Put a Stick In It - Food on Sticks

Have you ever seen the episode of The Middle with the plastic forks? If you haven't, I'll sum it up for you.  The oldest son graduates from college and the parents have a graduation party.  The party is outside and there are paper plates and plastic forks involved.  They (the parents) are cleaning up after the party and the parents decide to retrieve some plasticware from the trash.  I can't say I've done that but I do sort of have that thought process.....I do NOT like throwing away anything that is potentially reusable and sure, you could use your regular silverware for outdoor entertaining but what IF they are thrown away and even if they're not thrown away you still have to wash all those forks, spoons, knives, and plates so I definitely see the benefit of the plasticware.  It is such a dilemma, now isn't it?

I was thinking about this recently when I was planning a small get together and then it hit me......Food on Sticks! Genius, right? Okay, so I'm not exactly sure it takes me to the status of Einstein but once I had the idea to Put a Stick In It my wheels started turning and I am quite happy to say, my get together worked out quite well and as you will notice from the pictures there was not a single fork, spoon, knife OR plate in sight! Everything was easy to grab and eat allowing sharing, mingling and making memories to occur.

Food on Sticks

So here's what my menu looked like:

Homemade State Fair Corn Dogs {recipe below!} State Fair sounds so much better than saying carnie dogs but carnival corn dogs are pretty tasty so either way you say it, this recipe is AWESOME and this could easily be your go-to recipe for corn dogs. *fingers crossed*

Fruit kabobs

Cheese and tomato kabobs

Corn on the cob

For this party, I bought fresh strawberries and grapes, a big ole pineapple and a cantaloupe.  I didn't cut all the fruit up but the fruit kabobs can have as many combos as you like or as few.  They are totally customizable and oh so good.  My kids were actually arguing over who got the last one.  I, on the other hand, would have been wrestling them to the ground for the last cupcake but since I wasn't serving any of those they were safe.  ;)For the cheese and tomato kabobs, I purchased packages of cheddar cheese and Pepper Jack cheese.  I cut these into cubes and threaded them onto skewers placing some cute little tomatoes after every two cubes of cheese.  I placed the extra cheese cubes and some grapes on a soapstone platter with the cheese kabobs.  It was so hot, over 90º, that the soapstone started to sweat a little but it did keep everything super cold.

I also purchased corn on the cob, broke each cob in half, added a skewer to each one and then cooked as usual.  I would have waited until after they cooked to add the skewer but I couldn't figure out how to do that with them being HOT so I added the skewer first, stood them all up in the pot and cooked away.  It worked!

Our little Food on Sticks get together was a huge success because it's always fun to....

📖 Recipe

Homemade Mini Corn Dogs

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Ingredients

• 1 package of hot dogs each hot dog cut in half
• ½ cup fresh yellow cornmeal
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup whole milk
• food safe skewers
• Oil for deep frying and large pot or deep fryer.

Instructions

• 
• After cutting hot dogs in half place them on a plate lined with paper towels and dab the hot dogs until they are dry. This will allow the batter to adhere to the hot dogs better.
  
• Mix together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  
• Whisk together the egg and milk.
  
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
  
• Pour batter into a tall glass. This will make it easier to coat the hot dogs in the batter.
• Add skewers to the bottom of each hot dog and dip in the batter.
  
• If using a deep fryer, start heating it up about 15 minutes before you will be adding your hot dogs. If using a pot add 4 inches of oil and heat oil (use a deep fry thermometer to monitor the temperature) until the temperature reaches 360 degrees.
• After dipping each hot dog into the batter, gently shake off any excess and lower into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel lined paper plate.
• Serve immediately and enjoy!

As with any of my recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.

Calories:

Author: Mary Beth

Share, Mingle, and Make Memories!

p.s. Save the skewers to stake small plants in your garden or use in your firepit.  See, there's almost always a way to repurpose things!

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