February 1, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I never expected Dr. Plastic Picker to be a rediscovery of my love for good food. We started the project at work called #kpkidsgoodfoodgoodearth and that is the crux of the issue, we need both. To save the planet, we have to change our food systems and our food supply. But the byproduct is that our food will become delicious, wholesome, plant-based and we’ll be healthier for it.

I didn’t realize how powerful the image above was. I started making pizza dough “from scratch.” It makes it sound so hard, but making pizza dough is easy. With anything, it just takes a few times and practice and then the magic of your own family’s food traditions and specialness will come through. I used Bobby Flay’s Pizza Dough Recipe again, but this time used an 8 hour rise. The family still loves the rosemary addition to the dough, which I add during the last part of the mixing process in the kitchen stand mixer.

Indeed my own sister and friend Dr. Young-Ho Yoon were right. The taste are more complex. I made the dough, and our tween daughter finished personalizing the pizza herself and shaped it into the heart.

This food project is metaphorical in so many ways. And I actually really like that process. I know I made the dough, and that the rosemary fragrance is something only I added that my family appreciated. And that my child individualized the pizza and made it into a heart is meaningful.

Home-made Pizza is so healthy and delicious. It’s amazing how there is absolutely no oil on our pizza. There was 2 tablespoons of olive oil on the original dough making, but we just topped our pizza with canned Sprouts organic pizza sauce, some organic mozarella and some salami we just picked up that day. Each slice we eat, we just naturally ate slow. We marveled at the process of the pizza through the day, and how interesting it is to slice a heart shaped pizza. We paired it with bagged salad, but we have food goals to make our own salad soon.

What is amazing is how quick home-made pizza is when you bake it in the oven. It takes 5-7 minutes at a high temperature at 500 degrees. I’ve done it in an iron cast skillet and also on the back of a cookie sheet. We were at Target this weekend and Mr. Plastic Picker and I stopped by the pots and pans section, and we couldn’t really find a baking steel or baking stone that was better than what we have. Let me look online and see what my friend Dr. Young-Ho Yoon recommended. He always knwos what is good high quality things that are environmentally appropriate. [PAUSE]. Okay I think I found what my friend Dr. Young-Ho bought, and it’s $189 for the fancy baking steel and the pizza wooden thingamajiggy. You absolutely don’t need to have those to have delicious home-made pizza, but they are made in the USA and we are FISE. Plus I need to buy something nice for my younger brother for his birthday and for myself. I’d rather spend money on high-quality products. Mr. Plastic Picker keeps on working extra shifts on the weekend, and you can’t take your money with you when you die. Better to spend it on buying a pizza steel that is fancy that we can afford. I’ll keep the readership updated.

This weekend was just filled with continued deliciousness. I also made Vegan Avocado Brownies, and I wasn’t sure if they were worth a mention on the blog. I’m much more of a muffin person personally, as I LOVE MY MUFFINS. I’m actually not a huge chocolate fan, which is why I think I prefer my vegan muffins to the vegan brownies. But our tween daughter loved the vegan brownies and it gave her healthy chocolate fix. I asked her frankly yesterday if she liked them or not, and she was a huge fan. If something feels decadent and is fairly healthy to my tween daughter, than I think it’s worth mentioned on this blog. It is so important for tween and teeen girls and all children to realize the fundamental message that “We Should Love Food, Food Should be Healthy, We Should Love Delicious Healthy Food – And Save the Earth At the Same Time.” This is why I made it this blogpost’s title.

Vegan Avocado Brownies (Dr. Plastic Picker’s modified from Spruce Eats) https://www.thespruceeats.com/avocado-brownies-recipe-1000766

Yesterday’s Vegan Avocado Brownies actually started off as a food waste project. I had all these avocados ripening at the same time, and I knew we would need to do some vegan baking or make vegan burgers (that use avocado as a binder) soon. Also I had a cup of almond flour I wanted to use up – so this weekend’s brownie deliciousness was a food waste project! Also we used our last bit of Christmas sprinkles!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup of almond flour)
• 2 cups sugar (I used only 1 cup of sugar! It was sweet enough, and that is the whole point of making our recipes healthier!)
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon  baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup avocado (mashed)
• 1/2 cup soy milk (vanilla or plain) (we subbed in real milk because that is what we had)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Steps to Make It

1. Heat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Coat a 13″ x 9″ pan with cooking spray. Then, line the pan with parchment paper leaving a 2-inch overhang on both sides of the pan. Press down the parchment paper so that it sticks to the pan. Coat again with cooking spray and add a second strip of parchment paper laying it in the opposite direction also with a 2-inch overhang. Press it down and coat it with cooking spray. Set aside.  (I skipped the whole parchment paper step. I have no idea what that was all about)
3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the mashed avocado, soy milk, water, and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients, mixing until well combined.
5. Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top is set and a toothpick inserted into the center emerges with only a few crumbs. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares and serving.
6. After brownies have cooled, grip the paper overhangs and lift the brownies out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a serrated knife to cut the brownies into 12 to 16 pieces, then lift off the parchment and transfer to a serving dish. (again skipped the parchemnt paper, why create more waste?)

Sweetness that our daughter enjoyed, showing her that sweet things made at home are healthy and delicious and love food and love your body. Those things go hand in hand.

And that was this weekend along with drafting a “letter of intent” for an opinion piece I’m working on with several other people for the Journal of Applied Clinical Research on Children, finishing a draft and coordinating the UCSD Family Pratice Grand Rounds on Creativity, Wellness and Climate Activism, and meeting with our AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health Children’s Arts Council.