Sis’ Favorite
I really debated on adding this recipe to the book. It’s is so crazy simple that I thought I shouldn’t bother. But then I considered that if this book is about anything, it’s about making a meal when you have nothing to make it with. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to come up with something for dinner and stood in front of an open, empty fridge and thought, “no way”. If you’ve ever had to come up with a meal when your fridge was practically empty and your bank account even emptier, I would wager you’d welcome an idea or two. That’s how this recipe started life. One day it was time for dinner and there was nothing to make it with. The story goes like this:
One day it was time for dinner and there was absolutely nothing in the refrigerator besides a package of hot dogs. We never bought hot dog buns unless it was a special occasion. If you wanted a hot dog on a bun, you got a piece of bread and wrapped it around a hot dog. That might have been an option on this day but we didn’t have any bread. After staring at the package of hot dogs for what seemed like hours, I thought, “What about hot dogs and beans?” Great, if we’d had a can of pork and beans, which we didn’t. Moving on to the pantry, I found only spaghetti and tomato sauce. Thus was born my sister’s all-time favorite meal, hot dogs and spaghetti.
It probably seems bizarre to you, but she was only 7 years old and that’s what 7 year olds like. I liked it as well and so did my mother, though probably not as much as my sister did. It’s a real kid-pleaser kind of recipe and amazingly fast to prepare. The truth is, every now and again I still get a craving for it. Told you I was a big kid.
Actually it is a fun alternative to traditional spaghetti Bolognese or spaghetti & meatballs. I suggest getting the cheap hot dogs because they actually taste better in this dish than the good all beef hot dogs. And truth be told, there are few things you can do with the chicken/pork mix hot dogs. They simply have to be used in a recipe like this because they are not good on their own.