Octopus Hot Dogs with Spaghetti

For The Little Mermaid party, making an Ursula inspired dish was easy with octopus hot dogs with spaghetti. This is a great way to get kids cooking in the kitchen helping you with such an easy meal to make.

Ursula the Sea Witch was one of the main characters we thought of portraying with food for this party. Since her character looks like she has octopus tentacles, we thought a hot dog would be the best option.

By slicing the hot dog before cooking, when they are cooked in a pot of boiling water they naturally curve and bend giving the shape of tentacles. We originally tried the recipe without spaghetti but the hot dogs needed a bed to lie in and spaghetti made the perfect fit.

Octopus Hot Dogs with Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 1 package of 8-10 hot dogs
• 1 pound spaghetti noodles
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• Ranch dressing

Directions:

1. Slice hot dogs lengthwise 3/4 of the way to create tentacles, as pictured above. Try to create eight “legs” to truly represent an octopus.
2. Place hot dogs in large pot of boiling water and cook thoroughly but be careful not to overcook them.
3. Follow instructions on the package of spaghetti noodles to make approximately one pound of spaghetti.
4. Add 3 Tablespoons butter to cooked spaghetti, stir, and place in serving bowl.
5. Add hot dogs on top of spaghetti and arrange tentacles.
6. Once cooled, add two dots of ranch to make the eyes.

Serves: 8-10 allowing for one hot dog per person.

If you want to get fancy, dye the spaghetti blue so it looks like they are swimming in the ocean. Another option is to use fish shaped macaroni and cheese.

Octopus hot dogs with spaghetti is a very easy dish to make that can accommodate small or large parties. It is also a very simple food that most children will actually eat at a party.