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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Healthy Crescent Dogs



MMMmmm, crescent dogs. Just pop open the can and roll them around a hot dog and that's all there is to it.
Well, these aren't quite that easy, but what you gain in health is totally worth the extra effort.
Now, I know some of you who are new to real food are thinking, "How can a hot dog possibly be health food?" and wondering if that's a soy dog or something else in there. Nope! That's the real deal. All beef, natural, uncured hot dogs. I found these at Trader Joe's. You want to make sure they are uncured to avoid the nitrates that are used in the processing of most hot dogs. Nitrates (or nitrites) have been linked to cancer and are not a natural food. They are added to preserve the color and make the product (deli meat, hot dogs, bacon) last longer. So if you can find nitrate-free hot dogs, you are eating a tasty, healthy beef sausage. 
I cut the hot dogs into thirds and wrapped each crescent roll around them. We served it as dinner but it would also make a great snack or party food. We dipped them in homemade barbeque sauce.




Crescent Dogs (or Crescent Rolls)

Ingredients

  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)
  • 1 cup of water, whey or combination
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups wheat flour


  • Directions
  1. Stir whey/ water combination together with flour. Let sit overnight.
  2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs, salt and yeast mixture. Stir in enough flour until dough leaves the sides of bowl and is soft (do not knead). Let rise until double (1- 1/2 hours).
  3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 12-in. circle; cut each circle into 12 wedges. 
  4. Wrap each wedge around a hot dog OR Roll up wedges from the wide end and place with pointed end down on greased baking sheets. Curve ends to form crescents. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks.


Barbeque Sauce
This flavorful sauce can be used as a dip or basted onto grilled meats. Makes about 2 cups.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups organic ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar or red wine vinegar 
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. mustard
3 Tbsp. chili powder, or to taste
1 Tbsp. fresh peeled ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 slices lemon


Directions

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir often until the sauce comes to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. This sauce will keep up to two weeks in the fridge and can also be frozen.


This post is part of Fight Back Friday.

8 comments:

  1. Hi! this is so funny because just last night i was watching a pillsbury cresent roll commercial and thinking--i gotta get a REAL FOOD recipe for them! so THANKS!!! question though--you say wheat flour--can you be more specific? are you using whole wheat white or sprouted? thanks

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  2. Glad to help! With the wheat flour, any kind will work (I use hard red flour, just because that's what I have in my food storage). You could also use sprouted flour and then you wouldn't need to soak overnight. Soaking reduces the phytates, and sprouting does the same thing. So you'd only have to do one or the other.

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  3. What is whey and how to I get it? Is is something that you buy at the store? I thought whey was something that was part of cheese making process--but your recipe sounds like it is something we should just have on hand. Can you explain? I am new to this whole foods thing.

    thank you.
    Joie

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  4. Chaylife,
    good questions about the whey. I remember reading Nourishing Traditions and thinking those same exact things, and once I realized it was in so many recipes, it was the first thing I made from that book.
    I don't think you can buy whey, but it is super easy to make. I will do a detailed post with pictures and instructions on how to make it next week, but if you start with yogurt and drain it (through a cheesecloth) into a bowl, you will be left with yogurt (cream) cheese in the cloth, and whey in the bowl. I always have a supply of it in my fridge. You can use other things to soak flour (like buttermilk) but whey affects the taste the least (I can't taste it at all).

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  5. Thanks for the recipe. We liked, but we might use whole wheat pastry flour next time. What do you think?

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  6. Hi Chanelle! I finally made these and they were AWESOME!!! I made a few minor changes and even made some cookies out of the extra dough-I linked to your recipe in my latest blog post here: http://amoderatelife.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-thing-leads-to-anothermake-cookies.html

    please come visit and say hi!!! Lots of folks will be making your hot dog rolls I am sure! Take care, am following you, please follow me! Alex

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  7. the clark clan, thanks for linking up! Glad you enjoyed these!

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  8. Will be trying these with white whole wheat flour. I have lots of recipes to use the dough in as well.

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