A loaf of bread, roasted brussel sprouts, and super chunky chocolatey cookies

I have been thinking about my favorite things and what I can do to make sure that I am regularly filling this need to take care of myself. It feels good to spend my own money to by things that make me happy. Especially when its products that I adore.

Also, a sale does not hurt! My favorite lotions and body washes are Bath and Body Works. They had a sale of buy 3 get 3 free and  had a coupon to get $10 off. Lots of gooies for not much money! So excited, and it is very comforting to know that I will have awesome body washes and lotions for a while.

And let's not forget my love for nice clothes. I bought myself some tops that I have been eyeing for a while now at Express. Again, on sale, with a coupon, so I felt good about this purchase, too. Let's just say I am allergic to full price. But I am all for a good sale!

Do you often slurge on yourself or do you look at for sales and coupons, too?

The one thing that helps me when I shop is having someone there with me as an enabler. I like to be assured that something looks good on me or that something is a good deal. Someone to smell the lotions and spray the scents on me. Someone to help me choose the colors. It makes me have more fun, I smile more, and I am more apt to spend some money on myself. Magic, right?

Now on to my Sunday cooking extravaganza!

Today's lunch was a bacon, asparagus, asparagus, and goat cheese sandwich on wheat english muffins.

Veggies on the side for me, along with some lemon zest in the sandwich made for a delicious lunch.

Stephen's with his cool ranch doritos!

I decided to try my hand at making a loaf of bread. For some reason, I am very rarely successful at this. But I thought I would try out the Milk Bread for my Joy of Cooking book.

The dough before rising. This dough comes together to be silky, soft, and moist. It was actually really pleasant to knead the dough. And it was very light to knead, so my arms did not get as sore. Either that, or I am developing some super strong arms!

The dough after riding in the loaf pan.

And after baking! Looks good, right? Now for the moment of truth, taking the bread out of the pan...

Ta-dah!

It came out perfectly. I always have a hard time waiting to allow the loaf to cool. Thankfully I had dinner to cook, so it had some time to cool off before I sliced into it.

Can you see the crumb in this loaf? This actually came out wonderfully.

Some butter on top. This slice is ready to dive into our dinner.

But before I show you what we ate fore dinner, we are going to take a dessert break.

I wanted a very chocolatey cookie. And I found one. I made the Chocolate Chunkers from Dorie's book. These cookies have a very small amount of batter.

And a lot (a whole lot) of mix-ins. I put in Green and Blacks Dark Chocolate (85%), Hershey's special dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, pecans, and peanuts.

All mixed up. The dough is basically goodies with a little bit of batter to hold them all together.

Ready for the oven, cookie?

The baked cookies were carefully removed from the baking sheet.

And lined up on paper towels, because I do not own a wire rack.

This cookie is just oozing with chocolate. It gives you an idea of how ooey gooey and chocolatey this cookies will be.

If you are craving chocolate, make these. Here is a recipe. I cut it in half, which was a good idea, because these cookies are amazing, but there are only 2 of us. Make sure you pour yourself a large glass of milk. You will need ot to wash down the chocolate. These are not for the faint of heart. Perhaps if you use white chocolate in place of one of the dark chocolates, it will be less intense. But I am partial to dark chocolate, so I will not be trying that any time soon. How about you?

I did something brave today. I cooked a veggie I have never cooked. You see, I claim that I love brussel sprouts, but I have only had the lttle single serving steamer bags. I have never cooked them on my own! I have always been terrified of making the apartment smell like feet or something equally disgusting.

I bought a bag of baby brussel sprouts and was super exciting about prepping this new fresh veggie.

I preheated the oven to 375F. I trimmed the bottoms off of the brusse sprouts and I cut them in half.

I them tossed them with olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, sea salt, pepper, and chopped pecans. I roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

They came out nice and browned. The apartment did not smell gross. Actually, the brussel sprouts didn't stink at all. Phew.

They were quickly devoured by me (Stephen doesn't like brussel sprouts in any form), and led to a super full belly. Veggies are never safe around me, especially delicious ones. I supposed this means my first brussel sprouts adventure was an absolute success! Maybe too much of a success.

These were a side dish for venison chili that I made for the main course.

The chili has diced tomatoes, ground venison, black beans, onion, garlic, spices, and most of a bottle of Sam Adams Winter Lager. The rest of the bottle was consumed by the cook. Sometimes she needs a nice beverage.

The chili went wonderfully with the fresh bread.

It really does not get any better than fresh chili, fresh bread, awesome veggies, and delicious cookies for dessert.

I truly cannot wait for clinary school. I want to get feedback about my cooking and I really yearn to be around people that appreciate the work and creativity that goes behind making meals and food in general. I love cooking for myself and Stephen, but I always feel like I am missing something when a meal is simply inhaled or not really thought about. I want someone to talk food with, someone to get lots of cool idea from, and inspiration! But there is something to be said about cooking for a non foodie. It makes me find new ways to be creative about food.

Not a bad thing, but I cannot wait to actually learn more about this hobby to which I give far too much of time!

Hope you had a great weekend.