Dog days of summer.......

You know you're a die hard when it's 100° in the shade and you still fire up the grill.  It's a sickness you know!  Today hot dogs are calling my name.  I love em...love em all...dolled up and dressed to kill...or just plain and homely, I love hot dogs.

I've been craving chili dogs but felt like I wanted a little some'em some'em different today, so after scratching my head for a little while, this is what I came up with.  Chili cheese jalapeno onion dog.

Ingredients you will need:

**Your favorite hot dog, today I used Nathans
**Cheddar cheese, grated
**Fresh jalapenos and/or fresno peppers, sliced into rings
**Sweet onion, sliced
**Chili
**Buns

This grilling basket is one of my favorite and most often used grilling accessory, great for grilling veggies or thin sliced meats. Place your onions and peppers in grilling basket and grill over high heat tossing often with tongs.

Meanwhile you want to grill your dog, heat your chili, and toast your buns. Takes a little multitasking to do it all simultaneously, so best to attempt this before the sun and beers go to your head!

To make this a simple all-in-one cook, after my dogs are cooked to perfection, I place them in the toasted buns, spoon on some warm chili, top with some grated cheese, and the grilled onions and peppers.  Then I place them on a part of the grill that does not have direct heat and close the lid.  In just a couple of minutes you have the perfect dog, every time.

Every dog needs a good chili and this is one I really like for hot dogs.  The recipe makes a BIG pot, so when I make it I like to divide it up and freezer it so I always have some on hand.

Hot Dog Chili

5 lb. lean ground beef

5 clove garlic, grated

1/2-1 c sweet onions, chopped

4 c beef broth, homemade or reduced sodium

1/2 c ketchup, reduced sodium opt

2 tsp spicy mustard

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp coarse sea salt

2 tsp black pepper

1/4 c chili powder, mild or hot

3 Tbsp. cumin

2 tsp adobe chili powder

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1 Tbsp. granulated garlic

1 Tbsp. granulated onion

Directions

1 Chop onion, grate garlic and place both in large soup pot with a little (2 tsp) olive oil, add ground beef and cook till beef is light brown.

2 Add remaining ingredients stir well, place lid on and simmer for about 30 min.

3 For a finer chili, place chili in food processor small amounts at a time and pulse. This will grind up the meat and make your chili very fine!

So next time you get hungry for a hot dog, whether you are feeling adventurous, or just want something plain and simple, go out and fire up that grill, you know you will thank yourself and so will your family.

Here are a couple more chili recipes that would work great with hot dogs:
http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/soup/chili/my-texas-chili.html
http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/main-course/mexican/chili-sauce.html