Crock Pot Potato Soup

I saw this posted on Marlow's blog and knew I needed to make it right away! It was so delicious!

Her recipe is right here.

The only changes I made - I only used 4 cloves of garlic (because 10 is waaay too many for me) and I only used about 12 oz of cream cheese instead of 16. I also don't have an immersion blender (need to get one of those) but I used my handheld mixer and it worked out really well - it didn't dissolve the skins, but that was OK. We LOVED it. Topped with cooked bacon, cheddar & green onions.

Definitely have a lot of leftovers. Such a comforting dish on a cool night!

Charley's on Newbury Street

I've been a fan of Charley's on Newbury street for a loooong time. We used to go there when I was in college, especially to enjoy their brunch.

So this past weekend we were strolling around on Newbury and decided to head there for lunch to sit outside on the patio. I had heard they had a gluten free menu a year or two ago but haven't had a chance to visit.... and I was not disappointed!

I ordered the gluten free margherita pizza (gf pizza is my new favorite food that i must have at least once a week).

To my surprise they brought out some gluten free bread to start that was DELICIOUS.... it was slightly warm & looked like this:

Then the pizza came, and it was brought over by the manager and he reassured me it was gluten free... While he was there I had to ask what brand the bread was, but it wasn't anything local or that consumers can buy. Bummer.

Anyway - the pizza was delicious - the crust was so good. I ate almost this entire thing.

I would DEFINITELY go back - I hear they have gluten free english muffins for brunch, among other things.

Chugging along

Man this blog has been sad lately.... I haven't really been cooking all that much, when I do muster up the energy to cook it's not that exciting. I'm still eating carbs carbs carbs. Somehow, at 35 weeks pregnant, I've only gained around 23 pounds, but we still have time, plus there is no room left to eat large quantities of food!

I did make that Beer Braised Beef & Marsala Mushroom Cream sauce again though. YUM. That is a new favorite.

We went apple picking last weekend and I made an apple pie.... I cheated and bought the Jillian's GF pie crusts. I know I made pie crusts from scratch in the past that I liked, but cannot find the recipe - anyone have a good GF (not too difficult) pie crust recipe to share?

I am LOVING this cooler fall weather. I've never looked forward to Fall more than this year, for obvious reasons, and look forward to cooking more on Sundays with the new baby at home, having a Harpoon Pumpkin Cider (I just heard about this! Can't wait to try it after the baby - anyone else tried it? is it good??) and of course, wearing cozy sweaters again.

Actually yesterday it was cool enough here for a sweater & sneakers, first time I haven't worn flip flops in weeks! Summer was great, but bring on the Fall!

What's new around here...

This was taken a couple of weeks ago..

So... I haven't been blogging much because we've had a lot going on around here!

In a couple of months we'll be welcoming a new addition to the family - a baby boy! We are so thrilled and it's all we talk about, so everything else has really fallen behind! On top of finding out I was pregnant, I had also started a new job, so it's been a tad nuts up in here!

The pregnancy has been going really well. I was being really quiet about it for a long time, and I'm still nervous about any number of things going wrong - but this little man is active and already keeping me up at night. Yikes.

My one & only pregnancy craving:
Udi's GF Cinnamon Raison bagel with cream cheese.

Like, every day.

It's not good... I'm doing OK with weight gain though, but all me & this babe want to eat is carbs, so I've been trying to make sure I'm eating well-balanced! Anyone else feel like eating GF has been sorta easy lately? It seems like everywhere I go there is a GF menu, or GF items in the freezer or on the shelves - it's great!

We were just up on Lake Winnepesauke for a mini vacation - lots of GF options. Sadly, I didn't document any of them, but let me know if you want suggestions!