Cured Wild Salmon (Lox)

1 lb boneless, skinless wild salmon 

1 cup brown sugar 

1.5 cups sea salt 

1/2 cup fresh dill

Black pepper

Pat salmon dry with a paper towel. Combine sugar, salt, and dill. Season generously with black pepper. Spread the mixture evenly over the salmon, pressing it into the flesh. Wrap salmon tightly in plastic wrap and place in a large flat dish. Add another large flat dish on top of the salmon. Refrigerate for 4 days.

Unwrap the salmon and rinse off under cold,running water. Pat dry. Rub olive oil over the top. Slice diagonally into thin slices.

Top 7 Genetically Modified Crops

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 26th, 2013

Check your pantry. Do you have any cereals, crackers, cookies, snack bars, soy milk or baby formula in there? How about anything with corn syrup or processed food made from corn on your shelves? If so, you are probably eating food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

GMOs are plant or meat products that have had their DNA altered in a laboratory by genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria.  For example, genetically modified corn contain a pesticide that cannot be washed off. Most GE food grown in the U.S. is "Roundup Ready," meaning it can withstand spraying of Monsanto's Roundup pesticide and live, while weeds around it die. (Well, that's how it works initially; now resistant "superweeds" have increased the amount of pesticides farmers must spray on their GE crops.)

Research links GMOs to allergies, organ toxicity, and other health issues, though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require safety testing for GMOs.

Market watchers estimate that upwards of 70 percent of processed foods in your local supermarket contain genetically modified ingredients. However, there's no way to be sure of the percentage because no labels are required to inform consumers about the presence of GMOs in food.

The top three GMO crops grown in the U.S. are soy, corn and cotton, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). During the past 12 years, the percentage of acreage planted with GMO crops soared to over 80 percent for each of the top three.

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Extra Virgin Olive Oil-Herb Poached Wild Cod

3 large garlic cloves, chopped 

1 large lemon, skin only 

1 large lemon, juiced 

Small bunch fresh thyme, chopped 

Small bunch fresh parsley, chopped 

1 quart extra virgin olive oil

4 6 ounce pieces of wild cod 

Sea salt and black pepper

Bring cod to room temperature. Season with fresh lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper. Add oil, garlic, lemon skin, thyme, and parsley to a large deep sided pan. Season with sea salt and black pepper.

On low to medium heat, bring oil to a simmer (do not boil!). Add fish, cover, and let it poach for 10 to 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked.Remove fish from oil and serve immediately.

Small Farms Fight Back

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 23rd, 2013

Heather Retberg stood on the steps of the Blue Hill, Maine, town hall surrounded by 200 people. "We are farmers," she told the crowd, "who are supported by our friends and our neighbors who know us and trust us, and want to ensure that they maintain access to their chosen food supply."

Blue Hill is one of a handful of small Maine towns that have been taking bold steps to protect their local food system. In 2011, they passed an ordinance exempting their local farmers and food producers from federal and state licensure requirements when these farmers sell directly to customers.

The federal government has stiffened national food-safety regulations in order to address the health risks associated with industrial-scale farming. Recent widespread recalls of contaminated ground turkey, cantaloupe, eggs, and a host of other foods illustrate the serious problems at hand. These outbreaks have been linked to industrial farms with overcrowded animals and unbalanced ecosystems. The significant distance between industrial farms and consumers creates a lack of accountability and difficulty tracing problems when they arise.

Small-scale farming, however, doesn't spark the same safety risks. Small farmers who sell their food locally will tell you that the nature of their business, based on face-to-face relationships with the people who eat their food, creates a built-in safety protection. They don't need inspectors to make sure they are following good practices. Keeping their neighbors, families, and long-time customers in good health is an even better incentive. Customers are also more able to witness the farming practices firsthand.

Still, small farmers are being pushed out of business because they are saddled with the financial and bureaucratic burdens of the same regulations as large industrial farms. Heather and her family's Quill's End Farm raise grass-fed cows, lambs, pastured pigs, chickens for eggs and meat, turkeys, dairy cows, and goats. The diverse mix is better both for the land and the economic viability of the farm.

