One thing that always bugged me as a kid growing up was how GROSS Shaggy's food was. If you never watched the show, Scooby Doo, Shaggy was essentially the epitome of the Hollywood Stoner. Shaggy hair, goofy jokes, and always ate EVERYTHING. But his flavor combinations left much to be desired. In fact they were downright disgusting.

Flash Forward to recently, and I've discovered Stoner cuisine in a big way. Damn it's good. I mean, REALLY good. And you don't even have to be stoned to enjoy it. It's a great combination of various types of flavors and textures which come out great. Yes, they require a little more time and creativity to come up with, but DAMN if they aren't awesome. Just for fun, I'm going to share three stoner foods that I've come up with and enjoy occasionally. Keep in mind, NONE of these are diet, vegan, or otherwise guided by anything other than whether or not the food is tasty, filling and enjoyable.

Basic: Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Fruit Sandwiches.

Start with your basic bread. (Whole grain is better, and nutty bread best, but work with what you got.)
Slather one side in the best strawberry Jam you can find.
Slather the other in Good, chunky peanut butter. (Natural if you can get it. It does make a difference)
Slice one apple into thin slices and lay the pieces on the jam.
Slap it together and ENJOY!

This one's an easy one, and simply adds fresh fruit to a classic recipe. So simple, even a kid can make it, and was actually invented with help from my kids. We wanted to IMPROVE the PB&J and after experiments with honey and nutella, decided the best way to do it was to add whole fruit. Don't go overboard with fruits, but one additional adds an additional layer of texture and enjoyment.

Moderate: Pesto and Turkey Artichoke Pizza

If you do your own Pizza dough, great. If not, the best one I've found for this particular recipe is Safeway brand. Just because it's slightly buttered and adds a layer of consistency.
If you can make your own Pesto, Do so. Grinding pine nuts and basil along with the dry cheese and olive oil is a lot of fun, and you won't OVERDO the amount needed for the pizza. Ideally, you want a light coating, since the main purpose of this pizza is to enjoy the combo of flavors, not overwhelm with one topping.
Add thin layers of thinly sliced Turkey, artichoke hearts, White Mushrooms, Black olive and White Onion.
Either grate or thinly slice Provolone cheese over the top. (Havarti can also be used, but clumps a bit more and is slightly more overpowering.)
Bake in the oven, and enjoy.

This one is based off my love for Pesto and some post Thanksgiving experimentation. Turkey/Chicken Sandwiches with pesto are a great treat, if a little basic, and the idea of expanding it to a pizza was talked over with my kids. They like mushrooms and olives on pizza, and the basic compromise was worked out. What's amazing is how well all these various tastes work together. Only caveat is that if you can find "Low Salt" versions of any of the vegetables OR get them fresh it's best. (With the exception of the artichoke hearts. The Marinade is practically a requirement)

Advanced: Quesadilla Tacos, AKA SuperTacos, AKA Oh MY GOD THAT THING IS HUGE.

Start off by blending cheeses to your taste. I personally use a combination of Muenster, Colby Jack and Anejo for my quesadillas. (Go LIGHT on the anejo, it's salty as heck.) Use 2 burrito size flour tortillas as the bed for the cheese mix, adding as much as you like.
Heat some olive oil in a frying pan. If your olive oil smokes, it's TOO HOT.
Fry both sides of the Quesadilla you're making lightly. Ideally, you want it light brown on both sides with the cheese melted.
Pat it dry on a paper towel or a CLEAN cloth one if you're going to do laundry that day.
Set Quesadillas aside. Don't worry, they won't get too cold if you're doing the other steps at the same time.
Heat Refried beans as you do this, if you have a 2nd burner. (If you have a 4 burner, you can make this whole thing at the same time, but requires a bit of juggling.
In a separate pan pan fry a few chicken tenders with garlic. (To taste. I use 3 per taco, and you won't need much more than that.)
In a fourth pan, brown some hamburger, seasoned to taste. (I go light on the seasoning here, because there's already PLENTY of flavor present.)
When all dishes are done, assemble the tacos. Fold the Quesadillas in half and add a layer of beans, followed by the chicken tenders, light helping of beef, lettuce, Carrots Julienne, White or Yellow Onion, Salsa, Guacamole (Homemade if you can spare the time, otherwise as natural as possible) and sour cream.
Enjoy!

Had this one last night, and it's REALLY good. While you're working with a lot of oil, if you drain and are very conscientious about how much you're using, it's not as greasy as you think. Plus there's a lot of vegetables, (You can add green peppers if you like, which I didn't have last night) and the combinations of warm and cold are phenomenal. Also keep in mind this is a BIG meal. I can barely finish one, and both of my kids had leftovers. However, it's a joy to make, and if you have family around, also pretty fun as a group project, since there's lots of little tasks to making the meal.

So, if you've got a crazy stoner recipe that you want to share, please do! I just wanted to share a few of my more successful experiments that worked out wonderfully, and hope to hear more great stories. (Kids want me to figure out a recipe that works with Calamari... This is why you don't tell kids what they're eating until they've eaten it. They enjoy more stuff...)

And because I've been finishing my essays with music... here's some more folk metal. Mongolian folk metal. (Yes, it exists and it's AWESOME. Folk music is just cool no matter where it's made and folk metal just amplifies the awesome.)

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEv_aEwVvak]