On the last Thursday in July, hot dog lovers across the United States start topping their hot dogs with delicious chili to celebrate National Chili Dog Day.
Wrapping up National Hot Dog Month, the chili dog brings the heat. Add onions, cheese, or chili sauce for more variety. With a hot dog, the condiments are endless.
Also known as a coney dog or chili con carne, the first person to make a chili dog probably tried it around the turn of the 20th century. Even then it was likely a meat and tomato sauce, not the full-on firehouse chili we know today. Get Jen’s Easy Chili recipe.
Even now, the chili dog gains gourmet status depending on where you go. Add the best ingredients, all-beef franks, and pretzel bun, too. My favorite is traditional chili piled on with fresh purple onion, and extra sharp cheddar cheese.
Experiment with the sausage seasonings or the type of chili. For example, switch to a flavorful brat seasoned with chipotle and top it with buffalo chili. Let your imagination go wild. Of course, a traditional chili dog is always an option, too.
Chili dogs are a meal all on their own. Grab one at the ballpark or set up a chili dog bar. Invite friends and family to create colossal and delicious chili dogs with all their favorite toppings. Host a chili cookoff and supply the franks, buns, and special toppings for the judges to add to their chili dog. Crown the winner with bragging rights!
Post on social media using #NationalChiliDogDay and encourage others to join the celebration.
National Hot Dog Day in July, celebrates a summertime staple on a bun. Enjoy one piping hot and add some relish and mustard to go! One thing we want to know – is it a sandwich or not?
Celebrated every year during National Hot Dog Month, this day pays homage to the frankfurter, the footlong or wienie, wiener, wienerwurst or even red hot. They taste just as great no matter what we call it.
Over 25 million hot dogs are sold at baseball stadiums each year.
We make them a variety of ways. They’re portable and easy to make. While many of us prefer them grilled or toasted over a fire, we also boil, pan-fry, and rotisserie-cook them. The list of toppings are numerous – from the basic ketchup, mustard or relish to onions, mayonnaise, cheese bacon, chili and sauerkraut – the list keeps growing. Adults and children alike love them, too.
Then there’s me. My family likes them but I simply cannot. My mother says I’ve rejected them since day 1. Normally toddlers get these cut up as a easy food, apparently I have been refusing them since then. I’ve tried lots of brands and styles of cooking, and a variety of toppings, but the outcome is always the same. So if you love these wonders of food enjoy one for me would you? Can I have a Brat instead?
On May 31, 2012,a world record was set for the most expensive hot dog. The “California Capitol City Dawg” sold for $145.49 at Capitol Dawg in Sacramento, California. The “California Capitol City Dawg” features:
A grilled 18″ all-beef, in natural casing frank from Chicago
served on a fresh-baked herb and oil focaccia roll spread with white truffle butter, then grilled
topped with whole grain mustard from France, garlic and herb mayonnaise
sauteed chopped shallots, organic mixed baby greens, maple syrup
marinated/fruitwood smoked uncured bacon from New Hampshire
basil olive oil/pear-cranberry-coconut balsamic vinaigrette and ground peppercorn
Proceeds from the sale of each 3 lb. super dog were donated to the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
7-Eleven sells the most grilled hot dogs in North America – 100 million annually.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL HOT DOG DAY
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council created National Hot Dog Day. The day was established in 1991 to coincide with a hot dog lunch on Capitol Hill every year on a Wednesday in July.
Share your favorite toppings. Do you like yours blackened or just done? Tell us where the best hot dogs near you are. Give the restaurant or vendor a shout out. What makes them special? Is it their toppings? Do they use a better frank? We want to know.
Have a hot dog and post on social media using #NationalHotDogDay to encourage others to join in.
National Beans ‘N’ Franks Day on July 13th encourages us to make our favorite recipes during National Hot Dog Month. Since we are also indulging in a Baked Bean Month, this is a great way to combine them. This simple recipe cooks up a delicious dish in no time and goes well with summertime barbecues, too!
Also known as “beanie weenies,” both dishes are similar to pork ‘n’ beans, but substitute hot dogs or frankfurters for the pork.
Baked beans became popular during the Civil War in the United States. They would later become one of the first canned convenience foods on the market in the 1890s. As a result, baked beans became a staple of the chuckwagon. However, it is unknown when adding franks to the beans became a culinary technique.
The franks, or frankfurters, can be beef, pork, or a combination of both. The ground meat is blended with spices and seasonings before being cured. These sausage style wieners or hot dogs come with or without casings. Before adding them to the beans, the franks are sliced into bite-sized pieces.
