Tiny Toon Adventures

Episode: The Acme Home Shopping Show-I Was A Teenage Bunny Sitter
Mashed Topato Man

Whenever I’m in need of a heaping helping of the 90’s, (Which is honestly every day.) I can easily get my fix by watching a little Tiny Toon Adventures. It’s so funny and smart that I can never get tired of the show. Every time I watch it, I find something that I never noticed before, whether it’s a pop culture reference, gag, or just a lovely bit of acting or animation. And episodes that I never paid much attention to in the past have quickly become some of my favorites. I get a kick out of all the parodies Tiny Toons does and I love when the episodes are presented as other shows, say for instance, something you’d find on a home shopping network. By the time the show gets to the last segment, Buster has gotten himself all sorts of hurt thanks to the Fly-Boy Beanie, so he’s very happy to see that the last item is a nice, safe book. I’m very happy too because I love “I was a Teenage Bunnysitter.”

I’ve got a weakness for the little kiddos in Tiny Toons. (I can’t get enough of Little Plucky!) But this segment is all about Duncan Potter! As much as Babs hates babysitting, she’s pretty good at it once she gets off the phone. (Instead of killing Duncan when he drives her crazy, Babs vents her frustration by screaming outside.) When Duncan asks for mashed potatoes, or mashed topatoes, Babs makes him some from scratch. She even shapes the mashed topatoes into a man and gives him psghetti hair at Duncan’s request. I’ve eaten my weight in mashed potatoes over the years, but never in the shape of a man. And never with spaghetti. Now I can’t miss an opportunity to play with my food, so one mashed potato man coming right up!

Recipe makes about 4-6 men, depending on amount of mashed potatoes used per man.

Ingredients

2 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup (½ stick) butter, cut into chunks, plus a butter pat for each man

Salt and white pepper to taste

4-6 ounces spaghetti noodles

 

Directions

Mashed Topato Man:

Place potatoes in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain.

Place the pot back over the heat. Add the heavy cream and butter. Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat and add the mixture to the potatoes. Using a masher, food mill, or similar tool of your choice, mash the potatoes until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper.

Psghetti Hair:

Bring a large pot full of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles have cooked through, 8 minutes. Drain.

Putting It All Together:

Place a heaping scoop of mashed potatoes on a plate. Sculpt a man out of mashed potatoes and place a butter pat on/in his center. Add some spaghetti noodles to give the man hair. Now go all Tyrannosaurus Rex on that mashed topato man!

tiny-toon-topatotiny-topato-mantiny-toon-psghettitiny-psghetti

Okay, so I’m no artist, but I like my mashed topato man. (My sister says he looks like a cute, little pig.) But if I eat my mashed topato man, he’ll die. Actually, I already ate him. Sorry little guy. And I did it in a slightly more civilized way than Duncan. I didn’t go full dinosaur, but I did have some fun eating my mashed topato man. I think I could really get along with Duncan, at least for a little while. Based on my babysitting experience, I’m positive that little kid would run me ragged. By the end of the night, I’d be conked out like Babs. I’m getting kind of tired just thinking about it. Maybe I’ll just buy the book instead.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

Rocket Power

The Spot Remover
Potato Salad

If any show had inspired me to get up and active, it was Rocket Power. Seeing the kids surf, and snowboard, and the million other things they did made me want to get into extreme sports too. Unfortunately, I’ve never been the athletic type (I trip over dust.), so that dream died pretty quickly. I still love the show though and I can pretend that I’m shredding along with them.

The kids really do have the life with where they live and the things they get to experience. They’ve got the sun. They’ve got the surf. They’ve got…SAND IN THE POTATO SALAD! Oh, what a tragic loss of potato salad! My heart really goes out to Sam. I can’t stand to see food go to waste, especially good food. I guess Sam can’t either, since he decides to eat the potato salad anyway, sand and all. I’d at least give it a shot, but sand just isn’t one of my favorite flavors. However, I’m liking the idea of adding some crunch to my potato salad. Oh, and I have no idea what’s in the potato salad besides potatoes and sand. Any potato salad can be used here, but I’m using some brain power and guessing that Tito, being the fabulous cook he is, probably whipped up a Hawaiian style potato salad for his Little Cuzes.

Recipe serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds (6-7) large red potatoes, peeled

1 ½ cups dry macaroni

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 tablespoons pickle relish

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cups mayonnaise (More or less.)

¼ cup grated onion

½ cup grated carrots

1 cup frozen peas, defrosted

There aren’t orange or green bits in the potato salad, so the carrots and peas are optional.

1 ¼ cup bread crumbs

 

Directions

Place potatoes in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain and set potatoes in an ice bath to fully cool. Drain again and cut the potatoes into chunks.

Bring a medium saucepan full of water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles have cooked through, 8 minutes. Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to cool.

Place eggs in a small saucepan and fill with water. Bring the water to a boil on high heat. Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit 12 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool. Peel the fully cooled eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Cut the whites into small pieces.

In a medium bowl, mash the egg yolks. Then add the vinegar, pickle relish, salt, pepper, and mayonnaise. Stir to combine.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, macaroni, egg whites, onion, carrots, and peas. Add the dressing and stir to combine. You can eat it now, but potato salad really is much better after it sits. Cover and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place bread crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until browned, 10 minutes. Cool completely. Process the crumbs until fine.

When ready to serve, top the potato salad with the toasted bread crumbs and enjoy!

rp potato salad (2)Rocket Power Potato Salad

This is definitely not the mustard-based potato salad I grew up on, but it’s oh so good. Hey, I just like potato salad. (Have you counted how many times I’ve mentioned potato salad in this post?) Every time I have the stuff, I just can’t help yelling, “They got sand in the potato salad!” I’m sure my family just loves that. But as goofy as sandy potato salad is, it’s an important part of the episode. Right here’s the turning point for the gang when they realize how wrong they were and clean up their act. That’s when enemies become friends and Sam finds that sandy potato salad really isn’t that bad.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!