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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Oh, what a week. We had our heating and cooling company come on Monday to do our annual winter furnace tune up. That all went fine and well until Monday night, when we realized our furnace had stopped working. Assuming it was an easy fix, we called the heating and cooling company and they came back out on Tuesday. Still not working. They replaced our furnace on Wednesday because our furnace was 13 years old. So, $3300 later and a new furnace and guess what…still not working. It’s now Friday and they have been out every day this week for hours and hours trying to figure out what’s going on. Meanwhile, the temps have been in the 20’s, and you know how I feel about cold… I am NOT a fan. …

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Sandwich night is a common thing in our house. Sandwiches are quick, filling and portable – which for a busy family on the go is key!

One way to amp up sandwich night is by breaking out your panini press. I seem to go in spurts with using our panini press…I sometimes forget all about it, but then when I use it I’m quickly reminded what an awesome little appliance it is. There’s something about a toasted panini sandwich to really make sandwich night great!…

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Grocery shopping has to be one of my least favorite tasks. I’m not really sure why…it’s not like it’s all that difficult or overwhelming. I think I just know every time I step into the grocery store I’m going to spend a lot of money. Even if I go in for just one or two things, I leave with a cartful of food and $100 less in my bank account.

Lately, I’ve tried to avoid the grocery store as much as possible, which has resulted in a lot of “clean out the pantry and fridge” meals. Sometimes these meals are hits, sometimes they are complete misses. Lunch today, however, was a total hit I had to share with you! This One Skillet Beefy Tuscan Pasta was completely inspired by ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry and will now be a regular in our meal rotation. We all loved it!…

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Every single time I use my slow cooker I wonder why I don’t pull it out more often. The Slow Cooker is seriously one of the best inventions on the planet for busy people like you and me. Why oh why don’t I use it all the time instead of pulling it out just here and there?

When I do pull it out and cook with it, I feel so accomplished that I have dinner planned and and on its way to ready before even breakfast is over. I love things that make me feel like I have my act together!…

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Wow…what a week, huh? In fact, I bubbled myself up as much as possible, shut down Facebook, and reached out to friends in person to chat. I feel like Facebook and even Twitter to some extent tends to feed that inner anxious girl in me, and I just can’t handle it sometimes. Getting out into the real world and having real life, civil conversations with people who agree and even don’t agree with you can really do wonders. It’s amazing what can happen when we really listen to each other. Give it a try..it’ll make you feel better, I promise!

With that being said, if you, dear reader, need a safe place to turn, please reach out to me. I think the only thing worse than turning to social media during this time is letting your thoughts and feelings stew inside. I’m happy to lend an ear and hopefully give you solace. Consider this my safety pin. …

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I’ve been keeping something from you… I’ve been cooking from a cookbook I received a couple months ago so regularly that I’ve almost forgotten how to cook without it!

Mary Younkin, from the food blog Barefeet in the Kitchen, has written the most amazing and practical cookbook for busy families called The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook. This cookbook is so practical I’ve turned to it when I’m in a dinner time pinch so many times, but have failed to take the time and photograph any of the meals we’ve made, until now. …

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I can’t remember if I told you all that early in the year I changed my eating to be a low carb, high protein, low sugar, no alcohol, plenty of good fat kind of thing. I always thought that limiting carbs would be hard, but it hasn’t been too bad. I mean, don’t get me wrong… there are days where a giant bowl of pasta would make me incredibly happy, but I’ve managed to resist carbs and sugar for the most part. Combined with a good exercise regimen, this new way of eating has helped me to drop those nagging pounds that have crept up on me since turning 40.

Through all of this I’ve also discovered that I’m very much an abstainer versus a moderator. If I know I can’t have something, then I don’t. If I was trying to just moderate, I know I’d be fixated on when I could have that food again and it wouldn’t work for me. I’ve got to just completely eliminate to be successful. I truly think abstaining is best for people like me with zero self control 🙂 I’m not proud of that, but it’s the honest truth. …

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