While beans and franks is one name, Van Camp’s owns the trademark to the Beanie Weenies name. Another brand name is Franks & Beans.
Home cooks make beans and franks, too. Recipes can include beans, hot dogs, brown sugar, onion, mustard, barbecue sauce, and spices. The United States isn’t the only place recipes are found, either. Around the world, beans and franks enjoy wide popularity.
Beans and franks go well with coleslaw, grilled corn on the cob, and vegetable kabobs. Add some iced tea and pie to complete the meal. Make it a picnic for a day out.
Have a picnic or cookout. Make your favorite beans ‘n’ franks recipe to share. Don’t have one? Here is a recipe for you to try. Or just open up a can and heat it up. Post on social media using #BeansNFranksDay.
Pop some popcorn, grab a blanket and your favorite buddy, put away the cell phones and tablets, and then queue up a string of movies for a fun night of entertainment. National Movie Night on the second Friday in June encourages us to start (or restart) a tradition of movie nights with friends and family.
Movies have been bringing people together for over 100 years. The stars, the stories entertain us, connect us and help us create memories. As technology evolves, so does how we enjoy our movie nights. From the theater to reel-to-reel home movies, the VCR, DVD, and streaming, we’ve been enjoying movies on big and small screens. Drive-in movies invited us to enjoy films from the comfort of our cars. Today, our video library is as large as we want it to be thanks to streaming services. We can even enjoy movies in our own backyards projected onto screens under the stars.
Can you smell the popcorn popping? Start your tradition with friends and family on National Movie Night with new and classic movies at the theatre or in your homes.
Jennifer and Jayda Borget, a mother-daughter duo fluent in movie quotes and authors of the Family Movie Night Journal, founded National Movie Night to create an opportunity to bring new and old movie night traditions to life. Be prepared to laugh, cry or cringe, but most importantly, to make memories! Need a list of suggestions for National Movie Night? This list at movienightjournal.com will get you started.
What movie will you watch and who will you invite for National Movie Night? There are so many ways to start a movie tradition:
Make a movie night bucket list.
Share your favorite movie quotes.
Create a group with people who love movies. Plan to celebrate with a night out at the movie theatre.
Host a movie night in with the family. Pick a film the whole family will enjoy.
Invite friends and family for a movie night BBQ. Hang a sheet or screen to project the movie onto. Wait for it to get dark and then let the entertainment begin.
Load up the car and head to the nearest drive-in movie theatre.
Create a buffet of your favorite movie snacks and beverages for everyone to enjoy.
Ask everyone to write a review and deliver it in their best critic voice.
Invite everyone to dress in their red-carpet best for movie premieres and go to the movies in style.
Don’t forget to share your movie night traditions. Use #NationalMovieNight to share your celebration on social media and follow @movienightjournal. Sit back, hit play, and enjoy the show!
Every year on December 25th, over 2 billion people around the world celebrate Christmas Day. Traditionally, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Nonreligious people and those of different faiths celebrate the day as a cultural event.
Also known as Christmas Day, this holiday is derived from the Old English Crīstesmæsse which means Christ’s Mass. Today, Christmas is a public holiday in most countries. Only about a dozen countries do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday. Christmas traditions vary around the world and have evolved over time. They borrow from other traditions and cultures, too. Over time, beliefs and customs blended as peoples migrated and attitudes changed.
One of the most popular Christmas customs is gift-giving. This custom has its roots in the Magi who brought gifts to Jesus shortly after his birth. Unfortunately, the gift-giving aspect of Christmas has led to its commercialization. On average, Americans spend $700 on Christmas gifts and goodies. Altogether, this equals $465 billion. In recent years, there has been a call to simplify the holiday and to get back to the “reason for the season.”
Christmas Traditions
3/Candy canesWhile plain, unflavored candy sticks and canes existed as early as the 1600s, it wasn’t until 1920 that the hooked version became exceptionally popular. Bob McCormack of Albany, Georgia took the peppermint candy, gave it a red and white striped twist. His handmade candies were given a manufacturing boost when his brother-in-law and priest, Gregory Keller, invented the machine that launched Bob’s Candies into mass production. However, Keller’s invention wasn’t the first of its kind.
PoinsettiaAnother tradition that blossomed in the United States during the 1920s, the poinsettia’s legend takes place in Mexico. According to the legend, a girl wanted desperately to celebrate Jesus’s birthday. Worried, the girl feared she would have no gift to offer because she was so poor. An angel tells her to give any gift with love. After gathering weeds from alongside the road, the young girl placed them in the manger. Miraculously the weeds bloomed into beautiful red stars.
