  You love to ask questions and sometimes I wonder how the heck they entered your mind.  Your mind and your mouth run 100 miles a minute and I hear from Grandpa that you take after me regarding that...yes, a social butterfly you will be!  We love the way you speak, saying things like, 'this is curious' and 'hey wait, wait! I have a great idea!' with your pointer finger pointed upwards as you have something exciting to tell us and then you love to say 'probably not' when you don't want to do something, I mean c'mon who says that!?!  You enjoy school and playing with your sisters.  You don't like when people are sad and always try to find ways to make them happy again.  You love to cut with scissors and help me bake.  You, in no other words, are awesome!  We have loved watching you grow and get to this age and cannot wait to see how you continue to grow and change the world.  We love you!

Happy Birthday my little big guy!!!

Mini Fabric Bolts and Some Studio Organization

This just may be one of my most favorite posts because I find all the pictures in it so pretty and colorful...they just wash away all the stress of breaking up pulling and pinching fights from some cutie pie little ones in my life who shall remain nameless.

I have been wanting to show you a peek into my 'studio', the space where I create for a while and now I'm finally getting the pictures up to show you...YAY!  This is the place in my home where I can go to relax and make fun things for the people I love...my Etsy shop customers included!

If you wanna see Part II of how I organize my studio click HERE now!

Yup, some bright and cheerful sights for sure!

So, this is the area of my studio where I keep the majority of my lovely fabrics.  I have this beautiful bookcase complete with glass doors so that I can see most of my fabrics to get inspiration but at the same time keep the peanut butter and jelly fingers off my goods!  I used to have all of my fabric in plastic bins (and I still use them for minky, felt, fleece, etc) but I find I am much more creative when I can look at all my pretty fabrics and pick color combinations for projects when they are all there in front of my face :)

This is my 'happy' place for sure!

I organize my fabrics by designer and then in colorways within each line...told you I was Type A (although I held back on doing designers alphabetically, hah!)

Would you like to meet my friends?  Amy Butler, Pat Bravo from Art Gallery, and Sandi Henderson...

And then there is my Monaluna, Heather Ross, Anna Maria Horner, Riley Blake and some Moda too...

This shelf is home to some Kona cotton, pretty linens and some fun gingham. 

I have some of Anna Maria Horner's new fabric, Innocent Crush, on the way as well as I've pre-ordered Amy Butler's new line, Soul Blossoms, coming out in December.  Can. Not. Wait.   They both have space reserved on this shelf!!

In the wire basket I keep a stack of vintage pillowcases from some of my thrift shopping sprees!

And in the green boxes, I keep some of my notions...buttons, snaps, zippers, etc.  It makes creating things easier when there's easy access and they are easy to find!

I wanted to show you how I get my fabric all folded up so neatly.  I make my mini bolts using those up there, Comic Book Boards!  

I belong to a fabric group and one day a while back we got into a big discussion about how we organize our fabric.  There were several ladies in the group that mentioned they used these boards and loved them.  You can get a pack of about 100 for around $10-11 and for that price I just had to try them.  Let me tell you I'm in LOVE!  They work perfectly and because their true purpose is to maintain the quality of those pricey comic books they are perfect for fabric.  They are archival and won't mess with the colors or quality of your fabric...can I get a Woot Woot for that!!  

I bought mine at a local comic book/collectibles store but you can also buy them online, I found some here at Amazon for not too much more than I paid.  I buy the 7 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch boards and they fit most fabric perfectly.  Let me show you how...

To fold your fabric up, all you do is fold your yardage selvedge to selvedge and then fold it once more in half lengthwise.  Your fabric is essentially folded lengthwise in quarters.  Then, just take your comic book board and place it at one end...

Fold the end of your fabric on top of the board and then continue folding over and over until you reach the end of your yardage.  

See how pretty and neat it looks!

I just leave the ends like this and place them on the shelf but if you want you could pin the ends with a needle or two to secure them in place. 

I've found that these boards work great for up to 6 yards of fabric.  If I have more than 4 yards I just use two boards at opposite ends of the length and fold them both inwards for some added strength.

Ahhh, lovely folded fabric in cute little mini bolts!!!

So neat and tidy...

Now can you see why I am just loving the pictures in this post?

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my studio!

And my goal is to get a few more posts about how I organize and decorate my creative space up soon. You know...in between work, and preschool, nursing Ellie and Thanksgiving, wish me luck!!

in the meantime...

Happy Tuesday!!