The Comfort of a Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie

Hi Everyone!  This past week had once again turned crazy, but what's new with that these days?!?!  On Tuesday, I banged the heck out of my left & right feet/toes by tripping over the metal door saddle into my living room.  While tripping, I was also trying to gracefully save myself from going over on one of my son's toys.  Me and graceful are not the best of friends, which was quite evident at that moment in time.  I hit hard to say the very least.  Never felt pain like that before in my life, and I've gone through gallbladder attacks and a C-section.  Plus, the week before, I cracked my right foot pretty squarely on the leg of our antique, cast iron, pot belly stove in the dining room.  Ouch indeed.  (Have to love foot drop associated with Multiple Sclerosis which apparently has been causing me to trip so much these days.)  All those instances were nothing compared to what I felt Tuesday night.  I didn't see stars...I saw a completely new universe that night.  Needless to say, I was at the Urgent Care center on Wednesday having x-rays taken of my "winter rough" feet and naked, unmanicured toes.  Luckily, in the end, it was just severe toe/foot bruising and left foot strain.  Nothing can be done about that other than putting the foot up, icing it, and pain medication (which my body does not tolerate).  However, I was not going to let my injury stop me from having my Girls Night Out with Lynn, so off to El Azteca I went.  I figured the tequila in two margaritas would put me in better spirits (pun intended..get it..tequila/spirits...ok, bad humor over), and I'd be feeling no pain after that ;-)  Right I was LOL!!!  Don't worry, my friend Lynn drove, as I was not able to drive w/my foot the way it was.  Thanks for the ride, Lynn!  I really did appreciate it, along with your company that night.  We always have such a good time together :-)

As if that weren't enough, my son came down with a cold, plus his two-year molars are making their presence known in his mouth.  Then I started in with the sore, scratchy throat and coughing.  Now my husband has been laid up since last night with even worse cold symptoms.  There's certainly a total germ fest going on in the "W" household this month.

But back to my page title.  As it had turned into a pretty rotten week, I was emotionally craving and needing the warmth of comfort food.  Me and my WTE mommas having been "talking" a lot lately on Facebook about our baking plans for this upcoming holiday season, along with a cookie exchange we're doing amongst our group, so I took it upon myself to make some good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies.  Half were plain, the other half with chopped walnuts.  What's more comforting than homemade cookies and an ice cold glass of milk?!?!  I decided to try out a new recipe that came from my friend, Christine; whose nickname also happens to be Chrissy :-)  Well, her recipe is basically a double batch, so I now have more than enough unbaked cookies in my freezer to just pop in the oven whenever the need arises!  There are 25 of each kind in there, so me and my son are set for a while.  I'm still craving oatmeal-craisin and peanut butter cookies, so I'm sure batches of those will be making their way into Krissy's mixing bowl in the near future ;-)

Not only did the smells and tastes of the freshly made cookies put me in an overall better mood, but I find baking incredibly relaxing and enjoyable.  The preciseness of measuring the main ingredients and the creativity in choosing the add-ins for the cookies, or in the decorating of the cakes/cupcakes I like to make, is a perfect mesh of two parts of my personality.  Very rarely will you find an activity like baking that melds those two aspects so beautifully, not too mention tastefully :-) 

It feels as if my ramblings have gone on too long now.  I am adding in a few photos, though, to document my baking love fest this Saturday.  From the look on my son's face, I think he's inherited my sweet tooth!  Until next time...

Wishing you peace, love, and happiness from Krissy's Mixing Bowl :-)

Raw cookie dough ready to go into the deep freeze for the initial set

My little helper!  I think he enjoyed his cookie, too :-)

The finished product!!!