recipe 101: edible cookie dough

We always hear that you can get sick from eating cookie dough because of the raw egg. Although I don't know how true this really is because I've never gotten sick and I don't know anyone who has ever gotten sick, there still could be that one instance. So this is for good measure.
SIDE NOTE: Jason and I went to the store on Thursday because I was craving cookies so we bought enough pre-made dough make 24 cookies. We ate the first 18 in 24 hours (and ate 2 cookies worth of dough before baking) Whoops! 
I also have a friend (Hi Ellen if you're reading this!) who loves cookie dough probably definitely more than me. It's her go-to stress reliever, and I love that! Please see her tweet below and you will see exactly what I mean. :)

So back to the point. On Shark Tank Friday night, there was two girls that started up The Cookie Dough Cafe and they specifically made cookie dough. Not cookie dough that you bake to make cookies, but cookie dough that is made specifically for eating and indulging in. GENIUS. I'd love to work there. And be the taste tester.
So I browsed the website, got sad that I couldn't buy it online and then realized it's not sold near me. So I did what all cookie dough lovers would do. I made my own.

Without further ado, the best EDIBLE cookie dough. No egg.
Here it goes!

The most basic ingredients! And not to mention, you don't need many things!

COOKIE DOUGH IN PICTURES!

COOKIE DOUGH WITH MEASUREMENTS!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 
• Some salt (approx. 1/4 tsp)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 2 tablespoons milk 
• 1 cup chocolate chips

WHAT TO DO

• Using a mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. It should be fluffy and creamy - NOT crumbly. If it's crumbly, your butter was too hard. 
• Add vanilla and salt. Mix.
• Add flour. Now the dough will be crumbly, that's normal.
• Add chocolate chips.
• ENJOY!

FUN FACTS/BREAKDOWN

• When I say 2 teaspoons of vanilla, it is completely up to your discretion. I love a vanilla flavor, and I know some people don't. So you could use less if you'd like.
• Some salt.... I say 1/4 teaspoon because that seems about right. I never measure my salt, I just use a couple dashes.
• I used whole wheat flour but you can use regular flour, too. We just had whole wheat in the cupboard!
• I say 1 cup of chocolate chips but I actually use way more. I love the chocolate-y yumminess. But for health reasons, most would probably want to stick to 1 cup. I'm a bad ass.

 Store leftovers in the refrigerator or put in the freezer if it won't be used in the next couple of days.

**It's been shown that there is a slight risk of getting sick from eating raw flour. Consume at your own risk.**

 

PS - I made my second batch last night. The first batch may or may not have been all gone in a matter of four days.

monday montage - week of 1/27

And I bring to you, this week's Monday Montage.

And that's all. Work has been nut-so!
More to come in the following weeks, I promise! :)

5 things i believe in

Be-lieve (verb): to accept or regard something as true, to accept the truth of what is said by someone, to have a specified opinion.

There are definitely things I believe in that some may not, and they're are definitely some things I don't believe in that I know some others do.
It's something that makes an individual, well, an individual.
So here are five things I believe in:
One. I believe happiness is a choice. There has been research done and apparently there is "scientific proof" that only 40% of our happiness is within our control. The other 60 is said to be partially determined by genetics and upbringing. I don't buy it. In my mind, I believe that maybe 10% of happiness is genetics and 90% is up to us. I say 10% simple because I do think that a child having negative and unhappy parents will be hindered to be truly happy later in life. But they still have choices. "The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his or her life by altering his or her attitude," is a quote by psychologist William James. Simple as that.
Two. I believe in a heaven above and guardian angels. This was my upbringing, and it never went away. Losing three of my four grandparents before I was even in college led to this. Losing my aunt during my freshman year at UNI led to this. With losing people so close to me, I've gained a pretty great crowd of guardian angels. There is one instance in particular where I know they were looking down on me. Here's the story. It was graduation weekend at UNI and at the time I was interning in Cleveland, OH so I was catching my flight back to Iowa. I was in Chicago waiting for the second leg of my flight to take me to Cedar Rapids at 9pm when my flight got delayed. And delayed. And delayed. And canceled. It went through my mind that I was going to miss graduation. My family was all coming to town. And I'd be stuck (I now realize I was overreacting a bit). So I went to the counter to reschedule my flight - 7am the next day. I took it. I called Jason and told him that he may have to drive to Chicago and get me. Without hesitation, he was on his way. I then ran (literally) to another airline's counter and told them I wanted to fly to CR that night. I got put on a waiting list... 6th in line... for a 9:45 flight out of Chicago to CR. I waited and waited. I heard my name. I GOT ON THE FLIGHT. I was beaming. I quickly texted my dad, mom and Jason telling them to NOT drive to Chicago, I was coming home! When I sat down in my small plane seat, I teared up. I knew it was my grandparents and aunt's way of celebrating my graduation. It was an emotional flight.
Three. 

