Friday, November 11, 2011

Favorite Friday!

The Belle, here. And I thought I'd talk about favorite fast food. But not fast food as in Micky D's (although I love a good McDonald's cheeseburger!). No, I'm talking about quick food at home. The type you need when your kids have friends over at dinnertime (and you'd planned on having leftovers).

Admission time. I feed my family hotdogs. I know, I know. Some of you may be cringing. But I LOVE hotdogs. Another thing I love about them is that they freeze well. Plus, most picky kids will eat them. :)

So I try to keep a pack of hotdogs and buns in the freezer at all times. Oh, and a bag of frozen French fries to go with the dogs.

Now, here's the Favorite Friday part. My very favorite hot dogs are Johnsonville Smoked Turkey Sausages. 


We had one last hurrah of summer this week. Temps in the 70's and sunny. I ate lunch outside each day and broke out the grill. On Monday, I grabbed that pack of turkey sausage. They're amazing. I love them hot off the grill, sizzling plump and just a tad on the blackened side. :) Plus, no one ever notices they're made from turkey. They're that good.

So what about you? What do you serve a house full of kids (or adults!) you didn't expect for dinner?

16 comments:

  1. What a great reminder, Missy! Before we moved I always tried to keep something handy in the freezer to pull out when needed.

    Now I'd have to resort to ordering pizza. Or Jimmy John's - love their sandwiches.

    I had never thought of using the turkey sausages for hot dogs. I think they'd go well at our house.

    (A couple people don't like hot dogs. Go figure.)

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  2. We tend more toward frozen pizzas now that the kids are older. But back when I made hotdogs so often, my son's best friend would ONLY eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets. :)

    One of my son's friends (a different one) was over recently, and I actually made beef stroganoff. I joked with him that I think it was the first time I'd actually fed him something besides pizza! It just seemed that every single time he was over, I was heading out the door or had a meeting or something. Bless his heart, he was sweet and disagreed with me. But I honestly couldn't remember making him anything else. LOL

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  3. We love Zweigle's White Hots here. Similar to Bratwurst, but better, the Zweigle family recipe is huge in upstate New York.

    Nothin' like one on a nice, chewy bun! They're made from pork.... the other white meat. :)

    And they're stinkin' delicious.

    For fast meals, I buy the Sadler's Beef Brisket from Sam's Club. For $20 there's enough for three or four meals for Dave and me. Or two meals if others are over. It's totally cooked, I just add Famous Dave's rich and sassy bbq sauce and heat.

    When I buy it I freeze it in four sections. That way I can thaw as many "segments" as I need. Easy peasy and everyone loves it.

    Well. It IS brisket.

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  4. Those Zweigle's White Hots sound scrumptious! I love a good, spicy, REAL German brat!

    Johnsonville's are okay, but it's kind of like frozen pizza, you know? Or a McDonald's hamburger. Good in their own way.

    Yup, I think I'll head on over to Sam's for some frozen pizza and brisket.

    Just in case we make any friends. And just in case they'd drop by.

    Oh, I mean, we do have friends, or beginning to! It just takes a few years until they feel comfortable enough to just drop in...

    (Did I ever mention how much I hate moving?)

    You guys are welcome anytime! I'll even take you up to Mt. Rushmore and show you the "bling" in the Black Hills!

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  5. Ruthy, beef brisket a great idea!! Barbecue would be easy for a quick meal. And you can keep buns in the freezer for that as well.

    I don't have a Sam's card anymore. But I wonder if i could find it at Walmart?

    I've never heard of White Hots. But we have Red Hots here. Spicy little sausages. Are the Zweigle's spicy?

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  6. Jan, moving is awful! I just feel so lost when I get to the new place. Granted, we have a built-in church family who are wonderful and welcoming. But it's stressful to find new doctors and hair stylists and such. And of course, good friends. You're right. That does take a while.

    I'm thankful we're in our 11th year here!

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  7. I've got zilch to add to this discussion today.
    But I wanted to stop by and say hi since I have the day off for Veteran's Day.

    Actually, now that I think of it, my husband was reading a magazine last night that had a recipe for making your own sausage. I'll have to go back and look at it.

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  8. LOL, Mary. Not a hot dog eater, huh? :)

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  9. Actually I love the good ole Nathans or Ballpark franks but we usually only eat them on Memorial Day or 4th of July.

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  10. those sound good! (and a lot easier than making those turkeys from yesterday!) well other than grilling - that involves matches and charcoal and all that...

    I don't eat hotdogs very often and when I do I have to admit to a Sonic run or Hebrew National at home. I should have picked up a package at walmart this morning.

    I've also never had a houseful of kids - only had a total of 3 kids over here and all 3 were very brief visits- 2 lived 2 townhomes down and I was doing my best to get them(and me) back where they belonged since pizza delivery was due over there! the other kid I scrounged up a slice of lunchmeat and watermelon for him to eat. I didn't know a 2 yr old could give 'that look' but they sure as heck can! One other time I fixed crockpot spicy chili for a quilt group that ended up being just 3 of us total and turned out the one who said she couldn't stand spicy and would bring her own meal ended up wanting the chili and the other lady ate the chili but couldn't handle anything with gluten so the crackers and triscuits were out. So my only other 'meal' has been fajitas - bought a packages of John Soules seasoned but uncooked chicken fajita breast at walmart and sliced it up and made fajitas with onion and some chips and salsa.
    I've decided the best eating for a group of friends is either potluck, eating out , or picking a friend who knows how to cook's house.

    hmm now I'm wondering if my friend's kid would want to make those candy turkeys - maybe raid his halloween candy!

    Susanna

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  11. My go-to meal is home-canned pasta sauce. There's always ground beef or Italian sausage in the freezer, and dry linguine on the shelf. Add a salad or coleslaw or carrot sticks or whatever's in the fridge, and we're good to go!

    Our favorite 'hot dogs' for the grill would be either Mennonite farmer sausages (YUM!) or brats from our local butcher. Almost equally yum.

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  12. Yeah, Mary. It's like a law or something that you have to eat hotdogs on the 4th! :)

    Susanna, it's tough when you have several friends with dietary restrictions. Potluck probably is best in that case. Although I'll never complain about eating out! :)

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  13. Valerie, spaghetti is actually my go-to meal also. I keep Ragu in the pantry and beef in the freezer. :) (Although my son's friend that I mentioned in the post would only eat plain noodles!) LOL

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  14. BTW Susanna, we use a gas grill so it's really easy!

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  15. Was just thinking that it would be cool if the YankeeBelle was the site of Ruthy's breakfast tomorrow.

    Well, we can join in spirit if not in person.

    Hope it's loads of fun, Ruthy.

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  16. Mary, I know! Wish we could take part in person.

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