Chili Dog Pizza

Printable version

Every so often I will absolutely crave a chili dog. I have no idea why, but many of those cravings in the past have come while nursing a hangover. I think it is derived from the attitude of “Well it’s not as bad for me as what I did last night.”

Whatever the reasons, I love chili dogs and I wish they were as healthy for me as broccoli. I still love to indulge from time to time but that is why I have set out to transform my beloved chili dogs into different forms. They are still a health hazard but more of a snack item for a party, rather than three dogs at lunch.

For this recipe, I have turned the chili dog into a pizza, replacing the bun with crust. A slice is all you need to get that heavenly chili dog rush and then you can move onto the tofu kabbob for the main course. This is the second item I have turned chili dog. I made chili dog dip a while back and highly recommend giving it a try as well.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I used Hormel chili with no beans in this recipe, which I find adequate for something out of a can. This is just a quick snack that I didn’t feel it was necessary to make a pot of chili for. If I had wanted to be a hardcore foodie, I could have made the dough, chili and even the dogs from scratch for something truly gourmet. That may happen one day, but I was hungry and didn’t feel like spending all day in the kitchen to prepare this.

Hormel has has been around for more than 100 years. George A. Hormel founded the Hormel Foods Company in 1891 and in the beginning the company flourished as a processor of fresh pork.

In 1926 Hormel introduced the world’s first canned ham. Nine years later Dinty Moore beef stew and Hormel chili hit the market. In 1937, Hormel’s most famous product, SPAM, took the world by storm and would go onto to sell 1 billion cans by 1959. Today, Hormel sells a number of products from pepperoni to Tailgating trays and earned nearly $500 million in 2011.

When I learned that Hormel produced the first canned hams it reminded me of a story I heard about David Letterman. He started out as a news weather man and once described hail from a storm as “the size of canned hams.”

Eat well, cook often ...