Hot Diggity Dog!

From Joel Robuhon to Hot Dogs. What gastronomical leaps I experience in a given week.
The hot dogs are thanks to my husband, who has a home office. Read on...it will all come together.

My husband will get in his car and drive to Maine Coffee Roasters for his mid morning caffeine fix - but he won't grind coffee beans for the French Press. He'll also drive to pick up lunch at Leavitt & Sons, but he won't make a sandwich.

He's perfectly capable of cooking - in fact he taught me most of my culinary skills many years ago. But just like ironing, he "forgot" how to cook the moment I slipped the wedding ring on his finger. How convenient.

He will heat water for tea if there's a tea bag - although he knows how to make loose leaf. He heats soup in the winter, but only the kind with the pop top (a can opener is just too much work). And he'll put leftovers in the microwave if they are pre-portioned in microwavable containers. I think you get the drift.

I try to ensure that we eat healthy whenever we are home, since we spend so much time dining out. So when he latched onto soy hot dogs and soba noodle salad as one of his favorite summertime lunches, I had to find a way to make this lunch easy for him to prepare. The salad is easy. Pre-make it on the weekends and stick it into "gladware" containers. He's ok with tabouleh too, which can also be prepared ahead of time. The hot dogs were more challenging.

That is, until I opened my Hammacher Schlemmer catalog and saw The Ultimate Hot Dog Maker! For the price of $49.95 I bought a Hot Dog Toaster, complete with a wiener basket!

Today was the test. I defrosted the Smart Dogs, left the hot dog buns in the fridge, and the Hot Diggity Dogger Hot Dog Toaster box on the counter. It worked. Intrigued by the new toy, and the thought of enjoying barbecued hot dogs and warm buns with the push of a button, he made his very own lunch.

The toaster can cook two dogs and two buns at a time. With four settings ranging from rare to well-done, hot dogs can be cooked to please any palate. He needs to play around with the settings a bit, as he complained that his bun was singed on the edges. And he's not quite sure how to safely remove the hot dog from the wiener basket (he used a fork today). But I think we're onto something.

Wish him luck - and if you have any easy lunch suggestions, send them my way!