Episode 100 - How to Cook Sausage in a Hotel Room

In episode number 100, I took about a recent trip to Chicago for a food blogging conference and home show and how I brought along a Dash waffle maker with to cook sausage in my hotel room. See how you can save money on eating out while traveling.

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You can listen to this podcast episode below or listen on any of these podcast players - Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts. If you would prefer to read the text, you will find a transcript below.

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Hey everyone. Today we did it. We are releasing our 100th episode! Thanks for everyone that has listened to any of the previous 99 episodes. If you are new here there are plenty of ones to go back and listen to, so make sure you do that. Send me a message and I will give you some recommendations!

If you are enjoying our podcast, can you do use a favor? Leave us a 5 star review using your favorite podcast player. We are on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts. That is a big help to us as we continue to grow and produce these next 100 episodes.

We wanted to mark our 100th episode by delivering you a podcast exclusive episode. If you don't know a lot of our episodes are based on the 13+ years of content we have on our blog. We love sharing it in a podcast episode along with extra tips in our Before You Checkout segments.

We also do occasional interviews with other food bloggers and food makers. If you would like to be interviewed for this podcast, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or send me a message on Instagram at @eatshopwastenot.

A stage for the Tastemaker conference with rows of chairs lined up in front.

Today's episode as you see is entitled "How to Cook Sausage in a Hotel Room". I recently went to Chicago for the Tastemaker Conference and Inspired Home Show. The conference is for food content creators. It's a great place to hang out with my fellow bloggers which is a rare treat. The Inspired Home Show is a trade show featuring different housewares. I particularly went to see all the kitchen appliances, gadgets, tools, pots, pans, etc.

Dim Sum at a Chinese restaurant. A sesame bun is being held up showing the filling inside.

While I did eat out a few times while I was there - I had some Dim Sum at a restaurant in Chinatown - I didn't want to spend the money doing that for every meal. My hotel room didn't have a microwave, just a fridge and a coffee maker.

A Dash Honeycomb Mini Waffle maker in a white box. The waffle maker is yellow.

Knowing what I had going in I packed a Dash mini waffle maker. It's small so it fit perfectly in my bag without sacrificing much precious space. It's also sturdy so it wouldn't break. The waffle maker I brought is yellow and has a honeycomb pattern. I also own waffle stick version and I got a shamrock one at the Inspired Home Show.

Gene's Sausage Shop in Chicago is pictured showing deli turkey and ham with sausages hanging up in the background.

When I got to Chicago I searched out some highly rated stores to shop at. I found Gene's Sausage Shop and Delicatessen in the Lincoln Square area. They had 4.8 stars on Google and the pictures of the meats hanging from the ceiling where very inviting. I took the "L" which is the train system/subway that runs through Chicago to pick up some sausage.

It was hard to narrow down what I was going to buy. I would have filled my freezer at home if I wasn't traveling. I picked out Sheboygan Bratwurst, Italian Sausage, Bacon Bratwurst, and Pork Breakfast Sausage with Blueberries. What I love when I get to buy from a counter is being able to choose one to try without having to commit to a whole pack. Although in this case they were all so good I wish I could have had a whole pack. The Italian sausage was my favorite.

To cook the sausage I sliced it as thin as I could. I turned on the waffle maker and when hot cooked the sausage on it until crispy on both sides. I could fit half a sausage at a time. For the thinner breakfast sausage I cut them length wise and then in half, which I think made them more crispy. It only took a few minutes to cook the sausage through.

I cleaned the waffle maker as soon as it was cool enough to handle, dumping out the excess fat into the trash bag - I would have saved that fat at home!

A black hotel tray with paper wrapped sausage, Idahoan Roasted garlic instant potatoes, and a fresh Zucchini.

Besides the sausage I also cooked some thinly sliced zucchini. I used the hotel coffee maker to boil water to add to some Instant Mashed Potatoes to make it a full meal. I was glad to be able to make this work and get a chance to try out some local food without having to always hit up a pricey restaurant.

Thanks for listening to our 100th episode. We appreciate all of our listeners and hope you have learned a thing or two so far.