Parks and Rec was a sitcom that aired from 2009-2015. The show centers around Leslie Knope, a deputy director for the Parks and Rec department in fictional Pawnee Indiana. With a little help from her co-workers and friends Knope tries to make Pawnee a nicer place to live while living out her own political aspirations. It is a heartwarming and very funny show.

My recent interest in the show was piqued by a reunion show that the cast has recently aired, combined with all of my new found time to watch TV brought on by the pandemic. I loved this show. It is very rare that a sitcom can make me laugh out loud almost every episode even through its later seasons but this show has managed to do it. I highly recommend checking it out on Netflix or at the library.

With the pandemic, the recent quarantine measures,  things closing, very little information and everything moving online let’s be honest; we are  currently live in a crazy time and I know that things are serious all over. We are all going a little crazy and it reminded of “The Comeback Kid” episode where Ben is demonstrating all the things that I am feeling, and a lot of other people too.

In this episode Ben has just lost his job (sounds familiar), and he decides to use the new found time to “explore” (also familiar); he teaches himself animation, he also works on perfecting his calzone recipe. Although I haven’t yet started teaching myself animation,  I took my similarities to Ben’s situation  as a sign to work on my own calzone recipe.

This scene spoke to me because Ben is manifesting what we are all going through right now. During this strange quarantine, social distancing, and disrupted (or disappeared) work  period, a lot of us  are trying new hobbies-animation or coming back to blogging or whatever. A lot of us are all doing a lot of cooking. We are all thinking ahead to our future after this and making plans but in the end we have no idea what we are doing or what life on the other side will look like.

Ben’s connection to the calzone is that its a reflection of him as standing out in the town of Pawnee. Whenever he expresses his love for the calzone, the Pawnee people regard him as strange/an outsider. Later in the series, when Ben enters the Pie Mary contest in Leslie’s place, making a statement against Pawnee political traditions; he enters the contest with a calzone instead of a pie. In “The Comeback Kid” episode, the calzone reflects Ben’s habit of standing out when he thinks he may pursue opening a healthy calzone themed restaurant when Pawnee is notably against anything healthy as well as strong pizza supporters.

Ben mentions his calzones are healthy so I used my go-to whole wheat pizza dough recipe that I have mentioned on the blog previously when I made Inside Out: Broccoli Pizza. The recipe can be accredited to Lisa Leake of 100 days of real food. I posted it below and I also I love this recipe because it is tasty, easy and it suits Ben’s  healthy vision for his calzones  perfectly.

For the filling I just used standard pizza ingredients with the healthy slant that Ben was proposing for this. I put in some onions and peppers, but my kids just went straight for the pepperoni!  Not sure if it will replace the takeout pizza but it was delicious. My kids ate the whole thing which almost never happens. Apparently,  while I was looking for myself I found a great dinner recipe, thanks Ben.

Ben’s Calzone:

Pizza Dough:

1 cup water, warmed

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cups whole wheat flour

1. Drop the yeast into the 1-cup of warm water and let it go to work for a few minutes. It should foam up a little bit. Stir the salt and olive oil into the yeast mixture.
2. Pour the flour and yeast mixture into a food processor with a dough blade or into a mixer with a dough hook and turn on the machine. (You can also mix up this dough by hand.)
3. You should end up with a ball chasing itself around the food processor. If the dough is too dry add warm water a teaspoon at a time and if it is too wet add flour 1 teaspoon at a time.
4. Remove the ball from your food processor and knead into a smooth ball. Put the dough into a large ziplock bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap (put a touch of olive oil in and coat the inside of the bag/bowl first) then leave it in fridge for as little as 1 hour or overnight depending on how much time you have. It will rise on its own in the fridge.

Calzones:

Pizza Dough-your own or pre-made refrigerated dough is fine.

Filling: pizza sauce, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, pepperoni, your favorite veggies.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray baking sheet with non stick spray.
2. divide dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece out into a square.
3. top half with sauce cheese and other fillings, leaving a border around the edges.
4. fold the empty half over the filled side. lightly wet the edges with water, seal, and crimp  with a fork. repeat with other dough pieces.
5. Brush the top with melted butter.
6. Bake until  brown about 18 minutes.