Happy 23rd birthday to my little brother!

Tis the season around here for birthdays, so things are pretty crazy. Not like that's anything out of the ordinary. One thing that is out of the ordinary though are these perfectly amazing burgerdogs! It's a cross between a burger and a hotdog. All of the burger flavor in the form of a hotdog.

What makes this little diddy even more appealing is the fact that it is filled with ooey gooey melted cheese. Mhm, yes... I will admittedly eat almost anything that is stuffed with cheese. As I've said before, cheese is my weakness.

To make these bad boys healthier, I used one of my most favorite BBQ sauces; Stubb's Original Bar-B-Que sauce, a tangy mix of tomato, vinegar, molasses and black pepper. It's a great low-sugar BBQ sauce option. Stubbs authentic sauces, rubs and marinates get their bold flavors from real ingredients, with no artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners, and they also cantina no high fructose corn syrup, the number one ingredient in most national BBQ sauce brands.

I also used Stubb's Chicken Spice Rub; a perfect blend of sea salt, paprika and black pepper. Yum! Of course, I had to use lean ground beef, and let me just tell you... I went with an organic grass-fed beef for these and the difference between it and what I'm used to in ground beef was pretty astounding!

I had to load my burgerdog up with all the traditional toppings, dill relish, yellow mustard and sugar-free ketchup. To keep it original and better-for-you still, I used a whole wheat bun and served the burgerdog with sweet potato and red beet chips.

This is a perfectly easy and fun meal for any backyard party, especially with Memorial Day coming up soon and the warmer weather encouraging everyone to get out their grills and get cookin'!

Healthified Burgerdog
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Calculations below do not include the bun.
Servings: 4 • Size: 1 Burger Dog • Calories: 373.1 • Fat: 22.6 g • Carb: 4.5 g • Fiber: 0 g • Protein: 36.7 g • Sugar: 3 g • Sodium: 416.8 mg

Ingredients:
1 Lb. Extra Lean Ground Beef
1/4 C. Stubb's Original Bar-B-Que Sauce
1 Tsp. Stubb's Chicken Spice Rub
4 Oz. Reduced Fat Mild Cheddar Cheese, Cut into 1 Oz. Sticks

Directions:
Preheat the grill (indoor or out.)

While the grill is heating up, mix the ground beef, 1/4 c. BBQ sauce and 1 tsp. seasoning until well blended.

Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal pieces and lay each out into a dry flat surface.

Shape the meat into a rectangle and place one cheese stick into the middle of each.

'Roll' the meat up around the cheese and seal it off on all sides and edges to form your burger dogs.

Place the burger dogs onto the hot grill and cook for about 12 minutes (cooking for about 3 minutes on each side and rotating 4 times) or until done.

Once done, remove from the grill and enjoy right away!

I served mine on whole wheat buns with traditional burger and/or hotdog toppings with a side of sweet potato and beet chips.