Christmas treesEvergreens, fir trees, and other plants have been a part of the winter festivals and traditions since ancient times. The first person to place a tree in a house for the purposes of Christmas may have been the German preacher Martin Luther in the 16th century.
St. NicholasLegendary stories about the third century St. Nicholas later become part of the inspiration for the modern-day Santa Claus.
Mailing cards In Victorian England, sending Penny Post was inexpensive and frequent. Not responding to it was equally inexcusable. Being popular and busy led Sir Henry Cole to invent a holiday card nearly out of necessity. In 1843, he asked his friend, J.C. Horsley to illustrate a design he had in mind. Soon, Cole was off to the printer and the first Christmas card mailed in the Penny Post.
CarolingWassailing and caroling history go hand in hand. Originally, wassail referred to a mulled, sweet drink. It came to be known as going from house to house during the winter months and eventually as caroling. The carolers are often given hot beverages to drink to keep them warm as they travel.
A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published on December 19, 1843, and tells the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. So popular was the novella, the first theatre production took place within weeks of its publication. Since then, films, stage, and novels have presented a variety of adaptations much to the audiences’ delight.
FruitcakeThe American tradition of eating – or giving – fruitcake at Christmas is somehow connected to the Victorian tradition of serving Christmas pudding. Both are molded, but that’s about where the similarities end.
CHRISTMAS HISTORY
It is debatable whether Jesus was born on December 25th. Nowhere does the Bible provide the exact date of his birth. If this is the case, why does the world celebrate Christmas on this day? The first Christmas ever celebrated happened in 336. It was during the time the Roman Empire was ruled by Constantine. He was the first Christian Roman Emperor. Under Constantine, Christianity spread into Northern and Western Europe.
One of the earliest references to celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is in a homily by John Chrysostom, a 4th-century archbishop. Christmas is a relatively new celebration when considering church holy days. Passover, Lent, and Easter were celebrated long before Christmas.
Winter Solstice
These regions celebrated the Winter Solstice. Christmas adopted many of the customs associated with the Winter Solstice. These customs included decorating with evergreen trees and their boughs. It also included large feasts and a bearded man delivering gifts. In medieval times, Christmas was a solemn observance of the birth of Jesus Christ, and very little feasting, singing, and carousing was going on. The first record of the word “Cristes Maesse” being used was in a book from 1038 from Saxon England.
As Christianity spread into northern and western Europe, Christmas adopted many of the customs associated with the winter solstice. Decorating with evergreen trees and their boughs, holly, and mistletoe, a bearded man delivering gifts and even the large feasts all hearken back to these celebrations.
Caroling, Nativity scenes, and gift-giving (primarily to nobility with hopes of favors in return) began taking hold around the Renaissance period. Royalty and nobility had a considerable influence on this era. The Renaissance period covered a broad expanse of time (1300-1700) and was filled with an influx of inspiration, invention, and art. All of it influenced Christmas. Some Christians, like the Puritans didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. This was largely due to the holiday’s pagan background. Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts between1659 and 1681.
Christmas in The United States
One hundred years after the founding of the United States, Christmas became a federal holiday.
By the mid to late 1800s, communication and transportation were changing rapidly. Time and distance isolated people causing customs and traditions to be diverse from place to place. Celebrations occurring in Georgia were completely unique from those celebrated in New York. Nearly overnight that began to change. Telegraphs and railroads made the passage of information and people, if not instant, significantly faster than ever before. Longing for the old days, for times when the family was a central theme in American’s lives, Christmas brought those nostalgic feelings under one significant day.
Louis Prang, a German immigrant and printer by trade, introduced the American Christmas card in 1875. The Christmas card gradually replaced customs of personal visits or written Christmas letters.
As the population grew, so did commerce and an increase in both charitable and personal gift giving followed. However, many givers and recipients still valued handmade gifts over store-bought.
Most Christmas traditions are celebrated in the days leading up to Christmas. In the morning, see what Santa has delivered. Gather with family and open presents around a decorated tree or have a meal together.
No wonder many people call this the most wonderful time of the year! On Christmas Day, many families open their gifts in the morning. A special Christmas dinner follows complete with lots of goodies for dessert. The best thing about Christmas is that you can choose which traditions you want to keep. You can also have fun coming up with new traditions. Share your favorite Christmas Day traditions on social media with #Christmas.
