Hot Dog Pie — The PCS Dinner That Almost Wasn’t Fried Chicken

The Miramar orders are confirmed. CONFIRMED. PCS to MCAS Miramar, San Diego. July. SAN DIEGO. The dream city. The taco-shop-and-ocean city. The city Ryan and I manifested with sparkling cider on New Year's Eve. The manifestation worked. Or the Marines made a personnel decision. Both are valid explanations. Ryan came home with the orders on Tuesday and I did what I did when we got Pendleton orders from Lejeune, what I did when we got Twentynine Palms orders from Pendleton: I made a list. List 1: Things to pack first (KITCHEN) List 2: Things to research at Miramar (housing, schools for Caleb, pediatrician for Hazel) List 3: Things to look forward to (SAN DIEGO. TACOS. OCEAN. COUNTER SPACE??) The excitement is different this time. Pendleton-to-desert was dread. Desert-to-Pendleton was relief. Pendleton-to-San Diego is HOPE. Hope that this could be the place we stay. The place near which we eventually buy a house. The place where 'home' becomes permanent. Soo-Jin's reaction: 'San Diego? That's TWENTY MINUTES from me. Rachel, we'll be NEIGHBORS. Well, neighbor-adjacent.' Soo-Jin is still at Pendleton but her husband's retirement is coming in two years. They're planning to stay in the San Diego area. Which means Soo-Jin might be near me for YEARS. Real years. Not military years. Mom: 'San Diego is wonderful. But it's still far from Norfolk.' 'Everywhere is far from Norfolk, Mom.' 'Not Norfolk.' Touché, Donna. Dad: 'What's the growing zone in San Diego?' 'Dad, I don't know what growing zones are.' 'Zone 10b. You can grow almost anything year-round. I'll send seeds.' Of course he will. Made Mom's celebration fried chicken. The PCS chicken. Every move gets fried chicken. The cast iron. The seasoned flour. The golden announcement dinner. San Diego. The dream. Coming in July. The kitchen travels. The chicken is golden. The dream is real. Let's go.

Every PCS gets fried chicken — that’s the rule, that’s the tradition, that’s Mom’s cast iron doing its golden, sacred work. But Caleb had been asking about Hot Dog Pie for weeks, and when Ryan walked in with those Miramar orders in hand and both kids were already at the table, I thought: San Diego deserves a double celebration. We did the fried chicken. We did the announcement. And then, because hope tastes a little like chaos and a lot like something the kids will actually eat without negotiating, we made Hot Dog Pie for round two — the unofficial, joyful, “we’re going to San Diego and anything goes” dinner that perfectly matched the energy in our house that night.

Hot Dog Pie

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 hot dogs, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp butter or cooking spray, for greasing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish with butter or cooking spray.
2. Layer the fillings. Spread the sliced hot dogs evenly across the bottom of the prepared pie dish. Top with diced onion, diced green bell pepper, and shredded cheddar cheese.
3. Make the batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper until smooth and no lumps remain.
4. Pour and bake. Pour the batter evenly over the hot dog and cheese mixture in the pie dish. Bake for 28—32 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the center is set when gently shaken.
5. Rest and slice. Let the pie rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, directly from the dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 13g | Fat: 20g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 720mg