Chili & Coleslaw Hot Dog - Recipe

One of L.A.'s most popular sandwiches is the #19 from Langer's Deli,  which is  stacked with pastrami, Swiss cheese, and coleslaw. If they can put coleslaw on a Pastrami Sandwhich, then I'm going to put it on a Hot Dog...with Chili, too! My Chili & Coleslaw Hot Dog is outrageously scrumptious. In these Dog Day of Summer cool it town with crunchy Coleslaw.

Also called a Slaw Dog, they are popular in West Virginia and North Carolina. And, they're made with two types of coleslaw dressing, either mayo, or a more sour vinegar version. My version is the creamy mayo Coleslaw.

I like greasy Chili on my wieners, and a pile of cool Coleslaw brings it over the top. In my video I finish it up with a squeeze of mustard. 

I use Chili from the can, no beans, and it's not too expensive. A typical can has 4 to 6 serving on typical hot dogs, depending how loaded you make them. I have a Homemade Beef Chili Recipe a click away, here.

I'm not particular about brands of canned chili. Sometimes they are watery and sometimes thick. Just add water or simmer to thicken. The beef canned chili I've tried is made with ground meat. I've tasted poultry and vegan chili, and they're pretty good. 

I make batches of Coleslaw and usually have leftovers, so it was natural to use it up on my hot dogs. If the addition of Chili is too much for you, then leave it out.

Coleslaw is easy to make if you have Packaged Coleslaw that's raw, shredded, and ready to use. The typical package includes green and purple cabbage, plus shredded carrots. 

     

Add mayonnaise, and you have a creamy  Easy Coleslaw. I usually leave out salt, but add plenty of ground black pepper. It's okay to use your favorite Coleslaw Recipe.

My Easy Coleslaw Recipe is at the end of the video, or you can click here to see my blog post with photo illustrations and recipe text. 

Most Hot Dog ingredients are still a decent deal. Even chain supermarket grocers have sales on tube steaks. Since I usually steam or grill the hot dog buns, even discount "day old buns" are tasty -  when done my way.

I like to steam my wieners, but you can grill or fry them. I also steam the hot dog buns for a minute, but do watch carefully as the bun can get soggy really fast. (Because I often buy day-old buns, they can be dry, so a little steaming brings them back, softly.)

To assemble, just top a bun and cooked hot dog with a pile of warm Chili and cool Coleslaw. You can add any additional toppings like mustard and pickle relish.

These days it's easy to make vegan versions using tofu dogs and vegan chili, so everyone can join in. 

The whiplash from meaty hot Chili, and cool Coleslaw, makes this hot dog recipe a tasty winner. Any time you make Coleslaw, save a bit for my latest hot dog recipe. 

Try serving  Chili & Coleslaw Hot Dogs some sports game day and see if your guests give you a high five - I think the odds are in your favor!

Hot Dog with Chili & Coleslaw - Video             Play it here. The video runs for 3 minutes and 6 seconds. 

To view or embed from youtube, click here.

Ingredients

• Hot Dog - Any type, like beef, pork, poultry, or vegan. 
• Hot Dog Bun - I like to steam mine. Okay to grill or serve right from the bag.
• Chili - I use chili from the can, no beans. My Homemade Beef Chili Recipe is here. I've also tried tasty vegan chili.
• Coleslaw - About 2 heaping tablespoons per hot dog, or enough to top a hot dog.

Directions

I place a steamer basket in a pot with an inch or so of water. Add the wiener(s) and bring the water to a low simmer, then cover the pot. I like to steam mine until plump, about 5 minutes. If you are steaming a lot, then check the water level to refill as needed. 

A rice cooker, with water added, works quite well. The normal rice cooking cycle last about 25 minuts - for hot dogs in the rice steamer basket, reduce time to 10 minutes, or until the weiners are plump.

Heat the canned chili in a pot until hot. Depending on the brand of chili, sometimes it's too watery, so I simmer the chili to a gravy consistancy, and sometimes the chili is too thick, so I add a little water to thin the thick, meaty, gravy.

I like Coleslaw with mayo, but you can make it your way. Some recipes call for a vinegar based Coleslaw. Keep Coleslaw chilled in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

I also steam hot dog buns until pillowy and soft. I put a bun or two right on top of my steamed hot dogs, cover the pot, and steam the bun for a minute or so. A quick toasting softens them quite nicely, too.

Assemble the Hot Dog, and top it with a couple of tablespoons of Chili and Coleslaw. I added Mustard, too.

Easy Coleslaw Recipe

Ingredients

1 Package Cabbage & Carrot - shredded. About 14 ounces or 6 cups (loosely packed.)

Mayonnaise - 1/4 cup. Regular, lite, or vegan. Okay to add a tablespoon at a time to reach desired creaminess.

Black Pepper - about a teaspoon of black pepper. I like an extra pepper taste. Okay to add some salt, too. I find mayo is salty enough

.

