I’m not the greatest cook in the world. Not by a long shot. I’m also not one of those people who can take 2 or 3 ingredients and create a gourmet meal on the fly. That would be a great “skill” to have.
I’ve recently been asked to participate in Kraft’s Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign. The Huddle for Hunger campaign aims to raise meal donations for Feeding America and local Feeding America food banks.
Because it’s football season (Go Cowboys!), Kraft came up with the perfect name for the campaign – Huddle to Fight Hunger. After all, football games often bring out some of the best foods and recipes around. Just thinking about a tailgating party and alll that great food right now it making me hungry myself. Chili, ribs, salads, burgers… all those great tailgating foods are oh so good. Sadly, many people across the country can’t even look forward to something like a tailgating feast. Many people don’t realize just how well off they are. I couldn’t imagine not having enough food to feed my children.
This year Kraft Food’s Huddle to Fight Hunger program is on a mission to donate the monetary equivalent of 25 million meals to Feeding America. What a better way to achieve their goal by rallying around three things American are passionate about this time of year (aside from the holidays) – Football, food and of course family.
Did you know that last year the Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign raised 21 million meals through the support of passionate football fans and people in the community. I want to challenge everyone reading this post to see if we can beat that record. Let’s see if we can help raise 22 million or more!
So what can YOU do to help? It’s easy! It won’t cost you a dime and it will only take a couple of minutes. I’m sure everyone can spare a minute or two, especially for such a worthy cause.
All you need to do is “like” the Kraft Fight Hunger Facebook page. Every person who “likes” the page will result in a meal being donated. YOU can donate a meal to someone in need and all you need to do is “like” a Facebook page.
The link to the Facebook page is www.Facebook.com/KraftFightHunger?sk=info.
You can help donate even MORE meals by playing the fun interactive game called “2-Minute Trivia Drill”. It’s easyand you don’t need to be an expert either. For every point earned in a given “2-Minute Trivia Drill” game one meal donation will be made to Feeding America. That means that even if you only scored 4 points in the game, four meals will be donated and that could make a difference in someone’s life.
I played and I earned 50 meals. Some trivia questions were very easy, others required more thought. It was fun. I enjoyed it. And it’s for a great cause.
Can’t you spare a minute or two to help feed the hungry?
Please also consider spreading the word through all your social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. If you could include the hashtag #KraftFightHunger on Twitter that would be very helpful and much appreciated.
Hunger issues here in the United States is more serious then you think. Did you know…
– In 2009, 8.8 million families were in poverty. That means a little over 11% of families here in the US are in poverty.
– In 2009, 15.5 million children under the age of 18 were in poverty. That is over 20% of children here in the states!
– In 2009, 3.4 million seniors 65 and older were in poverty. That is nearly 9% of all people 65 and older.
More recent findings found that…
– In 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children. “Food insecure” means not knowing where the next meal is coming from, if at all.
– In 2010, households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (20.2 percent), especially households with children headed by single women (35.1 percent) or single men (25.4 percent), Black non-Hispanic households (25.1 percent) and Hispanic households (26.2 percent).
– Food insecurity exists in every county in America, ranging from a low of 5 percent in Steele County, ND to a high of 38 percent in Wilcox County, AL.
Sadly most people only think about the hungry during the holiday season. Unfortuanatly hunger doesn’t care about the holidays or what season it is. Hunger effects people year round. My family tries to donate to our local food bank whenever possible. Especially when stores have “buy one, get one free” sales or too good to pass up sales on non-perishable food items.
Getting back to my recipe. As part of this campaign I was challenged to come up with a recipe using various Kraft products. The last time I created a recipe I was a finalist in a recipe contest and had that recipe put up on the Food Network website. I’m not sure if this recipe is going to win any contests, but I certainly gave it my all and did my best to create something. I’m sure I’m going to have to “tweak” it many times until I have it perfect.
Dog Bites
Ingredients:
– 1 box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
– 2 Oscar Mayer Turkey Hot Dogs (or your favorite Oscar Mayer hot dog)
– 1/2 a sleeve of Ritz crackers
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese as directed. Once prepared remove from the pot and put it into a mixing bowl to cool.
While you are preparing the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese boil water. Once boiled add the two Oscar Mayer Turkey Hot Dogs, reduce the heat and cook until done.
Pour 1/2 a sleeve of Ritz crackers into a plastic Ziploc bag. Using a mug or rolling pin crush the Ritz Cracker up until they are the consistency of bread crumbs.
Place non-stick foil on a baking pan and set aside.
Cut the Oscar Mayer Turkey Hot Dogs up into 1/4″ – 1/2″ slices.
Once the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is cool and sticky you can begin. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop up the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese until it fills about 1/2 of the ice cream scoop. Using a spoon press the mac and cheese down into the ice cream scoop. Next, place a piece of hot dog in the center, then scoop up more mac and cheese into the ice cream scoop (you can either use the scoop or the spoon.
Using the spoon once again, press down on the mac and cheese in the scoop.
Using a different spoon lightly sprinkle some of the crushed up Ritz Crackers on top of the mac and cheese while still in the scoop.
Carefully place the scoop full of mac and cheese (and the dog!) on to the baking pan. If some of the mac and cheese falls off use your hand to patch it back up.
Continue doing this until you’ve used up all the mac and cheese and/or hot dogs. This will make approximately 10-12 “mounds” of mac and cheese.
Use the remaining crushed Ritz Crackers and sprinkle them on top of the mounds.
Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from oven and let stand a couple of minutes to cool down. Then serve and enjoy.
Like I mentioned earlier, this recipe is a “work in progress”. I was hoping I could make “balls” out of the mac and cheese and roll it around in the cracker crumbs, but the “balls” kept coming apart. Humm… back to the drawing board on this one.
I liked the name “Dog Bites” because my “vision” was something you could eat with your hands that you could find off in a few bites. The “dog” comes from the hot dog of course. 🙂
I know there are plenty of “foodies” who read my blog, and those of you who are geniuses in the kitchen. Perhaps you can make some suggestions on how to improve this recipe and make it more “do-able”? Your comments and feedback are always welcome.
If you try out the recipe let me know what you think.
Just by sharing this recipe with you 1,000 meals have been donated to Feeding America. ONE THOUSAND! That is such a great feeling. 🙂
Don’t forget – “Like” www.Facebook.com/KraftFightHunger?sk=info and play the 2 Minute Drill game to help donate food to those in need.
Kimberly
*Kraft Foods is providing me a gift card in exchange for my participation in this program at no cost to me; however, all opinions expressed here are my own.
courtney says
those are crazy statistics.. but the recipe looks yummy!
raleah says
That’s really sad. It seems like the world gets worse and worse.
ANN* says
This recipe for dog bits put a different spin on plain old
macaroni and cheese which we all love
anna pry says
I think its great when companies give back like this but I do wish they would just give what they want to give without relying on people to do the whole facebook thing. i dont mind doing it but fewer people receive the help that way probably.