Schmidt's Sausage Haus

For someone who's lived in Columbus all her life, loves to explore, and is part German, I have never been to Schmidt's Sausage Haus until the other day. When I walked in, it was so cute and you could see the German heritage everywhere. Once my family got back to our table, we looked at the menu and it was so hard to decide. All of the options were classic, warm, filling German foods. Since it took us so long to decide, we started with drinks. I got hot chocolate which was very creamy and delicious. 

Eventually everyone decided what we wanted to eat, and then we waited for it to come out. My dad and sister went to their buffet for their meal and got tons of food. All different types of sausages, sides, and desserts. My mom and I got the classic reuben.

I got two sides with mine so I picked chunky applesauce and potato pancakes. All the food I had was delicious and kept me full all day. It also reminded me of all the stuff my family has made before. It tasted like a good home cooked meal. I would highly recommend going here.

Homemade Chili

The best part of it getting colder out is my dad's homemade chili. I don't know what all he uses because some of it is old family secrets, but it is the absolute best.

I usually add cornbread and tons of cheese to it. I love making it extra cheesy because the heat melts it and it becomes stringy and delicious. With all of the spices and heat packed into it, it is sure to warm you up on any cold day.

Work Surprise

I just recently started a new job at Cracker Barrel. On my first day of orientation, they fed their new employees with a sampler.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture, but it looked something along the lines of this. We got ham, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, greens, carrots, green beans, and their baked country apples. With all of this, we also go to try their corn bread, biscuits, and famous sourdough bread. The sourdough bread was amazing. Everytime I go to cracker barrel, I always get breakfast so it was interesting for me to try their dinner food. It was really good and I'll have to try some more dinner/lunch food again. 

Breakfast for Dinner

One of my favorite things to have for dinner is breakfast foods. I think this is because I usually don't have time to eat a big breakfast in the morning, or sometimes I'm not hungry that early. For this meal, my dad made some extra cheesy eggs, homemade sausage patties, hash brown rounds, and we had cranberry apple toast. I've never had the toast before because I believe it's a holiday edition bread my dad got at the grocery store. I'm not a huge fan of the cranberry flavor, but with it toasted and butter on top, it was delicious. 

Steakhouse Nachos

Today I tried something new when I went to Taco Bell. They've been advertising these steakhouse nachos and I thought for something from fast food, they looked pretty good. You can choose between steak, chicken or beef for your meat, and you get cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and pica de gallo on top. For nachos that were from a fast food place, they tasted like they came from where the name stated: a steakhouse.

Leftovers

Since I some how failed to take any pictures of my actual Thanksgiving dinner this year, all I have is left overs. The good thing about left overs is I can have my favorite foods that my family sometimes only makes once a year, whenever I want. In this picture I have a four cheese mac & cheese, yams covered in marshmallows, and my favorite kind of stuffing. It comes from my maternal grandpa's side of the family. I look forward to it every year. To me, it always tastes better because we cook it inside of the turkey and all the juices mix in with it. 

Donut Adventures Part 3

For one day only, Krispy Kreme had pumpkin spice glazed donuts. This meant that their original, delicious donuts were coated in an amazing pumpkin spice. They were very good, especially warm, but I don't think I would ever need to have more than one at a time.

Pink Drink

Something that always makes my day is when the barista at Starbucks accidentally gives you the wrong size of your drink. I would consider this one of my favorite drinks because it is so refreshing. If you want to try it, go to Starbucks, order a strawberry acai refresher and replace the water with coconut milk. There is a 60 cent upcharge for replacing the water, but it is well worth it.

Indecisive

When I go to wing places, I usually crave chicken wings and salads. Some places it's hard to find a good salad and still get my chicken wing fix. When I went to a Bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings), I got a salad with crispy, boneless, chicken wings tossed in my favorite sauce (honey bbq) on top of fresh veggies.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who can never make a decision between a nice fresh salad, and some delicious wings.

