2:00 am: “Do you want to bake something?”

Written by on in Breakfast, Tidbits and Treats

Yesterday was crazy. Our school teamed up with two others to produce an election show that aired live in Chicago from 9-10 pm. We had representatives at the McCain camp and live shots from Grant Park as thousands of people waited to hear Obama speak. Almost as soon as our show went off the air, Obama was projected as the winner. I’m not sure how many people watched our tiny little newscast on a lesser known Chicago channel, but it was incredible to be a part of the experience, and I got such a rush just by being in the control room and listening to everyone yell and scream results as they piled in.

I was feeling patriotic in the morning, so I made myself a bowl of Americereal.

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I used raspberries (red), unsweetened vanilla almond milk (white), and a particular bowl and spoon (blue) to pull it off with my Kashi Go Lean cereal. Good stuff!

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The rest of the day was madness, but I got a lot of free food out of the deal, including Chicago’s infamous Carmen’s pizza and a turkey breast sandwich from Potbelly. Who says being in the news biz doesn’t have its perks? My roomie K was actually one of the reporters who did a live shot from Grant Park, so the rush of excitement and involvement was in the air at our humble abode all night long.

At about 2:00 am, we have the following conversation:

K: Do you want to bake something?

Me: Sure! Ooh, I have a gigantic can of pumpkin that needs to be used up!

Yes, we decided to break out the bowls and pans at 2:00 am. It was so much fun! We ended up making Pumpkin Brownies based on this recipe, only we substituted whole wheat flour and used slightly less oil and sugar. We had such a large amount of batter that we needed to use three different baking pans! First, we made muffins.

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Then came one springform pan…

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And another!

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We enjoyed some of the fruits of our labor (in muffin form) with some Promise Light and strawberry jam while catching up on some episodes of Private Practice. Anyone else love that show?

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The muffins/brownies/what-have-you could have used a bit of all-purpose flour to get a more brownie-like consistency, but overall they weren’t bad. Plus, it was 3:00 am at that point – we weren’t going to complain!! It was well worth it though – one of those nights that you wish lasted forever. We ended up heading to bed around 4:00 am. Good thing I don’t have class on Wednesdays, eh? 😉 I needed that extra sleepy time!

After a big and allbeit exciting day, I have plenty of catching up to do. Tonight I’m doing my usual Wednesday health beat for my news station, but I’ve also got a lot of work goin’ on. I’ve got to get ahead because PAPA BENDER AND LIL’ BRO ARE COMING TO TOWN!! I am so, so excited! They are coming for the big football game! It’s too bad it coincides with the Quaker conference that bloggers like Kath and Jenna are coming for because that means I won’t be able to meet them 🙁 But hey, a visit from family is a visit from family and I can’t complain!!

I hope you all have been having enjoyable weeks! I’m slowly catching up on all your lovely blogs and finding out what’s up 😉 Have a great night!

37 Comments

  1. ahhh middle of the night baking is so much fun!! those pumpkin goodies look delish. yay for family visit!!! and what you did on election night, broadcasting etc. sounds amazing.

  2. Crazy, crazy day for ya – but hooray for BAKING!!!!! Amazing muffins 🙂

    Ahh, so sorry that you’ll miss the blogger meet-up; but HOORAY FOR FAMILY VISITS!!! Family = life.

  3. wow that sounds like an amazing night, and of course nothing beats free (delicious) food!

    your baking adventures sound so fun–i don’t think i’ve ever had a late-night baking extravaganza but i can imagine that it would be a great time. i am BEYOND jealous that your family is coming to visit, you’ll have so much fun! i am practically counting down the seconds until i can go home for thanksgiving…

    have a great night!

  4. I enjoyed reading about your gigantic container of pumpkin that you so deliciously “messed up”-the creation looks yummy-and that bowl of cereal looks fit for 4th of july! Yum! goodnight!

  6. I’ve never done the Late Night Baking thing… I mean I’ve done the 10pm COOKING deal but I can’t remember doing the baking one (sober… NO I’M TOTALLY KIDDING!!). You are so adorable, though, and that is SO fantastic that you were ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR! I mean, how EXHILARATING! And I was BEYOND stoked about the Election, myself. (I know it’s totally “taboo” to comment on it, but I don’t care. Why not exercise the right if you’ve got it! I’m proud of my right of speech/press.. I love that man 😉 ).

  9. Haha love the patriotic breakfast you’ve got going on there!

    Pumpkin BROWNIES? What an excellent idea. I can’t believe you guys stayed up til 4. That’s intense. I love staying up basically all night haha. Always the best nights.

    Hope you have a wonderful time with the fam jam!

  11. oh late night baking…i used to bake through entire nights when i was in college!!! now i can barely stay up past 11!!!! hahaha!

    have a wonderful weekend w/ the fam!

  12. Wow, what an exciting night you had to be in the middle of it! So jealous!! I have had 2am baking experiments before in the past. 🙂 and bummer about not being able to meet up with the other bloggers, but family comes first.

  15. It must be amazing to be where you are right now! Enjoy it. 😀

    Have fun with your family this weekend.

    I used to make a lot of late night chocolate chip pancakes in college. I didn’t love canned pumpkin back then.

  19. There’s no wrong time to bake, ever! The middle of the night seems like a perfect time =]

    I <3 your American breakfast! Yessssss!

  21. Oh Jenn, that sounds like such a wonderful night! Sounds like you and your roomie have a lot of fun together 🙂 And those pumpkin cakes/brownies/muffins all look amazing! If I could figure out a way to stay up that late, I would definitely try the baking thing!

    Have a great Thursday!!

  22. Glad you had a fun night! All of the baking looks AWESOME. I heart the pumpkin baked goods! That is fabulous that dad and bro are coming to visit- can’t wait to see the pics from their weekend with you!

  23. What a fun night! You know, I can’t even imagine being up at 3:00 in the morning, let alone baking anything! Too old, I guess! Ha! 🙂

    Enjoy your time with your family!!

  25. sounds like an amazing night!
    i love the baked goodies- they look incredible
    i haven’t usually been a fan of private practice, but LIVE for grey’s, but i’ve been getting into private practice this season, too- i watched it last night and it was great
    hooray for papa bender and lil bro coming to visit! i hope you have a wonderful time!
    i’m flying into and out of phoenix for thanksgiving week, but staying in tucson, and for xmas i’ll be in tucson but totally don’t mind a drive to phoenix (i have family there.. and shopping to do there!) so i hope we can meet up one of those times!
    happy thursday 😀

  26. such a great way to stay up late……so productive, so yummy and I can imagine the flavor around your home …
    And great american bowl for breakfast! So cute so patriotic.

  27. haha, i don’t think i’ve ever done the late night baking 🙂 at least not that late!! have a great time with papa bender and the bro!!

  35. found you blog (don’t remember where) and i think i just spent the last 3-4 hours reading through all your archives. seriously. got SO MANY good ideas from your blog. i will be back 🙂

  37. wow! that sounds like such an amazing night and fun times with your roomie! yay for visiting family!! have a great rest of your weekend, Miss Bender!!!

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