What Actress Angela Kinsey Can’t Live Without

We have afamily game nightevery weekend, but now we’re doing it nightly. We all sit down at the dining room table, make a little tray of snacks, and sit there andplay. Right now, we’re really lovingCatan. I love the strategy part of it, and it gets the kids thinking, like: “Okay, to build this town, we’re going to need wood and clay; how do we get that?” You have to learn to barter and trade. There’s a little bit of luck with the roll of the dice, but I think the strategy portion is what makes itfun for the kids.

My makeup artist — anything I know about makeup or skin care comes from a makeup artist — told me about this. Somelip balmsyou have to constantly reapply, but this lasts for so long. It’s soothing, too. I have tubes in my desk drawer, my car, on my nightstand, in my purse — everywhere, basically. It comes in a coupledifferent flavors, but I like the original one because it has no taste and it’s not scented either.

Since we’re basically not leaving the house, I have been in these Targetsweatpantsfor like four days straight. I joke to my husband that I have my daytimesweatpantsand my nighttimesweatpants. These are my daytime ones. I’ve had them forever. They’re really soft and aren’t expensive — I would have a very hard time paying a lot of money forsweatpants. I have a bunch of different types from Target, but these are particularly comfortable. I’m also short, so I hit the kids’ department at Target pretty hard because I can get a kid size 12 or 14 and the length fits me perfectly.

If I could only wear one shoe for the rest of my life, it’d beflip-flops. Because I’m a dork, sometimes I’ll even wear socks with them. My daughter hates that and rolls her eyes, but whatever — they’re functional. The Roxy ones are comfortable, and I like how I look in them. I have areally small foot— I’m like a lady’s size five — and these fit me really well.

Most nights, we make dinner together. My kids really love to help, so I have themwashandpeelthe vegetables. I’m not super comfortable having them wield a big knife yet, so I put them on the safer tasks. We make a lot of soups and stews, which are what we mostly use ourLe Creusetfor, especially in the winter. Soups are a great way to conserve your pantry and use everything you have. I love Italian Wedding Meatball Soup. It’s super-easy for anyone to make. You just get kale, carrots, white beans, some tomatoes and a glass of red wine cooking in theLe Creusetand then make the meatballs to throw in. You can use ground turkey or chicken — just mush it into little balls, roll them in some breadcrumbs and parmesan, throw them in the soup that’s already cooking, and you’re done. It all cooks together and tastes amazing. It’s also really healthy.

My grandmother lived until she was 100, and one of the things I will always remember from staying with her is opening up her fridge and seeing how she saved everything because she lived through the Great Depression. Like, if you were eating a handful of grapes and left four on the plate, she would take those four grapes, roll them up in tinfoil and put them in the fridge. So we try to tell our kids it’s incredibly important tonot be wasteful. I love thesestorage containersfor saving food: They keep everything fresh, stack easily, and are super kid-friendly.

I have three kids, so I can’t, you know, bedrinking wineconstantly. But there have definitely been a few evenings recently where we get the kids to bed and my husband and I have aglass of wineto decompress. I love New Zealand wine, and this is a great Sauvignon Blanc. It’s not too sweet, kind of crisp, and really affordable.

I’ve used this for years and years and years. I think I started using it in college. It’s easy to find and not expensive. I know there are fancier skin-care products that you can use, but I’m a working mom, so this is what I can commit to. Ithydrates my skinwithout being too heavy; I also have sensitive skin, and it doesn’t break me out.

I honestly don’t know how anyone with multiple children can have a huge face-care regimen. Iwash my face, spray this on it, and then top it off with some Cetaphil moisturizer. Sometimes I’ll add an underunder-eye creambecause I’m 48 and why not? I started using thisspraywhen I was traveling a lot for work; the air travel dried out my skin a lot. It looked so thirsty, so one of the gals that was doing my makeup for a show I was on said, “You really should try a rosewater spray.” She told me it doesn’t have to be some super-fancy one, so I picked this up, and it’s been in my routine ever since. A few squirts and I look so much more hydrated. My skin drinks it up.

For years, wemade our own teaon the back porch. That’s what my grandmother always did. She’d get a huge jug of water, put some tea bags in, and let the sun just brew it. Tejava is kind of the next best thing. It has nothing artificial; it’s just brewed, unsweetened blackiced tea. I’m about to run out of it, though, so I think I’m going to get back to brewing my own tea now that I have the time.

We bake all the time — my husband is a phenomenal baker and cook. We love cooking together so much that we have abaking channel on YouTube. The kitchen is the heart of our home: It’s where everything happens, like the big life talks and impromptu dance parties and those other really special moments. We probably make cookies in our KitchenAid the most. Everything getsmixed evenly, which is important inbaking, and it’s already rotating, so you can have your kids easily be your little helpers by adding stuff in — it’s not like they’re trying to mix and add things at the same time. With little hands things can sometimes get too complex, but using this makes it easy to give them one task at a time.