Corn Dog Waffles

One of the best parts of having a child is getting to relive many of your childhood memories.  The smell of something like carving a pumpkin brings me back to carving my own pumpkins with my dad and sister as a little girl.  Hearing a certain song or playing with a toy and I'm right back in my old house again.  Amazing!

Foods have the same impact.  I've succumbed to keeping kid food around the house.  Stuff that when I was a kid I loved like mac and cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, cheese pizza.

This summer we went to a state fair.  In the cow barn they were milking cows and Z was fascinated.  On the way out we noticed a vending machine with ice cold milk.  Not just milk.  Chocolate milk. PINK milk!



Z is way into pink so he had to have pink milk.  Mind you, he's never tried the stuff but anything pink has to be good.  hmmm maybe I can use food coloring to dye veggies pink...

It was time to leave so we got him the pink milk with the promise of getting to drink it once we got back to the car.  Yes, that's right, we are not above bribery.

Once back at the car I shook it up and opened it. The smell... oh the smell.  I just had to have a taste.  He let me have ONE itty bitty sip.  Let me tell you, it brought me RIGHT back to childhood.  Super sweet, not quite strawberry but close enough.  Heaven.

So yeah we have pink milk powder at home now too.  He gets a cup of it everyday in the afternoon.  Simple pleasures.

Another favorite of Z-man's is a corn dog.  It is one of those things that make me say things like,  "Oh corn dog?  Yuck!  It's fried and greasy and who knows what's in the hot dog. Well, let me try it dipped in a little ketchup to see just how bad it is."  [BITE]  "Oh man, I forgot how good the sweet corn bread tastes with the salty hot dog and the tangy ketchup!"  As I reach for another bite Z is yelling at me to find my own dog.  Dang!

Ok this is the best of the corn dog.  You make cornbread waffles so no frying.  You add your own hot dog so you add as much or as little as you want.  You also can use whatever kind of hot dog you want.  Uncured?  Go for it!  Turkey?   Why not!?  Tofu pups?  Whatever floats your boat!  What type of dog did I use?  I don't want to talk about it.

As a bonus, I made a couple waffles before adding the hot dogs for C and me to have with our chili.  This winning combo would work well for the Super Bowl.  Just saying...

Corn Dog Waffles  
Adapted from MyRecipes 

3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 egg beaten (yeah I know... eyeball it)
3/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter melted
3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 hot dogs diced

I halved the recipe from the original (the 1/2 egg gives it away) and made about 5 waffles (See picture for what my waffle iron looks like).  Feel free to double to get back to original recipe if feeding more that 2 adults and 1 toddler.

Preheat waffle iron.  Use the setting you like.  I like the highest setting but I might have a lightweight iron.

In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients through the butter.  Whisk. Fold in the corn.  At this point make cornbread waffles if you'd like some without hot dog.  Add hot dog and stir.  Make waffles.  Serve with ketchup to dip in.  YUM!