Cut the hot dogs into thirds

Add the pancake mix, cornmeal, onion powder, and garlic powder to the mixing bowl

Stir the ingredients until they are blended

Add the milk to the bowl

Stir until you have a thick batter that is completely blended

Set the batter aside for 10 minutes (you can just treat it like one of the kids being in time-out...just don't forget that you put it in timeout. That leads to a whole different set of problems and guilt!)

Lay a few paper towels on a plate

Pour the oil into the pot

Put the pot on the cooktop and set the heat to medium-high

Allow the oil to heat for at least 5 minutes

If you're reading through the recipe beforehand, you probably just realized that you can do this step while the batter is in timeout (this is sort of a test to help you learn to read your recipes through before making them...but I won't grade you. This time!)

Dip one hot dog section in the batter, turning it so that it gets completely coated in the batter

Carefully immerse the battered hot dog into the oil

Fry the corn dog for 5 minutes, turning often so that it gets evenly cooked

Remove the hot dog and put it on the paper towel-lined plate to drain

Repeat the battering, frying, and draining steps for the other hot dog pieces