There are hot dogs with the bun, which seems all-American, and
hot dogs without.  If you cut the buns, you cut the bad carbs,
so that’s good for your waistline.

Over the past two years, I’ve made a concerted effort to
reduce things like white breads, pastas, rice, potatoes, to
keep my weight down and energy up. One easy area to
help you lose and keep off weight is to reduce the
amount of buns you gobble.  
 
When you cut out bread, you get creative elsewhere
to add to your taste buds.  For hot dogs, what I did
was simple. I get three good hot dogs, like All
Beef Hebrew National, put them on a plate,
sprinkle grated cheese on top, toss on some
jalapenos and some chopped onions.  Microwave
for about 90 seconds and you have a “less bad”
concoction for yourself than your typical hot dog on a
bun.

In fact, you can get artistic with this. Restaurants should
take heed. When you pull it out of the microwave, you can
grab the ketchup and mustard tubes and squirt trails of them
in intricate designs, spelling your name or just making it
look cool.  If restaurants wanted to serve these naked
hot dogs, they could experiment with all different kinds
of sauces and signatures.  You never know, you
could even see a niche restaurant open with the logo,
“Hot dogs any way you like them.’

For mine, I like the above-mentioned masterpiece.  I add
relish to the mixture and spread the ketchup, mustard,
jalapenos and relish around so that each bite has a separate
savory taste.  They don’t fill you up as much as the buns,
but that’s a good thing.  Eat slower.  Taste each morsel.  You’ll
be one step better than you were the day
before.

This week we stole a simple idea rather than a meal. When you are stumped
about what to cook when you come home at night, make breakfast for
dinner.  It’s easy, fast and you’ll wolf it down.  It tastes better than it
does during breakfast because you broke your routine and are eating it at a
different time of day.

Weird as that sounds, it’s true. Pizza can taste great for breakfast.  So can
bacon and eggs for dinner.  You savor it a bit more since you aren’t used
to it then.  
 
No matter the reason, our mom occasionally made us pancakes for
supper when we were growing up.  It’s a good change of pace,
and when you run out of other ideas, you can
pretend you’re a creative genius when you let your kids know,
“Hey guys, we’re having pancakes for dinner.”  When
they “YAHOOOEEEE” back to you, you know you made a wise
choice.

So, fire up the griddle.  Slap some sausages in the pan and sizzle
them up. Pull out the Aunt Jemima Complete pancake mix, so
all you have to do is add water.  Put some oil in the frying pan for
the cakes. Twist off the top of a jar of applesauce, and get to work. 
 
By the time you pull out the syrup and butter, the kids will be
sitting at the table, slurping the applesauce and waiting
with knives and forks ready for you to pull the hot cakes off the
griddle.  Make a big batch because they’ll ask for more.