I definitely wouldn't say it was my "secret ingredient" but, when the kids were small, I often put hot dogs into my Sunday Gravy.
I've written here before about the challenges of raising a large family on a small budget and toward the end of the month when money was tight, hot dogs found their way into quite a few of my meals. Including noodles and Sunday Gravy.
I'd drop a couple of pork chops into the simmering sauce pot for my husband, and the cut up wieners for the kids. I don't see anything wrong, or even "weird" about it. They're basically a pork sausage, you know. Pork and spices, including plenty of garlic. My kids loved them.
I don't know if the wieners improved the sauce, but they sure didn't hurt.
And they were a lot quicker than meatballs for a busy working mother.
Eh....you do what you have to, you know.
Whatever suits the occasion.
And, at the time, hot dogs did.
Upon rereading some of the posts, feel the need to add that my kids never were what anyone would call picky eaters. And today, they're all in their forties, and are excellent and adventuresome eaters and cooks.
So it didn't seem to have stunted them much.
And if they were upset about it, they've forgiven me.
