Vegan Hot Dogs

This August marks a year since the passing of my Uncle Frank. More than just an uncle, he was my friend. He, I and a bunch of our friends all went to horror conventions and watched cheesy movies together regularly. And we all love good food - Uncle Frank (Hunckle Frank to his friends) really enjoyed chili cheese dogs with diced onions.

To honor his memory, this August we held the First Annual Frank Miller Memorial Weenie Roast. Hunckle Frank's daughter is vegetarian and is one of those folks who don't expect anyone to make anything special for her.

But I love my cousin and, darn it, why can't a vegetarian have a decent veggie dog? I wasn't about to serve tofu pups - bleh! and I remembered a yummy recipe for sweet potato quinoa kale cakes from Fooduciary.

The recipe made a savory and satisfying mix of yummy veggie love that would have been easy enough to make into a patty but I needed something to go on a hot dog bun. A pastry bag with a generous amount cut off the bottom let me pipe the right shape onto a parchment lined pan.



They baked up very nicely but turning them had to be done carefully with a spatula. They looked great when done:



...and held up well in the fridge overnight. The veggie dogs were tender and to make sure they didn't fall apart on the grill they were put in a grill basket made for small foods.

Since the carnivores had chili to top their digs, the vegheads got a nice little number made from chopped tomato, onion and avocado. I'm a complete omnivore and I felt the meat and nonmeat dogs were dead tied for taste.

We all had a great time and it was a fitting tribute to my wonderful Hunkle Frank.

-DK