Chili-Cheese Dogs in Beach Blankets

These were AWESOME! I don't think I will ever make just 'pigs in a blanket' anymore! I've made these twice this week. I made these for the first time for my family for lunch and everyone wanted more! And I made them again for our weekly  D&D night with a group of friends...

Yes, we are nerdy like that :) but everyone is nerdy in some way... just pick your favorite thing in the world and add nerd to the end! I have always been a nerd... I started as an art-nerd, been one since birth :) Then I became a sci-fi fantasy show/book nerd.... it began with Hercules and Xena and then my ALL TIME FAVORITE,  Stargate SG-1 (I love Daniel) and I love LOTR! I'm a bit of a history-nerd too I guess, I love history channel and reading historical-fiction! My favorite book series, narrowed down to three, are the Sword of Truth Series, Sookie Stackhouse series, and Pink Carnation series. So I guess I'm a series nerd too... I have a series addiction, whether its shows or books! Well, there's my author tidbit of the week :)

Now back to food...

Chili-Cheese Dogs in Beach Blankets

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef (1/2 lb ground beef per roll of crust/crescents, I made 3 for D&D night and used 1 1/2 lbs)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 teaspoons dehydrated onion
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste and 1/4 cup water (I was out of tomato paste so I substituted pasta sauce and no water)
1 tube refrigerated pizza dough (or crescent dough)
8 hot dogs (more or less depending on length, bun sized may need to be cut in half)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat and brown the ground beef, about 6-7 minutes. Season the meat with chili powder, garlic, onion, salt and pepper and add the tomato paste and water (or pasta sauce). Turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes then remove from heat.

Roll out dough. If using pizza crust, roll out and cut the dough so you have 8 equal rectangles. Sprinkle on the cheese and add a few spoonfuls of chili. Set the hot dog on top and roll the pizza crust around the hot dog, sealing everything in (Rachael Ray had the hot dog peaking out but it seems easier to have it completely wrapped up!).

If using crescents divide the crescent into the triangles. Flatten each triangle slightly to make it a little wider. Sprinkle on the cheese and add a few spoonfuls of chili. Set the hot dog on top and fold and roll the crescent dough around everything. The technique I used was I placed everything at the bottom of the crescent triangle leaving a little space from the edge. Pill the bottom up and over and take the two bottom triangle tips and pull them around the sides, like closing a diaper, then pull the pointed tip over and around the filling. It closed in everything well!


Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!!!


***I used both of these and they both turned out well (I didn't take a picture of the pizza crust version). I actually think using crescents was easier, at least for me! I think they turned out cuter too! I just thought of a funny use for these since I made the diaper comment... use these for a baby shower using the crescents technique which kind of makes them look diaperish. It's a little weird but it could be cute!!!



Recipe adapted from the book: Rachael Ray Yum-O The Family Cookbook. Copyright © 2008 by Yum-o! Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.