What's Up Wednesday

What’s Up With Morningstar’s Veggie Corn Dogs being MIA for so long??

When Kat told me about these things, I knew I had to try one. Corn dogs make me think of state fairs and junk food, so if there’s a healthy version out there, I want it! I was on the hunt, but couldn’t find them anywhere. I did some Google-ing and it turns out they’ve been discontinued. What a sad day! It turns out the lost dogs were a result of supplier issues and stock shortages, according to their website.

Did I give up my search for a healthy corn dog? No way! I found a recipe so I could make my own. The original recipe called for 2 ingredients: vegetarian hot dogs and refrigerated corn muffins. Sounds easy enough, right? But when I went to the store so I could test these out, the refrigerated corn muffins were no where to be found.

I bought 3 alternatives to test out:

Refrigerated Crescent Rolls – Not really the texture of a corn dog, but I was desperate and they were there.

Polenta – I don’t know what I was thinking here…maybe I thought it looked like corn bread??

Corn Muffin Mix

I vetoed the first two without even trying them and decided to go with the corn muffins. I decided to make a mini version of a corn dog because I didn’t know how to coat the dogs with mix and get it cooked fast enough before the mix oozed off the dogs. And obviously, frying was not an option. I prepared the mix according to the package and used my mom’s mini muffin tin (well, it’s mine now…somehow it ended up in my boxes when I moved to Texas. Sorry, Mom!). It was pretty easy and the Veggie Corn Dog Bites were delish!

It's hard to tell from this picture that they're small, but those are 5 little rounds on a small dessert place. Or saucer. Whatever.

Here’s the Nutritional Info for 1 serving of 5 Veggie Corn Dog Bites:

Nutritional Information

Servings Per Recipe: 4

Amount Per Serving (5 corn dog bites)

Calories: 345

Fat: 13 g

Sodium: 752 mg

Fiber: 0.6 g

It's kind of high in fat and sodium, so this is definitely something to be saved for special occasions, it's not an everyday kind of food!

What’s your long lost food love? I can’t think of a discontinued product that I miss, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot my Dad’s Lemon Cream Puffs. It’s been YEARS since I’ve had it (hint, hint!)!

Here's the recipe:

Veggie Corn Dog Bites

1 box Jiffy Corn Bread mix
1 egg
1/3 cup skim milk
2 Smart Dog vegetarian hot dogs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix first three ingredients. Cut the hot dogs into small 'dots,' try to get ~10 pieces from each dog.
Scoop just enough mix into bottom of mini muffin tin to cover it. Place a hot dog piece into the center and top with enough batter to cover it.
Bake for 10 minutes and enjoy!