One of the wonderful things about North Dakota seems to be the quality of the food - cheese from pasture grazed cows, locally grown grain products, chickens and eggs from family farms, and more. This fits so well with our goal to eat clean and locally grown food. But once in a while . . . .
After several months of old standby's and hearty North Dakota food we suddenly went on an Asian food binge. Chicken with lime & peanut sauce with rice, fried rice with extra eggs (a breakfast treat), ginger glazed beef short ribs with more rice, and lunch out at a Chinese restaurant. We broke the streak Sunday with a big pot of venison & black bean chili. We were ready for a change! Bob wanted something "American" and simple.
Somewhere I'd seen a "recipe" for baked corndogs (or corndog bake???). It called for a box of cornbread mix, 4 bun length hot dogs, and some American cheese slices. We're on a mission to clean up what we eat and avoid as much commercially processed food as we can - sooooooo. . . . from scratch buttermilk cornbread, some hot dogs that were uncured, natural, and didn't contain high fructose corn syrup or fillers. As a concession to junk food I used some processed "loaf" type cheese.
I was talking to my oldest daughter on the phone while it was baking. She said, "Mom, this just isn't YOU." But we were hopeful! It looked good, tested done so I followed the procedure - placing the cheese slices on top, covered it with foil, and let it sit for the prescribed time. It looked good, the cheese was melty - but something looked funny when I tried to serve it - the cornbread still wasn't done! Back in the oven.
The end result - when you want a corndog get a corndog or use the recommended processed ingredients. The results with healthy ingredients just didn't work. I guess there are some things you just can't "clean up" and corndogs are one of them. Sometimes you just have to give in to a craving and go for it.