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Gluten Free Caramel Banana Cream Tart

Tart:

2 cups fresh cream

3 large very ripe bananas, mashed 

1 envelope of gelatin 

1/2 cup sweetener of your choice 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence

 4 cups gluten-free chocolate cookie crumbs 

1/2 cup of melted salted grass fed butter 

2 large ripe bananas, sliced

Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter. Pour the crumbs into the tart pan and, using the bottom of a measuring cup or the smooth bottom of a glass, press the crumbs down into the base and up the sides. Cover the bottom with caramel sauce. Refrigerate. Dissolve gelatin in two tablespoons of hot water. Whip cream, sweetener, and vanilla until it forms soft peaks.Add mashed bananas and gelatin and continue whisking until it starts to thicken.Add one cup into a piping bag with a small round nozzle. Pour the rest into the shell. Pipe mounts around the edge of the tart (refer to picture).Arrange sliced bananas over the top and cover with caramel sauce. Refrigerate to until set (about 1 hour).

Caramel Sauce:

1 packed cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes 

1/2 cup cream 

Sea salt to taste

Melt sugar in a large stainless pot on medium heat until it melts, stirring occasionally.Add butter whisking constantly to melt and combine. Remove f rom the heat f or a few minutes and add cream, whisking constantly to combine. Return to the heat and continue whisking until the caramel is smooth and creamy (if you prefer a thinner consistency, whisk in more cream). Season to your taste with sea salt. Leave to cool completely.

Don't Judge a Fruit by Its Color: Produce Standards and Food Waste in America

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 19th, 2013

Picture an idyllic family-run peach farm in rural Connecticut. There are rows upon rows stretching for acres with luscious and zingy Red Garnets, Washingtons, or Raritan Roses. I spent the summer after graduating from high school in the late '90s there, pruning, picking, and selling the fruit. People came from all over to pick their own or drive up to the small wooden hut where we sold any of our forty-two varieties of juicy peaches and sweet local blueberries next to homemade jams and our sticky honey. It was hard work, made harder by people's perception of the perfect peach. As much as we explained to customers that we only picked when the fruit was ripe, they would still frown on the occasional blemish or split pit.

Now, take a stroll through your local supermarket. What do you see but towers of oranges, bananas, broccoli -- a cornucopia of fresh produce. The supermarkets are never supposed to look depleted. Having shelves consistently fully stocked with flawless, standardized produce means there is an unnecessary amount of waste piling up outside our markets and in our fields, as farmers overproduce to keep up with the demand for the perfect produce. Even if I wanted to buy all these fruits and vegetables, workers in the markets would be restocking the shelves as I walked out the door.

It's no secret that we're a wasteful nation. According to Dana Gunders, in her paper for the National Resources Defense Council, 40 percent of food produced in America is thrown away.

Every step along the way in food production some food slips through the cracks and ends up in a landfill, through harvesting, transport, at the market and in the home. But a significant amount of the food that is grown never even makes it to the supermarket. Some of this waste is due to environmental factors and the risks involved with farming, other waste comes from a lack of labor to harvest or transport the produce. However, much of the waste can be attributed to culling the goods in order to meet high government-issued industry standards of size, color, weight, blemish level, and Brix (the measure for sugar content).

We can't only blame the government standards. As we get used to identical green beans and bruise-free apples, we become less involved with the realness of our food. It's hard for me to believe that a marginally undersized parsnip wouldn't be as delicious as the ones that are allowed into the supermarket. When I buy produce I mostly look for those in season and ripeness. Knowing that marks and spots can happen naturally reminds me that food was grown and not created in a lab. If I get it home and it looks slightly more offensive, I cut that bit out and move on.

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Roasted Garlic Basil Dipping Oil

1 whole roasted garlic

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup shredded fresh basil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Sea salt and black pepper

In a blender, add garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and basil. Blend until smooth. Season to your taste with sea salt and black pepper. Store in an airtight container.

Serve with fresh bread, fish, chicken, or veggies.

How to roast garlic:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Cut a thin slice off the head of garlic and discard. Place garlic in a baking dish. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. Season with sea salt and black pepper and sprinkle with fresh parsley. Cover and roast until soft (about 20 to 30 minutes). When it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out the roasted garlic flesh.

Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs In Your Meat Are On The Rise: Report

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 18th, 2013

A new analysis of data collected by federal scientists suggests that a shockingly-high percentage of meat sold in U.S. supermarkets is contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Based on findings from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, which were published in February but went largely overlooked, the Environmental Working Group found such bacteria in 81 percent of raw ground turkey, 69 percent of raw pork chops, 55 percent of raw ground beef and 39 percent of raw chicken parts purchased in stores in 2011.

