Barbecue Hot Dog with Caramelized Onions and Broccoli Slaw

I try to make dinners for my family that are different and tasty.  I try to round out each meal with a salad and vegetable.  To be honest I try to get 2 vegetables at each meal I can in addition to the salad.  But, we all have days, or weeks, that just don’t go the way we expect or want them to.

This was one of “those” days.  It was 5:30 pm and there was no dinner planned.

What can I do for dinner?  I head to one of my stand-by meals.  I always make sure the I have at least 2 pizza crusts in the cupboard or the freezer and at least 2 packages of hot dogs.  With these I can have a meal on the table in 20 minutes.   Last night I pulled out one of the packages of turkey hot dogs.

Barbecue Hot Dog with Diced Dill Pickles and German Mustard

Then I get stuck.  What do I do with them?  I can’t just serve plain old hot dogs.  I start searching the refrigerator to see what I can serve with them.  I found a bag of broccoli slaw, some dill pickles,  an onion and some barbecue sauce.

That is all I need to start creating.

Barbecue Sauce with Caramelized Onions

Verdict:

These were all amazing!  My children loved that they could customize their hot dogs.  They really liked the diced dill pickles with German mustard over the top.  The barbecue sauce just added another level of flavor that you don’t expect when you bite into the hot dog.  Every bite was gone by the end of dinner.  Both children have already asked for us to do this again.

I served this with french fries and carrots.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of turkey hot dogs
• 1 container of broccoli slaw
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 TBSP butter
• Dill pickles, cut into small chunks (I used Klaussen)
• German mustard
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.  Add sliced onion to pan.  Stir occasionally letting the onion cook slowly for about 20 minutes.  When onion is well browned remove from heat.
2. Cut hot dogs in half length-wise but do not cut completely through.  Lay flat side of hot dogs on a grill or fry pan.  Brush with barbecue sauce on both sides.  Flip hot dogs half way through cooking and brush again with barbecue sauce.   Cook hot dogs until warmed through.
3. Serve hot dogs on a roll with various toppings.  Mix and match to your tastes.