*Recipes with real mayo should be kept refrigerated until ready to serve. Do not leave Coleslaw in direct sunlight.

Directions

Add a 14-ounce package of shredded cabbage and carrot to a large bowl. Okay to make a 1/2 recipe, since the average Coleslaw Package has a lot of  shredded cabbage and carrot. 

I start with a quarter cup of mayo and mix well. Okay to add a tablespoon of mayo at a time to reach desired creaminess. 

Finally season with pepper. Add a little at a time and taste Coleslaw. A  tablespoon of pepper is about right. I do like extra fresh ground black pepper. Okay to add or leave out salt -- mayo is salty enough for me.

Finally, mix well. Taste and add more pepper or mayo if needed.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. If you make it a day ahead, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of fresh mayo, to bring Coleslaw back to normal creaminess. Once mayo is mixed into Coleslaw it will break down a bit overnight and may sweat out some water, do drain if needed.

National Dollar Day

  The Dollar ain't what it used to be. But being the cheap$kate that I am, I can still stretch a buck even today, August 8th, on National Dollar Day. Well, I guess I should call it a Dollar and 50 Cents Day. 

National Dollar Day commemorates the establishment of the U.S. monetary system by Congress on August 8, 1786.

So read on to see recipes that use foodstuffs that cost about a Dollar. And you know the deal, just click on a highlighted recipe name to see all the tasty details from my extensive collection of cheap and tasty blog postings.

Yay, Dollar Tree!!

You can't get more basic than a Sandwich, and I don't mean a boring Fried Baloney Sandwich, although I do crave one every once in a while. 

Let's start with a Philly Hoagie Sandwich. My wife, Linda, was raised just outside of Philadelphia and when we visit her kin and friends I always make a stop for a local Hoagie Sandwich. It's really just an Italian Sandwich filled with deli cuts of meat, usually salami, pepperoni, ham, and provolone cheese, and topped with lettuce, onion, and tomato. 

The above sandwich is from Dale's Deli in Levittown, Pennsylvania, and this is where I get the best local Hoagies. They use salami, ham, capicola, and provolone for theirs.

You want a bread roll firm on the outside and soft on the inside. Instead of the usual mayo and mustard, a  Hoagie has a dressing of oil, vinegar, and dried Italian herbs. Check out my video below to see how I make mine.

The way I keep my sandwiches cheap is to buy "day-old" bread from my local supermarket bargain bin. If you toast bread that's been out a little too long, I bet you can't tell the difference from fresh-toasted bread, at least I can't. I even get croissants on sale that cost less than a dollar apiece when you break the package down.

I can still find tomatoes for about a dollar per pound, especially Roma tomatoes. Lettuce is cheap when you break it down, even if it costs a couple of bucks per.

Two easy side dishes are Easy Coleslaw and Potato Salad, again, I can keep the ingredients at a buck each, including the condiments, mustard, pickle relish, and mayo. 

My Homemade Potato Salad is the bomb, just check it out below and rock your next patio party with it.

How about Dollar Tree cereal and Toast 'em breakfast? And that includes coffee.

I like fruit with my yogurt, especially when yogurt is still pretty cheap. Bananas, peaches, and even mangos can be found on the cheap at my nearby ethnic market. The container of yogurt can be small but it's enough for a snack or light breakfast when you add fresh fruit.

The same goes for Pancakes. I also like mine with fruit. You can still find pancake mixes in the box for a buck twenty-five at Dollar Tree. 

While the syrup there is not pure maple, you can always splurge for the real thing elsewhere - don't tell, but that's what I do these days. 

You can't get much cheaper than an Egg Sandwich. Egg prices have doubled, but you only need one fried egg for my recipe. 

I add lettuce, tomato, and mayo to mine. I like my egg fried with a slightly runny yolk. You can scramble an egg as well. I use toasted bread. Get fancy and use a Pretzel Roll or Croissant. I often start my day with a Fried Egg Sandwich using day-old bread.

I get many breakfast ingredients for around a buck each, and here are just some of the deals I've found.

My Old School Country Breakfast can be made with some of the above ingredients. Check out my recipe below, which my dad made for me as a kid.

Pasta is still a steal and I have a few recipes up my tattered sleeves. 

 Let's start with a fresh Fresh Veggie Pasta Salad. Just purchase the cheapest veggies on sale like carrots, onions, celery, cabbage, and spinach. 

You could just use a package of fresh-frozen veggies, too. Steam the chopped veggies for a couple of minutes and mix them into cooked pasta. Serve warm or cold.

And since the late, great, 99c only Stores shut down, I get the cheapest veggies at my local Latin grocer, Superior. This bottom-feeder cannot survive just on Dollar General ingredients!

