Amykins I'm thinking of you...

As I head to the kitchen to start dinner, I'm thinking of Amy.  I always think of Amy (and/or Jenny) when I make "Corndog Casserole." 

I know - it sounds strange, possibly even disgusting but seriously, it's not that bad.  It's a recipe I stumbled across years ago when the girls were in high school.  It sounded absolutely bizarre and I was chuckling as I read it to them.  Turns out they were more intrigued than amused.

"Let's try it!"

Never one to squash they enthusiasm, I said sure - go grab a package of hotdogs from the freezer.  The recipe is actually fairly simple and the ingredient list contained items I typically have on hand anyway.  What's the worst that could happen?  We hate it?  The take and bake pizza place is only a couple of miles from our house (and the oven would already be hot).

We didn't eat pizza that night... "Corndog Casserole"  lived up to its name.  It truly does taste like a corndog and I have to get points for the fact that it's got to be at least BETTER for you than the actual corndog would be (since we've completely eliminated the calories, to say nothing of the mess, deep fat frying could cause)!

Last night I was feeling totally uninspired by the contents of my refrigerator.  Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the discovery that our A/C has bit the dust and will need to be (no doubt expensively) replaced, but I just wasn't in the mood to whip up something fantastic.  Then Gerry came home (or as we say now thanks to Mattias "and then there was trouble") and I could tell, uninspired or not, he was still going to want something for dinner.  He suggested I make actual, honest-to-goodness corndogs.  It took a little bit, but I managed to convince him that THAT wasn't going to happen and we agreed on something else last night as long as tonight it was "Corndog Casserole."

So today I dug out the recipe.  Didn't have to look too far - it actually made the cut for the family cookbook.  I'll admit though - it's a strange concoction, one I don't think I've made since the girls were at home.  Not exactly comfort food, definitely not the meal you choose to make if the hubby's boss is coming for dinner.  Come to think of it, it's not really the recipe I'd pull out if ANYONE was coming to dinner!  (Though I doubt that it would be worse than my sister serving my in-laws "Chipped Beef on Toast" - well that's what we called it when I was growing up.  Of course my dad and my father-in-law and, well basically anyone who served in the military in WWII, had an entirely different name for that.  In the presence of genteel folk it was usually referred to by its initials "SOS" but the guys called it...well you get the picture!)

Anyway, the casserole is in the oven, Gerry's on his way home, I'm going to toss a salad to go with (veggie box arrived today!)

But I'm lifting my fork to you, Amy, and to you, Jenny!

~later, tw