Hello everyone! This week I tried the Lightlife Black Bean Burger Smart Patties, in the simple, straightforward style of Parks & Recreation's Ron Swanson.
“Here's mine. It's a hamburger, made out of [beans], on a bun, with nothing.”
“Add ketchup if you want; I couldn't care less.”
And of course, I had a similar reaction to everyone who tried Ron's burger; it was really good! Dressed up with all the fixin's, I'm sure it could be even more awesome, but sometimes nice & plain is exactly what you need.
Hello
on the 28th day of the Vegan Month of Food, and the seventh (and
final) day of my Parks and Recreation theme week!
The
Quiet Corn's German Muffin
In "Camping" (season 3, episode 8), having successfully pulled off
the harvest festival, the group goes on a camping trip in order to
come up with the next big idea. Everyone assumes Leslie will have the
best idea, so no one else puts much effort into the brainstorming
session. When everyone decides they want to go home for the night
instead of camping (or, as Leslie proposes, working through the
night), they discover that the van's battery has been drained by all
of Tom's electronics and fancy camping equipment. They decide to walk
to a nearby bed and breakfast to spend the night there. When they
arrive, Elsa Clack welcomes them to The Quiet Corn and informs them
of the breakfast menu.
Elsa:
We have hardboiled eggs, homemade
tomato slices with dry seed and leek jam, and your choice of German
muffin.
Ron:
The f**k is a German muffin?
I,
like Ron, have no idea what a German muffin is, but this is my
attempt at one (my recipe is a slightly modified version of the one
for "nutritious muffins" on the package of the Bob's Red Mill Oat
Bran Cereal).
Ingredients:
--3/4
cup whole wheat flour
--3/4
cup Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran Cereal
--1/2
cup brown sugar
--1
tsp baking powder
--1
tsp cinnamon
--1/2
tsp baking soda
--1/3
cup banana, mashed
--1/4
cup soy milk
--1/3
cup applesauce
--2
T coconut oil
--1/2
tsp vanilla
--1/2
cup carrot, shredded
--1/2
cup raisins
--1/2
cup pumpkin seeds
--salt*
*I
used the leftover salt from the bottom of a pretzel bag, a fun trick
that I saw with Lymie Eating Coconut's cookies here: Caturday and Cookies.
Directions:
(Preheat
oven to 400°F.) Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl, wet
ingredients in another. Then, combine the two and stir well until
moistened thoroughly. Add in carrots, raisins, and pumpkin seeds.
Line a muffin tray with paper cups; fill the cups about 2/3 full.
Lightly sprinkle some salt atop. Bake for 18 minutes. (Makes 12
muffins.)
For
as messy as they were when I removed the paper cups, they were so
good! I'll definitely be making these muffins again! Yum!
Bonus
video clip/quote from the episode:
(Everyone
is gathered around the campfire, leaning in and listening intently.)
Ron:
And when she looked in the back of her car, she saw that even though
it was her own private property, she would be forced to take it in...
for a state inspection!
"I know what a German muffin is, but I'm not telling."
Hello
on the 25th day of the Vegan Month of Food, and the fourth day of my
Parks and Recreation theme week! (This post also fits in with
the Work With it Wednesday theme,
since I was a bit skeptical of portobello mushrooms and haven't been
that much of an asparagus fan.)
Chris'
Portobello Mushrooms
In "Indianapolis," (season 3, episode 6),
Leslie and Ron are traveling to the city to receive a
commendation award, but all Ron cares about is eating at his favorite
steakhouse. When they arrive, however, they discover that it has been
shut down due to a health code violation. Chris, who now lives in
Indianapolis, offers to "fire up the grill" at his place. While preparing the meal, Chris offers some salad to Ron. (Hehehe, look at me, I finally figured out how to embed a video in a post!)
Chris:
Ron, would you like some salad?
Ron:
(chuckles) Since I am not a rabbit, no, I do not.
Chris:
Try it, salad's good for you. (serves him some salad)
Ron:
You got it. (Chris leaves to work on the rest of the meal, Ron dumps
his salad back into the main serving bowl) Mmmm, delicious!
Later,
when Ron goes out to the grill to check on the steaks, he discovers
that Chris isn't actually cooking steak...
Ron:
Ahhhh!!!!
Leslie:
Ron?
Ron:
What in the devil's name is this?!
Chris:
Portobello mushrooms.
Ron:
Where's the steak?
Chris:
Oh, there's no steak. That's a healthier option. It's organically
grown.
Ron:
Oh... (gets unsteady)
Leslie:
Ron, are you OK? Woah, woah, woah, OK. (helps Ron into a chair) (to
Chris) Can you get us a cold compress or something?
