hot and spicy cheese bread.

i went to madison a few weeks ago and had some of 

the most delicious bread i've ever tasted. 

(it's called stella's, in case you are ever in the neighborhood) 

my friend requested that i come up with my own version.

so here goes nothing.

some yeast, sugar and water.

flour, milk and (two kinds of) cheese.

-- colby jack and medium cheddar --

salt, garlic and red pepper.

after the dough had risen for the first time, i put 

(what i thought was) a lot of cheese inside.

-- monterrey jack and provolone --

after i stuffed them, i let them rise again.

 

then i popped them in the oven and
out came this delicious spicy cheesy bread. 

not nearly as much cheese as i expected when i opened it up,
but i guess i'll know better for next time.
(they must seriously put an entire brick of cheese inside)

crispy outside and soft inside. yummy and spicy. 
not bad for my first try.

three little (news) victories.

a while back, i went to this very fancy dinner in madison for 

the wisconsin broadcaster's association awards banquet.

you can tell how fancy it was by looking at the napkins in the cups. 

also by the fact that dessert was on our table when we got there.

(so tempting to not eat first)

i walked into that hotel as just another reporter...

and walked out as an award-winning journalist. 

feature news had the most applicants across the state (by far) 

so that was huge for me. 

plus i like to think of myself as a storyteller reporter 

and that's what feature reporting basically means.

spot news is just fun because 

you have to hustle and make stuff to put on TV super-fast.

on a completely unrelated note, we have our top five stories and videos posted to our website and at one point, four of the five stories were mine (all but the forecast). there are so many people who post stories at our station so this is kind of a rarity.

and lastly i posted my "bear burglar" story on a facebook group called "storytellers" to look for critiques and one of the most awesome, famous reporters left THREE lengthy comments on it. i completely geeked out. if you've never watched one of boyd huppet's stories, you should. click here for a link to his series of stories. he is my hero.

emceeing, spying on high school kids and eating candy.

one of the awesome things about my job is 

meeting people who inspire me.

take paige for example.

i met her at an event i emceed -- wishstock 2012.

it was a benefit for the make a wish foundation.

despite all she's been through, she has such a positive outlook on life.

i stole these pictures from her fb ( :

she also has a pretty cool blog. click here for more. 

i also get to drive cars with barely any miles on them.

or at least one...

i get to do live shots and watch high school kids pretend they're me.

and i get to eat gummi octopus candies. YUM.

(somethings) a little more sweet.

okay. real food aside -- let's see the treats i've been cooking up.

chocolate chip crumble cookie bars with chocolate filling --

white chocolate lemon chex mix --

gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies --

and rice krispie treats with nerds and pretzels -- 

salty and sweet with a little kick.

plus everything tastes better when it's in shapes.

someday i will figure out how to have a recipe tab 

like surrah does and then i can post all of those too...

peppers with everything.

lest you think i only bake desserts, here's some other food i've made.

a little variation on my sister's baked macaroni and cheese recipe. 

i added some protein -- grilled chicken -- and extra veggies 

to make it a little more crunchy.

 also i've developed a minor obsession with onions and peppers.

red and white onions + green and red peppers

+ anything = delicious...and so colorful!

my pasta shells with grilled chicken -- 

(steamed peppers and onions)

and on a burrito with rice and cheese -- 

(raw veggies)

 what are you baking lately? 

sometimes we like each other.

were we all really in the same state just last week??

(click to enlarge)

PINATA COOKIES.

as per usual, i have a million different things to write about.

so here's my plan.

i'll get you caught up on all the delicious food i've been making,

then talk about some cool reporter things 

before starting my utah recap next week.

i'm scheduling a bunch of (daily!) blogposts so stay tuned (or miss out).

first things first -- PINATA COOKIES!

in my inspiration recipe, it said to use sugar cookie dough 

(after the fact, i realize why...more on that in a minute) 

but i decided to make something way more delicious 

-- chocolate chip cookie dough batter without chocolate chips.

so i rolled them into a few dough balls and proceeded to color them.

THIS WAS EASILY THE MOST DIFFICULT PART.

the dough i made had a yellowish tint so it was really hard to make it look truly red or blue (purple and pink were impossible).

i don't think that would have been an issue 

if i had just made sugar cookie dough. 

oh well. live and learn.

i stained my hands with food coloring to make these adorable little rainbow dough balls.

next, i split each dough ball in half and made these layers of dough.

^ that got to stay in the freezer overnight.

(if you are making these, i lined the pan with plastic wrap which helped me get the dough out after it was frozen)

i let it thaw in the fridge for a few hours the next morning

before slicing them up (very thinly!) and baking.

350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

then, while they're still warm, i cut them into 

little shapes and cut out the middles of 1/3 of the cookies. 

 

then you start stacking.

-- full cookie on the bottom -- 

-- hollow cookie on top -- 

-- and another full cookie on top --

plus a thin layer of frosting in the middle and mini m&m's inside!

voila...pinata cookies!

i made them again a few days later, but this time i put mini chocolate chips in the batter and ditched the food coloring...way easier!

also delicious.