These microbes are superbug versions of pathogens that, even in their milder forms, have devastating potential, including salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter jejuni. The EWG report also pointed to other studies that suggest there are concerning levels of pathogens such as Yersinia enterocolitica and Staphylococcus aureus in meat.

In an agency press release, EWG nutritionist and the report's lead researcher, Dawn Undurraga, issued a warning to the public:

“Consumers should be very concerned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of most American supermarkets ... These organisms can cause foodborne illnesses and other infections. Worse, they spread antibiotic-resistance, which threatens to bring on a post-antibiotic era where important medicines critical to treating people could become ineffective.”

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Instagramming Strangers' Food Probably Isn't The Best Idea (VIDEO)

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 16th, 2013

It gets real creepy, though, when people start taking pictures of strangers' plates. In the video below for YouTube's "Hungry" channel, a couple of guys prank unsuspecting diners by asking to take photos of their food, and then hauling in some lighting equipment for better shots.

The funny thing is, most people don't really seem to mind when a random dude gets all up in their business. Maybe this is just our sad reality now. After all, if you can't take a good picture of a juicy cheeseburger, do you even deserve to have a smart phone?

Gluten Free Mini Blackberry Crumbles

Serves: 4

6 cups fresh blackberries

1 large Meyer lemon, juice and zest

1 cup coconut sugar or sweetener of your choice

1 cup almond flour

1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

4 tablespoons cold grass fed salted butter, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350 F

Combine berries, lemon juice and zest, and half the sugar. Divide into four mini flan dishes. In a food processor, pulse butter, flour, sugar, and oatmeal until it starts to resemble crumbs. Scatter over the top of the mini crumbles.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the topping is crispy.

What's That?!

The Pink Pearl apple is an apple cultivar developed in 1944 by Albert Etter, a northern California breeder. It is a seedling of "Surprise", another redfleshed apple.

Pink Pearl apples are generally medium sized, with a conical shape. They are named for their bright, pink flesh. They have a translucent, yellow-green skin, and a crisp, juicy flesh with tart to sweet-tart taste. Pink Pearl apples ripen in late August to mid-September.

Hearty Navy Bean Soup

1 lb cooked navy bean 

1 large shallot, chopped 

1 large bay leaf 

2 large garlic cloves, minced 

1 cup chopped ham (optional) 

3 cups chicken broth 

2 cups vegetable broth 

Extra Virgin olive oil 

Sea salt and black pepper

Cover the bottom of a large dutch oven or soup pot with olive oil.When hot,saute shallot, garlic, bay leaf, ham (optional), and beans on medium heat for 10 minutes to cook the shallot and garlic. Lower heat to low, add broth. Let the soup simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove bay leaf, Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper. Puree half the soup in a blender and stir back into the soup. Serve hot with drizzles of extra virgin olive oil and crusty bread.

Sugar vs fat? Know Your Poison

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk - April 11th, 2013

Despite living in the 'low-fat' era, many of us have been implicating sugar (and refined and processed starchy foods generally), not fat, as the dietary driving force behind many of our twenty first century health woes. Of course, the 'low-fat' paradigm remains a virtually impregnable stronghold, propped up by official government agencies and their perpetuation of (so-called) healthy eating advice and an omnipotent food industry flogging us 'low-fat' products at every turn (all in the name of good health, you understand). But is the veneer finally beginning to fade on the low-fat hypothesis? Is the pendulum finally swinging away from fat as the harbinger of all things evil, to a new culprit, sugar?

A new meta-analysis published last week in the BMJ, examining prospective cohort studies and randomised controlled trials, found that both types of studies showed an adverse effect of sugar on body weight in adults [1]. This only really marks the tip of the iceberg of the deleterious effects of sugar on health. As spelled out in an accompanying editorial, consumption of sugar, and carbs in general, raises postprandial blood sugar levels and adversely affects aspects of the metabolic syndrome, increasing insulin and triglycerides, whilst reducing levels of protective HDL cholesterol [2].

This will come as nothing new to readers of our award-winning book The Health Delusion in which we not only reveal that strong evidence implicating saturated fat in heart disease just doesn't exist, but worse still, replacing it with high GI carbs dramatically increases the risk. For example, in a cohort study of 53,644 men and women over 12 years, replacing 5% of calories from saturated fat with high GI carbs was associated with a dramatic 33% increase in heart attack occurrence [3]. Stop and think about that and you see just how dumb 'low fat' foods, typically laced with terrifying amounts of added sugars to make them palatable, really are.

