slow cooker chicken & mushroom stew, aka crustless chicken pot pie

i've only had chicken pot pie once that i can recall and it wasn't anything special. the filling was ok, somewhat flavorless, and the crust was a chewy, gummy, soggy mess. so when i spied this slow cooker version of chicken pot pie that purposely doesn't have a crust, i was sold.

orange creamsicle scones

jason and i spent a week in florida back in february. back when the winter is normally super cold and super snowy and we're dying for a break. back when you could have mistaken me as simply putting on a few pounds instead of obviously pregnant. on the second day we were there, we went to a small orange farm and picked oranges. every day for the next week, we ate oranges for breakfast and before we went to bed. we had so many left, i took a half dozen home in my carry on. they were still delicious, sweet, and juicy enough for the juice to run down my arms and drip off my elbows when i ate them once i was home in new york. 

slow cooker lasagna soup

i've professed my love of lasagna a few times already, i just wish it didn't take all afternoon to put together. enter deconstructed lasagna, a short cut version i made last october that has all the same flavors of layered lasagna without the fuss of layering noodles, sauce, and cheese. i didn't think it could get any easier, until i stumbled upon this slow cooker version a few weeks later and mentally tucked it away. until a couple weeks ago, when it was cold and dreary and winter looked like he still wanted to rear his ugly head. there's nothing better than coming home to a slow cooked dinner on those days.

chewy vanilla cookies with reese's pieces

i can't believe the last time i made cookies was almost a four full months ago...for christmas! all the salty and coconutty treats lately means i've been passing on cookies, one of my all time favorites. especially since they're easy to make and i've never met one i didn't like.

which brings me to these cookies. two of my all time favorite things - peanut butter and vanilla -  wrapped into one simple, super chewy, delicious cookie. i was skeptical at first - do vanilla and peanut butter really work together? it seems like an odd combination - but as soon as i had the first whiff from the oven, i knew they would be keepers. too bad i didn't make a double batch: half for now, half for later.

nanaimo bars [12in2012]

i have a confession: these are the first and only nanaimo bars i've ever eaten.

i don't visit bakeries all that often (which is especially good for my pants, since it's pretty hard for me to resist a cookie, cupcake, scone, or good old fashioned slice of cake) and i haven't been in a coffee shop since late september. the only place i've ever seen nanaimo bars pop up for sale is the bakery case at the little theatre downtown. for the last few months, they've taunted me. and while i'm usually a sweets girl, this whole baby thing has me all kinds of turned around - wanting as much salty popcorn as i can get my hands on and everything doused in coconut.