Anyone who has ever eaten at my house knows that while I'm not a BAD cook, I'm not a particularly creative one. Shake and Bake tends to be a staple, and lunches tend to be a choice of the same four or five things most days. So when I was given the opportunity to review Maple Leaf Top Dogs - my very FIRST product review, I might add - I thought it might be an opportunity to show off my culinary prowess - or at least, an attempt at it.
I decided to try and make "Octopus Dogs." I've heard them called different things before, but that's what my five-year-old and I decided to call them.
To do this, I took four weiners, and sliced them in four, but only halfway down, like this:
Now, given that I had only a vague idea of how this was done, I first tried to put them in the oven at 350 degrees F. I checked after five minutes, and they barely looked any different than when I put them in. I checked after ten minutes. They were cooked, but hadn't curled very much. Andrew came in to ask when lunch was going to be ready. He was not impressed when I honestly told him that I just didn't know.
At this point, a lightbulb went off in my head, and I decided to try the broiler. I put them under the broiler on high for five minutes.
Well, the ends curled up, all right, but...
They were just a LITTLE overdone! However, now that I knew what I needed to do, I confidently told Andrew that I would make another attempt, and they would be ready in mere minutes! I pulled out four more Top Dogs, sliced them up, and put them in under the broiler for three minutes. Lo and behold, they were curling, but not charring! I took the two cheese slices from the first picture, and put half a cheese slice over each octopus body - for no reason other than that my kids like melted cheese on just about EVERYTHING. I put them in for another two minutes, but turned the broiler to low, and...
...it worked!
We put them on the plates with some green pepper slices and pretzels, and the kids LOVED them!
That being said, my kids were already big hot dog fans, but they have certain ones that they won't eat. Top Dogs are one of the brands that I do know they like. They can be a bit picky, so it's nice to know that when I buy Top Dogs they're actually going to EAT them.
In honour of our Octopus Dogs, I have 3 sets of Maple Leaf coupons to give away, worth $10 each. (Canada only, I'm afraid) Just leave a comment below with your creative hot dog ideas, or, if you're like me and completely UNcreative in the kitchen, just admit it! I'll do a random drawing of the comments next Friday, September 16 at 9:00 pm EST.
