Chili Cheesedog Chili Mac
This quick and easy Chili Cheesedog Chili Mac is not only kid friendly (big and little kids alike) but it’s also tasty and low in fat.
For those that are new to my blog and my recipes, we eat a low fat diet. The hubs has high cholesterol (thank you genes) and, well, I just love food too much; hence the food blogger thing. The mother-in-law is a dietitian and we’re I’m working her plan of personalized eating. So, at the end of this post, you will see the counts for her nutrition system. I thought I’d let you know, just in case you were wondering.
Yes, I get to eat food like this Chili Cheesedog Chili Mac! Okay. I seriously struggled over what to call this dish. It started out something different, but that just didn’t roll off the tongue like I wanted it to. Some of those recipe titles are just too much! They’re either too difficult to pronounce or just don’t sound right. I went through that with this one before I finally landed on Chili Cheesedog Chili Mac.
But, I didn’t struggle over eating this. Honestly, how tasty does this look? You can completely use the chili of your choice, but we opted for the quick and easy Hormel vegetarian chili, because it’s 98% fat free. Yes, I could have made my own chili, but this is a weeknight meal. I’m not going to whip up a batch of chili on a weeknight to make this. If you do, then you’re the better foodie than I am.
For us, after spending almost an hour in traffic and knowing the alarm will be going off about 4:10am, we want quick, easy, and tasty. This is JUST that! Not to mention kid friendly! What kid wouldn’t want this tasty dinner?? Chili cheesedog? Oh yeah! Chili mac? OH YEAH! Put them together and *mind blown*
A word about the hot dogs. I know that whole “fat free” thing has a bad taste in some people’s mouths (no pun intended), but these are Hebrew National. You know, the kosher dogs? To me, this means that only quality ingredients are going in these babies. And they are tasty!! They have all the flavor of a beef hot dog without all that fat. Okay….now I want a hotdog.
Brief tidbit about me; my mother craved serious hot dogs while she was preggers with me. So, they’re almost my all time fave food! In all honesty, lasagna is my FAVE FOOD! Dad used to call me Garfield when I was growing up because I couldn’t get enough of it. Actually, still can’t.
Okay, back to this recipe.
I garnished with the typical onions and cheese of a chili cheesedog, but you can drizzle with some ketchup or mustard if your little ones (or big ones) usually put that on their hot dog. Maybe some relish? Sure, why not? This is your dinner, not mine. Just because I put onions and cheese on mine, doesn’t mean you have to. This is just the base for you to paint your dinner canvas with. Paint it how you want!
Grab a fork and dig in! This is going to be one of those meals your kids will ask for again and again! I know I will be making again and again. It truly was delicious and I couldn’t wait to have it for lunch the next day.
Chili Cheesedog Chili Mac
This quick and easy Chili Cheesedog Chili Mac is not only kid friendly (big and little kids alike) but it’s also tasty and low in fat.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta
- 1 cup diced onion, divided
- 11 ounces 97% fat free hot dogs, 7 total
- 20 ounces vegetarian chili
- 1/4 teaspoon Hatch chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 cups fat free half and half
- 4 ounces fat free cream cheese, divided
- 2 ounces fat free cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions omitting salt and oil. Drain and rinse lightly with hot water. Set aside.
- Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup onion and sauté until tender.
- Slice the hot dogs into bite-sized pieces and add to the onions. Cook the hot dogs until they are heated through and begin to brown.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the chili, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and onion powder. Simmer 5 minutes or until the chili is heated through. Add the fat free half and half and the cream cheese; stirring until the cream cheese is melted. Sprinkle with 2 ounces of cheddar cheese and stir until combined.
- Toss the pasta with the chili mixture; stirring well until combined. Garnish with the remaining onions and cheddar cheese.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 711Total Fat 30gSaturated Fat 11gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 57mgSodium 1720mgCarbohydrates 77gFiber 9gSugar 12gProtein 34g
A kid pleaser—-that's an understatement. It would be smashing hit with big and little kids. My sons are grown, but would wolf this down in a minute along with the little kids.
Carol! My dear friend I LOVE your comments. Thank you for the comments. This truly was delicious and I DID wolf it down! LOL