Have I mentioned that we are from the midwest? [Of course I have.] We are loudly, proudly from the good ol’ heart of the country. For me there is absolutely nothing like getting to the edge of town and finding a stretch of wide open plains, as far as you can see. I like doug firs too, of course.

But nothing can replace Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Colorado, where Dave and I spent our formative years, met, fell in love, got married and started our life together. Some people call it “flyover country” but anyone who’s actually spent time there knows better. Even though I live in one of the coolest cities on the planet, I miss the Midwest like crazy.

I could go on and on about the high school sports, the church activities or the blood-boiling college football rivalries that shaped my young existence. But this is not a blog about any of those things, is it? It’s about food.

And when it comes to food, the Midwest has plenty to say.

The Chicago-style hot dog is only about 30% hot dog. In fact, I’m pretty sure it has a full serving of veggies on it. Kind of counterintuitive.

But are we going to argue with this?

Probably not. Get crackin’.

Here’s what you need, per dog:
1 hot dog
1 poppyseed hot dog bun
2-4 tomato slices
2-4 cucumber slices
dill pickle spear
sweet pickle relish
diced white onion (2 tbsp. ish)
Regular ol’ yellow mustard
Sport peppers – these are pickled hot peppers that are yellow and about 2 inches long. The ones in the photos are not *exactly* the right ones because we couldn’t find them.
celery salt (for sprinkling)

Cook the hot dog by boiling it. Use the boiling water to also steam the hot dog bun (we actually set the steam basket on top of the saucepan while the hot dogs were cooking – it worked great!)

When both are ready, put the hot dog in the bun and start by placing the tomatoes, cucumbers and dill pickle spear alongside the dog. Spoon the pickle relish and onion on top and squiggle with mustard. Top with sport peppers and a sprinkling of celery salt.