Easy Fourth of July Recipe - Firework Pigs-in-a-Blanket

This is kind of a silly little recipe, and I almost didn't share, but sometimes those simple dinners we try are the ones our family falls head-over-heels over. Sometimes I'd spend hours in the kitchen with high hopes of full bellies and my favorite "mmmMMMMMmm" sound filling the air at the dinner table... only to receive just the opposite from the smallest ones in the house. Our little man's tastes are still very different from ours, so I always make an effort to plan out a couple "kids meal" for the whole family to enjoy during the week for dinner (chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, grilled cheese, ets). It's also kind of fun to channel our inner child sometimes in the process, and have a break from my constant recipe testing. 

With the Fourth of July screaming into the kitchen, I couldn't help but think of what would be a really fun meal for our little man. He's in the mode now where he doesn't only know every shape (including octagons an parallelograms), but he's pointing them out everywhere we go. I love to bring those beloved shapes he's learned to his plate, plus I wanted to bring a little sneak of the holiday flair to the table, so that's when this silly little dish was brought to life. It was such a hit! 

We had so much fun together punching out the star watermelon, and topping each pizza-dough wrapped hot dog with little triangles. Our three-year-old thought it was just the greatest thing ever, and I felt like he could help in the kitchen without hiding the knives, hot ingredients, etc. It was so stinking easy, and such a fun little dinner anyone could throw together this week to celebrate. 

Firework Pigs-in-a-Blanket
makes 6-8 servings

ingredients:

8 hot dogs

fresh or refrigerated pizza dough

4oz colby jack cheese, sliced into small 1 inch triangles

toothpicks 

ketchup/mustard, for serving

watermelon stars, for serving

method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. 

2. Place hot dogs in a medium pot of water, and bring to a boil. Turn heat to a simmer, and cook for 10-15 minutes. Drain. 

3. Roll out dough on a flat surface, and cut into long thin strips with a pizza cutter. Wrap each hot dog with one thin strip in a spiral, and place on prepared cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining hot dogs. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Check them at ten, the bottoms tend to get toasty. 

4. Place a toothpick in each triangle, and push the other end of the toothpick into the end of each hot dog. Serve with star watermelon and various dipping sauces.