Sweet and Spicy Chicken-RECIPE

Here's another favorite dinner of ours.  This one is so very, very good, a little sweet and a little spicy.  Totally up my alley!  It's a take on some yummy Chinese take-out that we try not to order too often. Dang that can get pricey when you order half the menu.  Wait, am I the only one who does that?  

Two good things about this meal are that it is so much healthier than Chinese take-out plus it whips up quick too.  You can make it while you are helping one sweet as pie little kindergartener practice writing his 'letter of the week' all the while nursing a 3 month old.  Well, while the chicken is cooking anyways :-)  

Oh, and if you aren't that into spicy food just halve the amount of Sriracha sauce.  Or just eat it with more rice, nom :-)  Alright, here's the recipe, I hope you enjoy this one as much as we do!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken (Serves 4)

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts (about 4)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp sriracha sauce

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp cooking oil

salt and pepper

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat.  While you are waiting for the oil to get hot, cut the chicken breasts into 1-2 inch pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Add the chicken to the skillet and brown the chicken on both sides.  In a small saucepan, add the remaining ingredients together cooking over medium heat until sauce thickens.  Pour sauce into skillet over cooked chicken and mix until chicken is well coated.  Serve with rice and veggies.  Enjoy!

 The cast of characters for today's recipe.

 Oh, plus a little brown sugar and cornstarch!  The cornstarch will help thicken your sauce so do not forget to add it in!

Once you mix your sauce ingredients together (soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, ground ginger, minced garlic, sriracha sauce, and cornstarch) you will cook it over medium heat until it looks like this.

 See, nice and thick!

While your sauce is going, start cooking your seasoned chicken pieces.  Doesn't raw chicken make for the grossest food photography photos ever?

Ah, that's better!  Okay, not really.  Cooked chicken doesn't have much to offer in the food photography department either, does it?

Ok, now this is BETTER!  Yeah, add in that nice and thick sauce and cover every piece of chicken with it.  YUM!

 Sweet and Spicy chicken.  Yes, this is definitely much better than Chinese take-out!

Hope you love this one and make it this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Make Your Own Stickers with Klutz

A few months back I was asked to be a part of the Klutz Crew, a group of ambassadors for the Klutz Brand.  Since my kids and I just love Klutz books, I was absolutely honored to be asked and happy as clam to jump on board as one of 12 Klutz ambassadors. 

This year Klutz is celebrating 35 years of fun, kid-friendly activity products...can you believe this company is as old as I am?  They continue to make quality learning products and each book comes with clear and simple, yet funny instruction books, as well as the materials you will need to complete each activity.  It's a huge reason I love the Klutz brand, they make crafting with my kids so easy.  This fall they are also unveiling brand new packaging that allows for the Klutz books to be easier to stack, wrap, shelve, and browse. The best part is that the supplies are easier to store within the new packaging, hooray!

My kids absolutely LOVE stickers, so we just had to try out the Sticker Design Studio from Klutz.  Now, even though this book says it's for ages 8 an older my kids totally had fun with it.  If you have younger children like me you will just want help them out a bit with instructions and the beginnings of the design process.  I love to craft with my kids, and let's face it, I love stickers and coloring as much as they do so this was really a non-issue with me :-)

Let me tell you this book comes loaded with tons of blank sticker sheets.  All the stickers have light outlines on them to help get your coloring mojo on.  The markers that come with the book cover the lines really well so no one will be the wiser that you didn't hand draw something ;-)  My kids liked the lines as guides for changing colors.

Of course, like all Klutz books, this one comes with quirky instructions written perfectly for a child to understand.  If you have small non-reading children like me, you will just want to relay the message to them so they can get the most out of their sticker crafting time.

 There are two pages of design inspiration which I loved, hello basket weave!

There are even quite a few pages on fun ways to make your stickers last...ie, making them into a magnet or laminating them.  I love that Klutz books always go above and beyond just the basic activity.

 There is a zippered pouch attached to the book for the markers.

 And there were enough colors to go wild on the rainbow stickers!

 My kids had a blast creating their own stickers...

 We spent a good hour, at least, bringing out our inner Picasso.

Here is a little about the book from Klutz:

Sticker Design Studio

To make your mark truly personal, stick with Sticker Design Studio. This book is packed with more than 400 stickers to mix, match, color, and layer to create your own unique designs. The almost-blank stickers are lightly printed with designs that are just barely there, and once they are inked over, the lines become nearly invisible — so only your creative genius shows. With pages of tips, inspiration, and guided creativity, even if you can’t draw a heart, you can still ink one in your own unique style.

