Pinteresting Summer

Challenge 26- Spaghetti Impaled Hot Dogs (these probably need a better name huh?)

This pin was one of those dreaded picture only pins but I figured it was a pretty simple concept and I probably couldn't do too much to screw it up.

Two simple ingredients, spaghetti noodles and hot dogs. I love these Heartland Hidden Vegetable noodles since I can't get my child anywhere near vegetables and they do taste better than whole grain spaghetti noodles. Hebrew National are also my favorite hot dog brand and these are incredibly low in calorie for a beef hot dog. You slice the hot dogs and impale them with a few spaghetti noodles while they are both still uncooked.

I used about 4 noodles and 2 hot dog slices per section, I had a few broken noodles but it wasn't difficult to do (and definitely something you could have kids help with). I started heating the water while I was making the hot dog spaghetti structures. Once the water is boiling throw them in and cook them until the noodles are cooked to your preferred texture (These took about 10 minutes for me).

Once the noodles are cooked, drain like regular pasta and put back in the pot. I sprayed these with butter spray for the toddler but they could be good with pasta sauce (or they could be awful I'm not really sure).

They were cool looking and adventurous kids might like this cool mix of two of their favorite foods. My child however is not adventurous when it comes to food and was not a huge fan. She ate the noodles but not the hot dogs. These were OK taste wise but pretty bland for adult pallets. The hot dogs were a bit dry but that may be because they were a low fat hot dog to begin with. I might try this one more time with the fattier Ballpark like franks and see if they are any better. But with the amount of work it takes to slice and impale the hot dogs I might just be more willing to boil some noodles and nuke the kid a hot dog. I was great to try once and would be fun to make if you have a kid who wants to help make dinner with you. Other than that they aren't really worth it unless your kid really loves them.