Ingredients
for Chris' meal:
--2
organic portobello mushrooms
--olive
oil
--salt
--pepper
--asparagus
--rosemary
--garlic salt
--red
and orange peppers
--mixed
greens
Pre-heat
oven to 400°F,
cover a baking tray with a sheet of aluminum foil. Clean, de-stem,
and de-gill the portobello mushrooms. Brush olive oil and sprinkle
salt and pepper on both sides, set bottom-up on the tray. Trim the
asparagus, lay them out in a baking dish. Drizzle olive oil atop, and
sprinkle on some rosemary, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. Bake both
the mushrooms and the asparagus for 10 minutes. Flip the mushrooms,
add sliced peppers and a bit more garlic salt to the asparagus and
stir. Return mushrooms and the asparagus dish to the oven to bake for
another 10 minutes. Prepare a salad using the mixed greens. After
removing the mushrooms, allow them to sit for a bit on a folded paper
towel to soak up excess oil. Serve with the asparagus dish and the
salad.
The
portobello mushrooms turned out better than I expected. They weren't
as oily as I'd feared they'd be and they were nice and soft on the
inside. The texture of mushrooms has always seemed weird to me, but
it really wasn't too bad. The asparagus dish was alright; I think I
used too much olive oil, so maybe next time I make it, it'll be
better. The salad, being just mixed greens, was plain; I don't really
like dressings, so I ended up just chopping up some of the
mushroom and asparagus and peppers to mix them in with the greens,
and combining everything together in one dish worked out nicely.
But
wait, there's more! Before making this dinner, I prepared a quick
appetizer...
The
Snakehole Lounge's Pigs in a Blanket
Also
in this episode, April and Andy go out together to the Snakehole
Lounge, a Pawnee bar. Andy is embarrassed that he doesn't have money
to buy drinks, so April suggests that they see how much free stuff
they can get throughout the night. At one point, she comes back with
a whole tray of pigs in a blanket.
April:
I got this from a waiter. I told him I had a pork deficiency.
Andy:
Sweet! Pigs in a blanket! I always wondered why they called them
that...
Ingredients:
--4
Lightlife Smart Dogs
--1
package vegan crescent rolls
Preheat
oven to 350°F. Unroll the rolls and slice the smart dogs in half.
Roll up one half smart dog in each roll. Place on greased baking
tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve & enjoy!
Apart
from getting a bit burnt on the bottom, these "pork-deficient"
(vegan) pigs in blankets turned out great, very delicious for being
so easy to make. I only had two of them, so I'm looking forward to finishing off the rest in the next couple days; yum!
Bonus
quotes from the episode:
April:
Hey, uh, six beers for, uh, table twelve.
Woman
behind bar: Do you work here?
April:
Yeah, my dad owns this place. I'm Janet, Janet Snakehole.
Here's
a picture of Mystery curled up, all snuggly on the couch.
Hello on the 24th day of
the Vegan Month of Food, and day three of my Parks and Recreation
theme week!
April
and Andy's Frisbee Chili
In "Jerry's Painting" (season 3, episode 11), April and Andy have
recently lost their roommate Burly. Ben had been staying at a Pawnee
motel, but once it gets bedbugs, he starts looking for a new place to
stay. April and Andy agree to take him in as their new roommate
(and tell him the rent is much more than it actually is).
When Ben moves in, the place is a mess; the next morning, he sees
April and Andy using Frisbees as plates and sharing a single fork,
passing it back and forth in between bites.
Ben:
I'm sorry, are you eating turkey chili off of a Frisbee?
Andy:
(laughs) Yeah, it's pretty cute, right?
Ben:
No... Do you know what "cute" means?
April:
What have you got against turkey chili for breakfast?
Ben:
What have you guys got against washing dishes?
April:
We don't have any dishes, OK? Burly took them all when he left. Now I
bet you feel like a jerk.
Spray a pan with cooking
spray, heat on medium. Add the Smart Ground, stirring and breaking it
up. After 5 minutes, add the tomato and onion, stir. After another 5
minutes, add the tomato sauce, stirring again. Add a bit of
cumin and oregano, then cover and turn heat to low. Stir and serve on
a "Frisbee" after 5 minutes. (I didn't have any Frisbees lying
around the apartment, and I'm not quite sure I'd want to eat on one
anyway, so I just used a Tupperware plate that was a bit of a Frisbee
look-alike.)
The Frisbee chili was
good, but even though my simple version was likely more involved than
how April and Andy prepared it, it still wasn't really much of a meal
by itself. I have a fair amount of leftovers, and I plan to use them
as additions to other meals (ex., burritos, pasta, etc.). All in all,
it was fun, though!
Ron: (introducing the
art show) OK, everyone! Shut up! (claps once) And look at me. Welcome
to “Visions of Nature.” This room has several paintings in it;
some are big, some are small. People did them, and they are here now.
I believe that after this is over, they'll be hung in government
buildings. Why the government is involved in an art show is beyond
me. I also think it's pointless for a human to paint scenes of nature
when they can just go outside and stand in it. Anyway, please do not
misinterpret the fact that I am talking right now as genuine interest
in art and attempt to discuss it with me further. End of speech.
Here's a picture of
Mystery and a box that caught her interest; she got shy once I took
out my camera, though.
