Dear friend,

We celebrated a birthday last week. Leah, our youngest, turned 9! Ella was just a few months old when I started Dine & Dish, but Leah wasn’t even born. Many of you were there when we found out I was pregnant with a girl, she was born and I made this cute video, and all the other milestones since then. It’s weird to think Dine & Dish is older than my youngest baby, and by quite a few years! It’s been such an honor to have you watch my little family grow up….

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The post Dear Friend, Leah Turned 9 (Sheet Pan Fruit Pizza) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Here we are, the first part of December, and in typical Kristen fashion I’m not posting a holiday treat or festive recipe. I suck at this blogging thing sometimes! Reality is, if I have all the festive treats around, I will eat them all. And although Weight Watchers has changed their program to the new Freestyle plan, I’m pretty sure that doesn’t include eating every sugar cookie and cake ball in sight.

So, here I am today, with a Spicy Almonds recipe that is not sweet or festive, but is what I’m eating now and loving. My friend Aggie said she thinks a jar of these would make a great gift. Now that she mentions it, I totally agree. Let’s pretend this is a festive, holiday related post keeping the gifting ability of these spicy almonds in mind. Okay?…

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A friend of mine recently told me she has banned the word “busy” from her life. She was tired of people being “sooo busy” all the time, running off their constant list of to-do’s, and complaining about their packed schedule. When I asked her what she uses instead or how she has banned “busy” she said “instead I choose to look at busy as full…my life is so rich and full that I have all these activities and obligations.”…

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I have a confession to make…I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet. Not one single gift has been purchased. As of when I’m writing this post, I have 13 days to get all of my shopping done, wrapped, and under the tree. Eeeeeks!

I just want to sit around eating Christmas candy, snuggled under blankets, reading books or watching movies. I don’t want to shop. Do you want to come do all my Christmas shopping for me? Please? If you do I’ll make a batch of this Angel Food Christmas Candy for you. Deal?…

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Avocado Toast has become all the rage lately, hasn’t it? For good reason! A thick slice of hearty bread toasted and topped with California Avocados and a myriad of other favorite toppings is about as good as it gets when it comes to really great food. Plus, Avocado Toast is so easy to customize to anyones liking. It’s no wonder people are turning to it during mealtime.

I’ve been visiting a local coffee shop lately known for serving incredible Avocado Toast. The problem is, I’m always hungry for it at lunch time, but they only serve the toast at breakfast. I think that’s a shame. In my opinion, Avocado Toast should be an anytime of day meal! …

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“Mom, how did whoever developed the English language come up with the word “crunchy”?”, my 13 year old asked.

We had just sat down to dinner as a family and this question launched a whole series of other questions from my kids. As we crunched on our tacos, we all began to guess how the word crunchy came about. Was it from the sound crunching on something makes in your mouth? Did someone just think crunchy was a fun word and it happened to be the next word in queue to use?

It was random and silly and exactly the kind of family dinner I love most! I feel like so often we get caught up in talking about the hum-drum of the day, that it’s nice to laugh and be silly instead. …

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Before we get to this BBQ Roasted Chickpeas recipe, can we take a moment to talk about Jessica from How Sweet Eats and her fabulous new cookbook, Seriously Delish?

I have always told people that Jessica is one of the hardest working bloggers I know. Since the moment she typed her first word on her blog, that girl has been working tirelessly to bring her faithful followers the most creative recipes around. She has always been someone I really admire for her work ethic and her commitment to stay true to who she is no matter what the rest of the blogosphere is doing. She does her own thing, beats her own drum, and does it so well. I’m really proud to be able to call Jessica a friend and someone I can get real with when I’m overwhelmed by the industry we’re in. …

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The season turned to fall this week, which means it’s officially time to break out the pumpkin pie spice! The blogosphere is usually a little like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby… it seems we are often several months ahead of appropriate when it comes to bringing things out for the season. Michaels has even had their Christmas decorations out for a month or two now. Are there really people out there already preparing for Christmas? (Please don’t answer that… I don’t think I really want to know). I love the holidays, and I absolutely LOVE Christmas, but I’m a “take things one day at a time” kind of gal and also usually a few steps behind. This is why it is only now that I’m sharing my first pumpkin pie spice recipe of the season, after fall has already begun.

Don’t get me wrong… I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Pumpkin Spiced Lattes at Starbucks since they came back in August and have maybe even worn my brown fall boots once or twice already, even though it has been in the 80’s still here. I love Fall and am so excited for it to be pumpkin season! I hope you are too!…

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