A Late Summer Night Staple

Summer is my favorite simply because you can do whatever you want, whenever you want. This includes getting breakfast food at midnight. You spend the day soaking up the sun and exploring new places since you have the whole day at your disposal. You run around doing fun things with your friends until the sun sets, which usually isn't until 9 pm. You continue doing fun things like bonfires, and drive in movies, until you realize you haven't had dinner yet. Everyone hops in the car and you head to your local Waffle House. It may be midnight, but you couldn't be happier. Breakfast food this late, friends, and memories you'll never forget are staples to late summer nights.

Donut Adventures Part 2

Every year I look forward to going to the Ohio State Fair. I love the music, the rides, the animals, the people, but most of all I love the food. When it comes to the food, my favorite things would have to be the grilled corn on the cob, fresh fries, anything deep fried, mini fair donuts, and most importantly, the donut burger. I have no idea who came up with this oddly satisfying treat, but it's amazing.

Glazed donuts serve as the buns, and then you get to choose from cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions as your toppings. I usually get lettuce, cheese, and tomato. When I first tried this two years ago, I was skeptical. I mean who wouldn't be? As I took my first bite, I knew I was going to have to get another one. It is a true mix of sweet and savory and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

With the biggest game of the year coming up (Ohio State vs. *ichigan), I thought it would only be right to post the recipe for one of my favorite football snacks.

First, you'll need to gather all of your ingredients. You'll need two cups of shredded chicken, 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce, and 1/2 cup of ranch or bleu cheese (I use ranch because I don't like bleu cheese). Also if you want to add 1/2 cup of crumbled bleu cheese you can, but I don't.

Next you'll want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

To make it easier to stir, I always warm my cream cheese up in the microwave before I add anything to it.

Once your cream cheese is relatively soft, you'll want to add your 2 cups of shredded chicken.

Mix it up so it looks something like this. Then add 1/2 cup of hot sauce and 1/2 cup of ranch.







 

Next, you're going to stir everything together before placing it in the oven.

Place your dip in your preheated oven and set your timer for 20 minutes.

20 minutes later your dip should come out looking something like this with crispy edges and a warm, cheesy center.

This dip is perfect to pair with tortilla chips, Ritz, or Club crackers.




Cheers

To all the memories we will make as we arrive at the beach.
To the sandy days and beachy waves.
To the nightly walks we take as we make new friends.
To the late nights spent on the boardwalk.
To the ever lasting days of summer, when the sun never sets,
Cheers.

Renaissance Festival

The last two years I have gone with my best friend and her family to the Renaissance Festival. We mainly just go for the food and the little shops. It's super fun. This year, I found a really good pulled pork place (my favorite) and it was delicious. I also got to pick two sides, so I got a really creamy mac and cheese, and also sweet cornbread cookies. I really wish the vendor that was selling it had an actual restaurant because I would be a regular.

For a sweet treat at the end of the day, we found a cute little hut that sold frozen bananas, strawberries and marshmallows. You could then choose if you wanted them dipped in chocolate or not, and then you got to pick your topping: coconut, graham crackers, or sprinkles. Naturally, I got chocolate covered strawberries with coconut and it was amazing.



Donut Adventures

My family loves donuts. So as soon as we heard about a new donut place, we just had to check it out. This place is on the west side of Columbus and known as Amy's Donuts. The thing that makes Amy's Donut's unique, is that alone: her donuts are very unique. Most people don't go to a donut shop and come back with donuts that look like this:

From left to right: Dirty Worm, Maple Bacon, Blueberry Cake, Zesty Lemon,
Twix, Elvis Donut, Chocolate Old Fashion, Chunky Monkey
Peanut, Cherry Frosted, Cherry Frosted, Strawberry Shortcake

I'm pretty sure it took my family of four twenty minutes for each of us to pick out three donuts. There are so many options and just when you think you've decided on one, another one catches your eye. This donuts are delicious and I would highly suggest going there if you love donuts (or even if you don't).