I believe in paying it forward. I think if a person has ever paid it forward, they would believe in the same thing. We hear stories upon stories upon stories during the holiday season about those generous people who go into Wal-Mart and anonymously pay $1,000 on someone else's layaway account. Although that is paying it forward, that's an extreme case (and bless those souls for having extra cash to share). Paying it forward can be so simple. It can cost nothing. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Help a wheelchair bound individual get something off the top shelf at Target. Donate blood (I don't do this because I'm afraid of needles, otherwise I would). Volunteer to help others, even if it's your family or friends. Put the folded shirts back on the rack somewhat nicely when you're at the store. Listen to someone who needs it. It's so simple, and paying it forward helps to radiate happiness. And smiles. And who doesn't love smiling?

Four. I believe laughter is the best medicine. And the best ab workout. Although it's about the only exercise I do, it never gets old. I could do that workout for 10 hours a day. But in all reality, laughing is healthy, contagious and fun. If you've ever been around Jason and I, you probably know that we laugh quite a bit. If you've been around my family, you know we laugh a lot (my dad is hilarious). Whether I'm laughing about a teriyaki dish tasting really terrible or the fact that Jason and I play childish video games and I'm cracking up the whole time, it's just happiness. Even if a person forces themselves to laugh, it usually turns out to be real. Because forcing yourself is just FUNNY.
Five. I believe that being happy with ones self should come first. If someone isn't happy with themselves, how can others be happy for and with them? It's just like the fact that someone should love themselves first so others can love them. If you don't love yourself and are not happy with yourself, you're probably not being you. Which means others aren't seeing the real you. Do you know how hard it is to pretend to be something else for a really, really long time? I'm assuming it's really hard. I always heard that sleeping more can make a person happier. This is actually real. I sleep 10-12 hours per night. And I'd say I'm a pretty happy camper. Exercise makes people happier, too. But it just makes me sore, sweaty and lazy the rest of the day. And in the summer, GO OUTSIDE. It seriously makes people happier. Nothing better than that fresh air. 

monday montage - week of 1/20

Monday Montage is ditching the bulletin board and bringing you full size pictures, so get excited. You now get to see my (not-so) exciting life even LARGER. And plus, it allows me to share however many pictures I want. So boom.
With that said, here's what happened last week:

Jason and I made a trip to Orange Leaf. Of course I pile on chocolate, sprinkles and
cheesecake bites! This might actually be the best one I've created to date.

We worked hard at being handy and doing our best to measure the wall to find the exact middle
so we could hang out new picture. HUGE props to my dad for making a custom size picture frame!

I was cleaning out my wallet when I found this photobooth strip from Tonya's sister's
wedding. I had so much fun with Tonya and Kyle, and miss them both!

I got this gem of a shirt at work. Thanks to cookie season, we're allowed to wear these
shirts on Friday's instead of dressing up. GO BUY COOKIES PEOPLE!

I love, love, LOVE my new Erin Condren planner. Not to mention, when I bought it she mentioned
me on Twitter. And I'm determined that it was actually Erin on the other end. ;)

I also got these Hunter boots that I've been wanting for a long time. You can read more about them here.