Comes With: 8 markers, 14 sheets of stickers (4 with glitter)

For ages 8 and up

Price:$16.99

Seriously, a ton of fun!  With a mission statement like, "Create Wonderful Things.  Be Good.  Have Fun." it's no doubt that Klutz has sold over 100 million activity products to date.

And if that's not cool enough, Klutz is launching a Wrap It Up with Klutz! Sweepstakes this fall.  They are giving away 1000 prizes over the next 10 weeks-10 fans each week will win a prize pack featuring 10 Klutz Books!

The best part is, you can enter once per week, here, on the Klutz Facebook page to win a variety of titles from Klutz.  The weekly sweeps start every Monday and you can enter through November 26, 2012.

You will see a few more posts from me over the next few months highlighting more of these great products.  If you want to see more titles from Klutz click here, and make sure to keep up with Klutz on Facebook here!

XOXO,

Winner of a Smashed Peas and Carrots Dress or Pinafore!

The winner of their choice of Dress or Pinafore from my Etsy Shop is...

Hooray Brittany!  I am so happy for you!!  Please email me at SmashedPeasandCarrots@gmail.com with the Dress or Pinafore you have chosen along with the size and your mailing address.

XOXO,

Pick Your Plum Giveaway

Hooray, it's another Pick Your Plum giveaway day!  If you haven't heard about Pick Your Plum well, let me introduce you.  Pick Your Plum is a super fun daily deal site where they post amazing sales once a day on everything from craft and baking supplies, home decor, and fashion.  Here's a little more about them from Pick Your Plum themselves...

• Pick Your Plum has limited supplies on some of the most swank supplies. We have agents out in the field who find killer deals on high quality products.

• Pick Your Plum delicately slaps prime-o pricing on crafting, clothing, baking supplies, home decor and other fabulous finds.  Stellar pricing.  Cool.

• Pick Your Plum sells it 'til it's gone or 'til time is up.

• You leave Pick Your Plum feeling like you just won Martha in a crafting contest.

• The supplies arrive in 7-8 shipping days and you've just picked your 'plum'! Doesn't it feel good?

If you sign up for Instant Alerts on their website you will always know 'The Deal".  And if you want "The Deal" faster, follow them on Facebook where they always post "The Deal" first!

Some deals that Pick Your Plum offered recently include these cool cupcake stands that are unfinished and perfect for you to paint or decorate just the way you want them!

Metal monogram letters, anyone?

How about some blank tags in all sorts of fun colors?

Twine, Twine, Twine...us crafters can never have enough!

And for all you sewists out there, Pick Your Plum always throws in good deals on buttons and thread!

Pick Your Plum is offering one of my lucky readers a $75 Plum Box chock full of swank, crafting, fashion, baking, and home decor swag!  Now, all of the above products may not necessarily be in this Plum Box, but these pictures give you a great idea of what could be in there.  Whatever you get, let me tell you, it is sure to be awesome!

To enter:

Tell me if you've ever used Pick Your Plum in the past?

For extra entries (One comment per entry please!)

1.  "Like" Pick Your Plum on Facebook, here.  This way you will get all updates for their new deals before they go out via email!

2.  Sign up for the Pick Your Plum newsletter, here, to get all the updates on new swag sent right to your email inbox!

3.  "Like" Smashed Peas and Carrots on Facebook, here.

4.  Follow me on Instagram, here!

Giveaway ends Saturday, Sept 29, 2012 at Midnight!

Good Luck!

XOXO,

Threads by The Shine Project

So I have to ask...have you heard of the Shine Project? If not, let me fill you in...it was started by a pretty amazing woman, Ashley, and the idea behind it is to inspire people to go out of their comfort zone and reach their goals.  Last year The Shine Project started a non-profit called The Shine Scholarship Project.  They raise money to send at risk youth to college.  How cool is that?  I love people who have a passion to make change in the world! If you want to see a quick but very good video about it click here, you'll also get to 'meet' Ashley...she is such a cutie :-)

Ashley contacted me not too long ago about her shop that sells products to help raise money for The Shine Scholarship, it's called Threads by The Shine Project.  Threads employs the students that they give the scholarships to so they have continuous money coming in for college.  The students make all sorts of amazing bracelets that are very Anthopology-esque.  

 Like this one, The Alex Bracelet, isn't it gorgeous!?

