The past few days have been a little hectic. Monday night we had beef stew and due to a tiny mishap in my grocery shopping I hadn't bought any stew meat. I ended up running to the store before I could cook dinner and that meant dinner was late. Tuesday we went to Nana's and Yaya's and got some adorable pictures of Bailey for Easter.
She was just too cute. We got about 10 good ones but this one was my favorite.
When I got home Tuesday night I found out that there would be people doing some kind of maintenance on the sewer and that we would be without sewer all day Wednesday. Well... not all day, just 8:00-5:00, but it felt like all day. They said not to do dishes or laundry, not to take showers or baths, and not to flush the toilets. That's kinda hard to do when you spend all day at home. So I stayed up late Tuesday night doing the laundry since Wednesday is supposed to be laundry day. I took a shower after the washer cut off for the last load and then I folded all of the laundry before I fell asleep.
Yesterday I was so tired I completely slept through nap time. I still had to go to the store (again) for more ingredients for the spaghetti and meatballs last night. The meatballs were in the freezer, saved from last month, but I had to get tomato sauce for the sauce and a few things for tonight's dinner and tomorrow night's. I don't know how my groceries got so messed up this month but it's killing me trying to catch up and I'm sure it's not saving us any money making tiny trips to the store three nights a week. It's gotta stop.
Bailey has been waking up every night around 3:00 wanting to get out of bed. It started Friday or Saturday night and I guess I made a mistake of sitting in the recliner with her. At first she was falling back asleep after a few minutes of rocking. I was enjoying the snuggles so I just didn't bother putting her back in the crib until I got uncomfortable. The past two nights she has wanted down as soon as we sit in the chair. I think I may have to break this habit tonight. I can't be up at 3:00 every night playing with her.
Luckily dinners have been easy and barring a few little incidents the cleaning has been light this week too. We did end up with cheerios all over the floor yesterday and a bedroom floor full of wash cloths and bibs, but those are both easy to clean up. Tonight's dinner is easy as well. I was unsure about this recipe. I'm not fond of hot dogs. I think they are full of junk that humans shouldn't consume. Sometimes I just have to ignore those feelings because Aaron and Bailey both like hot dogs.
I do like the taste of chili dogs. Just after I moved out of my parents' house when I was in college and I was a poor kid working at a gas station I used to eat them often because they were cheap and one pack of hot dogs could feed me for four days or more. I also ate a lot of $1 party pizzas and ramen noodles (both of which I happen to like but avoid because they are soooooo bad for you).
So the original recipe said to use canned chili, but since I was already compromising with the hot dogs I decided to make my own chili. Chili isn't expensive to make and I like being in control of what goes into it. Besides, I hate that orange grease at the top of the can when you open a can of chili. I used lean ground beef and dry pinto beans that I cooked and froze last month. I made the chili a bit thicker than I usually would so that it wouldn't make the casserole soggy.
I used Oscar Mayer all beef hot dogs. I just don't trust the ones that don't say beef. You can use whatever you happen to like. If you like the other dogs then by all means use them. If you like canned chili, go for it. I know some people don't like beans in their hot dog chili. The beans happen to be my favorite part. I would totally eat vegetarian chili if Aaron would eat it.
To sum up this recipe though, I would say: easy, tasty, and filling. Aaron ate one, went back for a second, went back for a third, and proclaimed that "We should have this every night!"
Chili Dog Casserole
2 cans of chili (or homemade chili)
10 soft taco size tortillas (8 inch)
1 package hot dogs (Oscar Mayer all beef franks for us)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.
Layer half of the chili on the bottom of the dish.
Roll each hot dog in a tortilla and place seam-side down in the chili.
Cover the tortilla wrapped dogs with the rest of the chili.
Sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 30 minutes.
We enjoyed ours with some Fritos and they were delicious.
Between the three of us we ate half of this. I will probably only make half next time. I'll have to let you know how the leftovers turn out.
Layer half of the chili on the bottom of the dish.
Roll each hot dog in a tortilla and place seam-side down in the chili.
Cover the tortilla wrapped dogs with the rest of the chili.
Sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 30 minutes.
We enjoyed ours with some Fritos and they were delicious.
Between the three of us we ate half of this. I will probably only make half next time. I'll have to let you know how the leftovers turn out.
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