 

If you watch The Bachelor then you know this shirt from when Chris Harrison wore it on last week's episode.
I found it in the mall and had to get a picture. PS - it's from Express.

Jason and I went to the market on Saturday and picked up a chuck roast fresh from a grass fed cow.
To be honest, I felt pretty boss when cutting it up and being a little butcher lady. We made delicious pot roast!

On Sunday, we used our new griddle to make some bacon and eggs. Delicious if I do say so myself!

 I hope you have a great week and stay warm!

h2o challenge

Did you know that men are supposed to drink 3 liters of water A DAY? And women are supposed to drink 2.2 liters. In one day. ONE DAY. Whoa.
I rarely have more than one bottle of water a day - I usually fill up my reusable water bottle at work in the morning and try to finish it by the time I leave around 5. Some days I do, some days I don't even drink half.
So Saturday morning, Jason and I decided to challenge ourselves and drink the recommended amount of water in one day. PS - If you want to know where we got the numbers, check the link through Mayo Clinic.
We weren't sure how we were going to measure at first. We thought about repeatedly filling up 20 oz. water bottles but then thought that'd be weird. Jason thought about drinking out of an actual 1 liter bottle. But we ended up drinking out of cups that we had - felt more natural. ;)
We woke up at 7:30am and by the time 8:00 rolled around, Jason had already drank 400mL - I was at 0.
Anyway. If you're wondering how we measured our intake, we poured water into a glass measuring cup and then filled it up to the mL line that would fit in our cup. I had a 500mL cup and Jason's was 400mL typically.

So we drank water, and drank water and drank water. We each drank chugged a glass of water before downtown to get coffee and go to the market. My stomach was SO full. I'm not sure how I made room for a double chocolate muffin, but of course I did.

After the market, we came home for a bit before I had to run into work to take some pizza and pop to a few girls that were getting trained at the office. On our way back we decided to take 53rd Street instead for Kimberly Road for a change in scenery.
This change in scenery led to us stopping at Steak and Shake. We both ordered water. This was tougher because we had to eyeball how much water we were drinking and not miscalculate because of the ice in the glass. We estimated that we both drank about 200mL there.
When supper time rolled around we were both getting kind of stir crazy in the apartment so we decided to go to Olive Garden - and thanks to Jason's sister Kelli, it was FREE because of the gift card she got us for Christmas. It has never tasted so good. :) We each drank a full glass of water there (and we were actually able to get it all down before the waiter asked to refill it).
That was 150mL.
I don't really remember where we were in regards to our totals, but I do remember we still both had a bit of a ways to go. Jason came home and chugged 600mL to get his over with.
I sipped on about 200mL and then chugged 200mL because by this time it was already 10:00.

We were struggling at the end of the night. But we managed to complete it!

------------------------------------------------------------

A FEW OUTCOMES:

1. Drinking water makes bellies VERY full. I could have went without a big meal all day. I was never at the point of being very hungry and my stomach never growled like it normally does. The water kept us full (but of course Jason and I still ate a lot for lunch and supper - oops).
2. Drinking lots of water makes for lots of trips to the bathroom. As weird as this may sound, I made it part of my experience to see how may times I went to the bathroom to release some water intake. I went to the bathroom 12 times yesterday. TWELVE TIMES. And that's when I realized if I drank this much everyday, people at work would think I'm crazy getting up to go to the bathroom all the time.
3. Jason found that it was easier to drink water that wasn't ice cold. I liked mine ice cold, but I must say it's a lot easier to chug when it's not giving you brain freeze.
4. I tried just having a glass of water by me when I was on the couch because I figured I could sip on it throughout parts of the afternoon but then I'd look up two hours later and realize I never even touched it and it was still sitting on the table full.   

Our method of keeping track of our water intake. The tallies
on top by my name is number of times I went to the loo.

If you're ever in need for an experiment to see what being "healthy" is supposed to feel like - try this.