February 2, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Who knew saving the earth would include discovering new foods and making them? I was already Financially Independent https://drplasticpicker.com/the-road-to-fise-financial-independence-to-save-the-earth/, as I was born super frugal. But now with my culinary adventures and misadventures, I’m having a super fun time in the kitchen trying new fancy recipes. I thought I wasn’t a “foodie” and our tween daughter actually hates that term, as she thinks it’s very elitist. But I do love good food, and truly good food can lead to a good earth for all of us. Maybe if I end up writing my first book, I’ll just call it Good Food Good Earth???? I’ve thought about a book on and off, but honestly I’m having too much blogging to myself in the mornings.

I actually have never had Tapenade before yesterday. I have a litter picking Irish Vegan “Instagram” friend who suggested it. Since we are trying to be healthy, eat kinda vegan and be plant based. So I made my first batch yesterday. I guess there are multiple variations with and without anchovies, capers, different spices, and different types of olives. This was just my first attempt and it was indeed very good.

Dr. Plastic Picker’s Beginnginers Tapenade

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of pitted olives, drained and rinsed
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley or basil (or I used the dried basil I had in the pantry)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Directions

• In a food processor or hand blender (I used my hand blender), pulse olives with garlic until finely chopped. Add oil and parsley; pulse until combined. Serve with toasted baguette slices.

This is a fancy topping on baguettes at fancy restaurants. Let’s see how much it costs? [PAUSE] I couldn’t find the cost, but I did find this really interesting recipe of stuffed mushrooms on a bed of olive tapenade. I’m inspired to try mushrooms since I already have the olive tapenade.

I tried the tapenade on the fancy heatlhy delicious whole wheat seeded bread we have, and it was a big hit. I just spread it on one slice of bread, and service a quarter piece to members of our family. It was bit too olivey for my daughter but our son loved it. I can use it on a spread for sandwhiches instead of cheese sometimes. Since the hand blender was already oily, I figured why not make hummus. It’s essentially the same thing with garbanzo beans.

#DrPkidsMD Hummus Recipe (He’s My Friend) – check out @kpkidsgoodfoodgoodearth

So You’ll Need:
Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans (2 cans, or about 2 cups dried)
Lemons (2) or lemon juice (about 2 Tablespoons)
Garlic (2 or 3 cloves)
Cumin (about 2 Tablespoons)
Tahini (Sesame seed paste – available in the grocery store)
Olive oil (Most people use about ¼ cup. Leave it out if you’d like a more whole food recipe!)
Salt (to taste — or about ½ tsp)
Pepper (to taste)
Variations:
Add fresh basil, roasted vegetables, smoke paprika, or other herbs for countless flavors of hummus! Sometimes I even use white beans rather than chickpeas.

Instructions:
1. Prep your ingredients! Cook your dried beans (takes only minutes in an Instapot) or open and drain your canned beans. Chop your herbs, juice your lemons, and peel, crush, and mince your garlic.
2. Put beans, herbs, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, tahini, olive oil, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings or additions you would like into a food processor.
3. Blend until you’re happy with the consistency, and Voila! Fresh, delicious, healthy, preservative-free hummus!

So much goodness. I’m definitely going to do this at least once a month. Plus I got to reuse two containers and decrease the plastic “stuff” going into the environment. For me reusing a container and not bringing more packaging into my house has been the best part. Becase remember although it has ended up being me turning faux-foodie, but it began with litter picking! And below is bag #20 for the month which was the litter around my parking area at work. It was driving me crazy and I just picked it up. Discarded coffee cups, packaged snacks, and a glass beer bottle that was recycled! I can enjoy my parking spot sans litter for a little bit. [PaUSE]

Oh, I can’t find the picture. But it’s documented on Instagram. The aloe plant is thriving though! That gave me and a dear friend who met an important financial milestone yesterday a lot of joy as we gazed at it, and composted some more around it. Happy Aloe Plant, Dr. Plastic Picker loves you.