HOT DIGGETY DOG!

BY BONNIE AMBROSI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMMA AMBROSI

For decades, hot dogs have been a favorite kid food. When I was growing up half a century ago in rural Indiana, we called them wieners. I recall many family wiener roasts, especially in the fall.

Sometimes my father built a small fire on our gravel driveway, but more often we walked down into the woods to a pretty spot next to the creek. There, Daddy had made a little stone ring especially for this purpose. He would cut slim tree branches for us and sharpen one end with his pocket knife to serve as skewers. My mother would have carried down a picnic basket with the paper plates, hot dogs and buns, ketchup and marshmallows. Standing by the fire roasting a hot dog on a stick, I felt perfectly happy.

Both my parents have been gone now for many years, and these memories are heartachingly sweet to me. But times and tastes change. In 2012, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health found consumption of red meat, particularly processed meats such as hot dogs, associated with a significant increase in cancer and cardiovascular disease. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, made headlines by declaring processed meats carcinogenic.

If this information prompts you to rethink your approach to wiener roasts, one option is to try a plant-based frank. There are several brands available, including LightLife Smart Dogs, Loma Linda Big Franks and Field Roast Grain Meat Frankfurters. “Grain Meat” refers to wheat gluten, sometimes called “wheat meat.” It is a common plant protein in vegan meat substitutes, so if you are gluten intolerant, read the labels. Smart Dogs are made with soy and pea protein, Big Franks with soy and wheat germ.

Food should be fun and safe! You can serve plant-based hot dogs on buns with fixings just the way you would oldfashioned hot dogs. Slice them into baked beans and mac and cheese. Or take a more playful approach. Here are two hot dog tricks that I learned when I was a kid in 4-H, oh so many years ago. Whatever kind of hot dog you choose, the love with which it is prepared and served is the most important ingredient! Enjoy! — MDT

Bonnie Ambrosi lives in Duluth and is an organizer of The Vegan Cookbook Club which meets at 11:30 a.m. on the first Thursday of every month at Mount Royal Branch Library. Contact Ambrosi at bonnieambrosi@gmail.com.

X O HOT DOGS (KISSES AND HUGS)

For the X: After cooking the hot dog, carefully slice almost halfway down one side lengthwise, and then the other side, leaving a portion in the middle to keep them connected. Spread out the four “arms” on the plate.

For the O: After cooking the hot dog, carefully make slices almost all the way through one side of the hot dog. This will allow you to curve the hot dog around on the plate to make a circle.

Serve with a kiss and a hug.

Show older children how to cut the hot dogs themselves, using a table knife, not a sharp knife.

Please remember that hot dogs are a choking hazard for children younger than 3. Do not give small children a whole hot dog to hold and bite, or cut the hot dog into round “pennies.” Instead, cut the hot dog into smaller pieces.