Out with the hot dogs

Some time ago my mother-in-law read some article and was concerned I was giving my toddler too many hot dogs. I considered hot dogs a staple. The little guy was still dealing with the milk allergy so it was one easy thing he liked & could eat. I had no interest in learning these were bad for him. Plus, I wasn't really feeding him hot dogs. They were turkey dogs, which are surely ok.

To appease her, I reluctantly googled it eyeing the positive articles. It seems they contain sodium nitrate which is the real concern. It's also in deli meat & I suspect, the reason they tell pregnant women not to eat deli meat. I wasn't convinced. After all, I'd been living on turkey sandwiches most of my life. Then I ran across a study that indicated children who ate 1 or more hot dogs a week were at a significantly increased risk of childhood leukemia. GASP! Out go the hot dogs!

I am very happy to report that a number of months after grilled cheese overtook our love of hot dogs, Oscar Meyer introduced nitrate-free hot dogs. The hubby won't eat the beef ones, but you really can't taste much difference with the turkey dogs.

I also just figured out you can cut the dogs about 3/4 of the length, twice to create an octopus. I add raisins for eyes. Now we eat "octopus" for lunch some days.