I get packages of penne, macaroni, and spaghetti for around a buck. And, I have a lot of recipes that take advantage of cheap pasta, including Pasta Salad with Artichoke Hearts, Veggies in Cream with Pasta,  Chicken Stroganoff (with egg noodles,) Creamy Mushrooms & Pasta, etc. Again, just type and enter the word "pasta" in the Search window located at the top-right side of this blog.

I even find enough ingredients for a quick Homemade Pizza. Dollar Tree sometimes sells cooked pizza crusts. So all you have to do is top them with pasta sauce and anything else you like, then heat the pizza in the oven until bubbly.

Click on any image to see larger.

Canned pasta sauce is still cheap and so are small tins of fish. Hey, that's a meal right there. Just cook the pasta and mix in some tomato sauce then add a can of fish at the last minute to heat through. Some tinned fish has tomato sauce added, so that's even cheaper to make. Click here to see my Sardines in Tomato Sauce & Pasta.

In my bachelor days, I even used grated cheese from those plastic shakers on my pasta dishes. If my wife did not object, I would still be using it, but go ahead and shave it if you got it, a block of Parmesan, that is. And most pasta benefits from garlic, which I still find cheaply.

When I watch sports on TV I will invite my rowdy buddies over for hot dogs. Now, this is a meal for cheap$kates, especially when they bring the beer!

Plus, it's so easy to make hot dogs my way. I set out the condiments of mustard, pickle relish, sauerkraut, chopped onion, and cheese. I like a home field advantage since stadium dogs, while delicious and so satifying, cost a full catcher's mint, I mean mitt, of dollar bills.

I like a Stir Fry because you can make it cheap and fast. Rice is always a bargain, along with chicken, my favorite protein to use. I also find frozen veggies and typical Chinese condiments easily.

The cheapest Stir Fry I've come up with is Chicken, Carrot & Cabbage. Serve over rice.

Here in Los Angeles, you can get Mexican food everywhere and I do.

I have mucho recipes from Carnitas made from Pork or Turkey, to my Mom's Homemade Tex-Mex Enchiladas. To see a complete roundup of Latin recipes, just click here. 

A favorite cool summer patio party appitzer is my cheap$kate Krab and Black Bean Ceviche, made with cheaper imitation crabmeat. I still find cheap Black Beans, but Krab hasn't show up this year at Dollar Tree, yet.

I make a damn good Huevos Rancheros and I sometimes use canned beans and a jar of salsa with a fried egg, all on the cheap. I make this recipe all the time and I courted my wife with this recipe - she loves it. Try it with Tortilla Chips instead of corn tortillas for extra crunch.

Love or hate them, canned Tamales are a bargain and plentiful. I barely remember the taste from my bachelor days, but I used to have a can or two in my pantry as a late-night meal of last resort. It's funny, but Mississippi Delta Tamales are very similar to canned Tamales as they both use ground meat and are smaller than Mexican Tamales.

Mississippi Delta Tamale

The first frozen meals I had were made by Banquet and Swanson. Old habits die hard...I do like their Salisberry Steak - there is something about the mushy sides that have stayed with me, and that I crave on occasion. I have a sadly, funny post on frozen Banquet Turkey Dinners.

l admit to having a sweet tooth. When I make my own sweets I usually keep the sugar amounts to half what a typical recipe calls for. I have recipes for Cobblers and Fruit Pies with fresh or canned fruit. The ingredients list is small and if you use canned fruit look for unsweetened or low sugar. Click here to see Mom's Cherry Pie and my Pineapple and Peach Cobblers.

My latest dessert come courtesy of Tina, my Uncle David's girlfriend in Texas. It's a down-home Southern recipe so it uses instant cake mix, Whip Cream, and canned sweet Mandrin Oranges and Crushed Pineapple.

She calles her recipe Tina's Orange Cake with Pinapple Frosting...so yummy! Check out the recipe video below, and don't miss my Uncle David laddeling out zinger comments, from the peanut gallery.

I love my Mom's Cherry Pie and it's the best, so do check out my video below.

You will want to bookmark her Pumpkin Pie recipe, especially now that organic pumpkin puree is out there.

I get sweets that are ready to eat at my local Dollar Store. Sometimes it's a good call and other times not. Cordial or Chocolate Covered Cherries are a success, and I still have a Moon Pie on occasion.

I went to a garden party and brought some Dollar Tree Cream Puffs. Check out what my neighbors thought of my edible (?) gift -- oh boy!

I find enough ingredients for a luscious Egg Salad, a pungent Tuna Salad, and even a creamy Tuna Melt.

Canned Meat? Every once in a while it brings a flashback to my childhood school lunch dazes. 

Be sure to check out my Vienna Sausage Corndog Party and see how lowdown I can go!

My wife calls me her "Louisiana Man" so you can be sure I'm all over Cajun dollar deals that show up on the shelves.

Don't know how long Dollar Days will last in this economy, but keep checking back to see how to ride out any economic earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes, and still have a full belly dining in your bomb shelter.