Something Saturdays (1/23/16)

This week flew by for me! Did it do the same for you guys?? Michael had Monday off from work, which was nice since this week he started back at school. This is semester is going to be TOUGH. So...on top of his normal 40+ hour work-week he also has his normal 3 classes (3 hours apiece, for a total of 9 hours) he ALSO has practicum, which means he'll be working at the counseling center for another 8 hours a week. So...it's going to be hard, and I'm going to miss him :(. Luckily he doesn't start practicum until next week so we got a little bit of time together. 

Last weekend Michael called his "farewell tour"--we spent the earlier part of Saturday hanging out with my aunt and cousin, and then spent some time with Michael's mom that evening. Sunday we got to have dinner with and hang out with Michael's dad and stepmom. It was super nice!

I mostly worked on stuff and relaxed. I also got my 1st letter from my brother in basic training! I was so excited, because there's been some drama over the address for him so our mail has been taking forever to get to him--so for awhile he hadn't gotten any letters from me and that made me so sad :(

This weekend I'm working--I'm promoting Gaiam at a local Kohl's. It should hopefully be fairly simple. Wish me luck!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cookies

The ageless struggle: do I bake these cookies or just eat all this delicious dough?

It's plagued us for eons. 

SO-when I saw my girl Baker Bettie's post with Chocolate Chip Cookie DOUGH Cookies...I mean...I HAD TO TRY THEM! Obviously. Who are we talking about here? MEEEE.

As it turns out...this is more of a method than a recipe (although the recipe below uses Baker Bettie's fave chocolate chip cookies and is pretty darned awesome)--it's essentially just baking the cookies at a higher heat for a shorter time so that they're delightfully underbaked inside. Turns out...I've done this (partially by accident) many times in my past so I was actually pretty familiar with it. No complaints, though! I am never going to turn down a warm, ultra-gooey cookie (plus, they're pretty gooey even when not warm)! Now...is it what I thought? No--for the best-of-both-worlds between cookie/cookie dough I'm sticking with my cookie dough balls. BUUUT...again...I got to eat some tasty tasty cookies because I made these. And I'm never complaining about that. And if you haven't tried this method already...you should def. give it a shot--at least once! Put it on your bucket list or whatev.

Quick & Easy Homemade French Bread

I think this is my new favorite quick and easy bread recipe! I was honestly shocked by how simple it was to throw together and then you just have to wait about an hour for it to rise and about half an hour for it to bake and then...TA DA! French bread!

I think my current favorite use for this recipe is for garlic bread--that's what I made it for initially when we had Michael's friend over for dinner. You can make it the day of or like a day ahead of time and it helps you make seriously delicious an brag-worthy garlic bread (seriously...look at people's faces when you tell them you made the whole thing from scratch, even the bread. They will be impressed!) Slightly crusty on the outside, nice and chewy on the inside. Gotta love a delicious and easy recipe for homemade bread, am I right??!