Grilling up a good hot dog is a rite of passage in the summer. I don’t eat franks often, but when I do, I usually end up putting a creative spin on the situation — ya know, something outside the bun!

Like these Beef Hot Dogs in a “Jalapeno” Bun — no enriched, white flour bread products, just a spicy flame-kissed pepper instead. It’s not hard to find big jalapenos that will sub in nicely for a bun, and you just split them open to grill — they take just about as long as the dogs do on the grates. Afterward, insert the hot dog (I prefer 100% Beef) and add crumbled queso fresco, Sriracha sauce, cilantro and crunch raw radish slices for garnish.

Or, how about just keeping it super simple and eating them with ketchup, mustard and some classic pickle relish like I did at the Prevention R3 Summit this year (again, you can tell I don’t care for the bun)! Maybe hot dogs sans bread aren’t Paleo diet approved per se, put they are Paleo-ish!

Also, you don’t want to miss the creative hot dog topping ideas I did for Litehouse Foods last summer — the versions include  Greek God Hot Dog, Garlic Green Machine,  and Cha-Cha Chipotle Dog and use their low-fat, protein-packed line of OPAdipity Dips made with Greek yogurt!

So, how do you take your hot dog? Please share in the comments below – XOXO Jennifer