Oven Hot Dogs

I didn't think that a chili dog could get much better, until we had these for dinner tonight. Seriously, the chili dog is my favorite hot dog application and I was very dubious that it could be improved upon. My friend, Claire had tried these awhile back and emailed me the recipe. Even with her glowing reviews, my skepticism put this recipe on the back burner for awhile. I finally made this dish and instantly fell in love. I should've known that Claire would not steer me wrong! I was in chili dog heaven, to say the least!!!

Oven Hot Dogs
From: In the Wabe blog via the Cooking Claire blog

Ingredients:
8 hot dogs (I used turkey dogs)
8 hot dog buns (I used whole wheat buns)
1 or 2 cans of chili with beans (we like them with a lot of chili, so I used 2 cans)
1/2 an onion, diced
shredded cheddar cheese (about a cup)
mayonnaise (I used light mayo)
mustard (I used deli style mustard)
sweet relish (I used dill relish)

Directions:
Line inside of hot dog buns with mayonnaise and sweet relish. Evenly add mustard. Fill with hot dogs and squish into a 13×9″ baking pan lined with foil.

Top hot dogs with chili, cheese, and diced onion. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Carefully remove from the pan with a spatula and serve.





The Result:
So I made some adaptations to suit our family and to lighten them up a tiny bit. These hot dogs are decadent any way you cut it, but I felt the need to ease my food induced guilt with whole wheat buns, light mayo, and turkey franks. I know it's mostly faux "healthy", but it made me feel better about our dinner. Anyway, these dogs were fantastic...just don't think about the whole nutrition thing and you will love them!

Note:
Our side dish was easy and very yummy, too. I roasted a spaghetti squash by coating it with olive oil, salt, and pepper and then baking it cut-side down at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When the squash was finished, I scraped the roasted insides into a bowl with a fork, seasoned with a little more salt and pepper, and threw in about a 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. I then mixed it all together and served the squash on the side. YUM! I sooooo love a good veggie side dish!!!