 And how about this one, The Change Bracelet.  I love the simplicity of it, so trendy right now!

These bracelets are the perfect accessories for me, not too flashy and perfect for this momma to spice up her everyday outfits.  They are made so well and are very durable...said the momma who has four kids hanging on her 24 hours a day.

They pair well with anything and everything!  From my new addiction to loud and colorful skinny jeans all the way to my yoga pants mommy dress code.

If you have a moment, head on over to Threads and maybe grab a few things for you or someone you love...how about birthday presents, Christmas gifts, a 'just thinking of you' gift.  You will feel so good knowing you are helping out at-risk youth and at the same time look stylish doing it...total win-win!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Shop News and a Giveaway!

Well, like I said in my last post, here, Oliver is now 3 months old, sigh.  And besides little man getting bigger and bigger by the minute it also means I have officially been on maternity leave from the shop for 3 whole months already.  So last week I was a busy little bee putting together pretty fabric combinations for a whole new line of fall dresses as sort of a Grand Re-Opening of sorts.  Yahoo!

So without further ado...

{Flutter Sleeve Peasant Dress in Pink and Green Mod Flowers}

I just added this sweet little number a couple of days ago...I love Heather Bailey and I love her Freshcut line!  This dress is perfect for back-to-school wardrobes everywhere!

{Flutter Sleeve Ruffle Peasant Dress in Orange Plaid}

I just love this dress for Fall.  The orange.  The plaid.  LOVE!  I am going to dress my girls up in a matching set with a pair of tights and snuggly brown boots.  It's the perfect dress for the apple orchard or pumpkin patch, don't you think?

{Flutter Sleeve Ruffle Peasant Dress in Mod Blue}

I love this dress for the bright colors.  Orange and blue are such a lovely combination on the eyes.  Need something cute for family photos this year?  Well, this is your dress!  And there are two more dresses below that coordinate nicely with it incase you have a few more girls to outfit!

{Flutter Sleeve Peasant Dress in Pop Daisy}

Oh, how this dress makes me smile!  When I put this dress together I had my little Eloise in mind.  Her blue eyes 'pop' just like the blue in this dress :-)

{Flutter Sleeve Peasant Dress in Rose Bouquet}

And can you believe that this dress coordinates most awesomely with the two above it?  Yup, I had a few sister-sister coordinating ideas in mind that I thought you might like too.  The florals in this dress are especially sweet and girly to me!

{Crossover Pinafore in Turquoise Bouquet}

And finally, due to popular demand, I now have some Crossover Pinafores in the shop!  These are fully lined so they can be worn reversed for two looks in one!  I added pretty little snaps in place of buttons to the straps of the pinafores to help little hands dress themselves easier...mommas, you are welcome! :-)

{Backside}

{Crossover Pinafore in Turquoise Mums}

{Crossover Pinafore in Pretty in Pink}

These pinafores can be made in size 3m-3T although you can wear them as tops up to 2 years past the specific age size.  So a 3T pinafore would fit great as a top for a 4 or 5 year old!  I LOVE clothing that can last many years.

{Coordinating Diaper Covers}

And one last new item in the shop I'm so excited to share with you...Coordinating Diaper Covers!  These babies are great additions to the Crossover Pinafores and the Flutter Sleeve Peasant Dresses!  There is just something adorable about a coordinated little bum :-)  You pick the coordinating fabric based off of any dress or pinafore in the shop so you can get the exact look you are going for...awesome!  These are also uber cute for cake-smashing photos too, fyi.

Well, that's it!  I hope you like some of the new styles and fabric combos now in the shop.  I am still  offering some of the dresses from last Spring although in limited quantities based off of my fabric supply, so order them while they last!

Now, how would y'all like a giveaway?

I am giving away ONE dress or pinafore of your choice from my shop to ONE of you lovely readers!!

Just tell me what your favorite item in my shop is!

For extra entries (one comment per entry please!)
1.  Follow Smashed Peas and Carrots the blog.
2.  'Like' Smashed Peas and Carrots on Facebook, here.
3.  Follow Smashed Peas and Carrots on Pinterest, here.
4.  Pin a dress or pinafore from my new fall line on Pinterest.

And guess what?  I'm also offering a limited time coupon code just to show my thanks for all of your support and love.  Use coupon code SMASHEDPEAS10 at checkout to receive 10% off your entire purchase from my shop.  Good until the end of the month!

Giveaway ends Monday, September 24 at midnight!

Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,