Fish Bait for Supper

Folks that visit my blog on a regular basis know that I love to cook.  And, I'll give myself a pat on the back because I'm a pretty fair cook, too.  But every once in a while, I just want to throw something out and call it supper.

The first day of deer season is this Saturday.  Yesterday, DH went to a nearby gun range to test fire his rifle he's taking on his annual hunting trip.  That gave me the house all to myself to watch movies, craft, take a nap, whatever I wanted to do.  My list of things I wanted to do did not include cooking supper.

There's always something in the pantry or freezer that can be tossed together quickly or even just microwaved so I headed out to the freezer about 2:00 to see what I could find.

There, on the top shelf in the freezer, I found a package of Jenny-O turkey wieners.  Now, I don't buy turkey wieners or lunch meats.  To me, they have an odd flavor and odor and I don't like them.  So, I figured these were part of the food left over from DH's latest camping trip with the Scouts and he'd stuck them in the freezer.

I brought the wieners into the kitchen and dug out a can of chili from the pantry and my dinner dilemma was resolved.  There's also a big bag of Fritos in there, so I decided if DH didn't want a hot dog w/chili he could just have a Frito chili pie. The rule in our house is "if you don't like what's on the table, there's peanut butter in the cabinet".  So, I knew he wouldn't starve! ***I'm laughing to myself, because this is a rule HE put in place for our son.***

DH stayed too long at the range.  I gave up and decided to just cut the weiners up into 1" pieces and mix them with the chili.  Since I had no hot dog buns in the house, my plan was to top a slice of bread with this mixture and sprinkle some grated cheese over it---and call it a hot dog!

Just as I finished eating my "hot dog", DH came in for supper.  I explained to him what I'd made for dinner and he fixed himself a plate and sat down to eat.  While he was eating, I made the comment that I never buy the turkey wieners, but these were really good. 

That's when he told me that he buys them to use for catfish bait!  LOL!  He had gone to our lake trailer to winterize it and had cleaned out the refrigerator and brought them home.  Now, here's where it really gets funny.  He said he hadn't fished for catfish in over a year.  The wieners had been in the freezer over a year at the trailer!  I think the "use by" date on the package was in 2009 sometime.  Thank goodness he'd had them stored in the freezer or we'd probably both be at the ER by now!

So, we had fish bait for supper last night. And, I'm wondering....would I like Jenny-O turkey wieners if I bought them fresh?  Or, are they only good after being frozen for two years?