The eminent Willett and Ludwig, in their editorial, sum up the scale of the problem by drawing parallels between the harm caused by sugar to that of tobacco and alcohol when they conclude "Healthcare providers could play an important role by routinely asking about consumption of sugar sweetened drinks as well as tobacco and alcohol use, by setting a good example, and by assuming leadership in public efforts to limit sugar as a source of harm" [2]. It's hard not to be seduced by parallels with the tobacco industry. Intake of added sugars accounts for 15% of our total energy (that's the equivalent to eating nothing but sugar one day each week), and powerful economic interests are vested in keeping the sugar flowing via the production and sale of sugar-laced foods and beverages. That the sugar lobby continues to be vociferous in their denials that sugar is bad for health, has more than faint echoes of a tobacco industry that once tried every trick in the book to perpetuate the lie that smoking didn't kill.

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Gluten Free Strawberry Scones

3 cups all purpose gluten free flour blend

1/2 cup coconut sugar

3 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

6 tablespoons cold salted grass fed butter, cut into chunks

1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 F

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and xanthan gum. Cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly. Add strawberries. Fold wet into dry ingredients.

Pat dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 12 equal portions.

Bake for roughly 40 minutes (more or less) or until a stick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Coconut Oil: Your New Best Friend

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 9th, 2013

Although coconut oil has gained controversy over the years, it is actually one of the healthiest fats in the world for you. Coconut oil is made from pressing the mature fruits of coconut palm trees. It's very popular in tropical parts of the world, like the Philippines, where there is incidentally less cases of heart disease and cancers than compared to the western world.

Coconut oil provides a great source of fuel, energy, and the highly-beneficial fatty acid, lauric acid. Coconut oil proves that not all saturated fats are "bad for you." Coconut oil is primarily made up of medium chain fatty acids (MCTs), which make it easy for your body to digest. Coconut oil is metabolized efficiently and converted into energy immediately, rather than getting stored as fat (the way butter or unhealthy oils can). Medium-chain fatty acids do not have a negative effect on blood cholesterol and help protect against heart disease. A new BFF (best friend forever) for sure.

Whether you are an athlete, dieter, or have trouble digesting dairy or fats, coconut oil might just become your new best friend -- it can be readily digested more than other oils.

Coconut oil is a significant plant source of lauric acid, a fatty acid recognized for its anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-microbial properties. It has been known to help speed up metabolism, clear acne, and is great for hair and nails. Doctors, like the esteemed fat and lipid scientist Dr. Mary Enig state that coconut oil improves the immune system's anti-inflammatory response, which helps us fight off disease.

Although a saturated fat, coconut oil contains no trans-fatty acids. Because it is naturally saturated, it can handle the heat of higher temperature cooking -- such as frying -- and won't burn or go rancid as easily. In effect, because coconut oil is saturated, it makes it very shelf-stable, which makes it a very healthy oil. Who knew saturated could mean good?

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Gluten Free Vegetable Tart

Crust:

2 cups all purpose gluten free flour blend

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon sea salt

8 tablespoons chopped cold grass fed salted butter

1 large egg, room temperature

5 tablespoons ice cold water, more as needed

Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. 

Add butter and mix on medium speed until crumbles form. Add the egg to combine. Add water gradually and continue mixing until the dough detaches from the bowl and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 F

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface. Transfer into a 9" greased tart pan. Press dough up the sides and trim off excess. Line dough with parchment paper and add pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes, remove pie weights and bake a further 15 or until the crust is crispy and lightly browned. Let the crust cool completely.

Filling:

1 small purple eggplant

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup crispy onion bits

3 large eggs

1 cup cream

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Handful freshly chopped parsley

Sea salt and black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 F

Slice eggplant into very thin slices. Whisk eggs and cream. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Scatter eggplant over the bottom of the crust, followed by tomatoes and crispy onion bits. Sprinkle parsley and parmesan cheese over the top followed by the egg mixture.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the custard is set and vegetables are cooked. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the top. Garnish with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese to serve.

GMO Poll Finds Huge Majority Say Foods Should Be Labeled

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 8th, 2013

Americans are largely uncertain over whether genetically modified foods are safe for the environment or safe to eat, but the vast majority say that foods containing genetically modified ingredients should be labeled, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.

According to the new survey, 82 percent of Americans think GMO foods should be labeled, while only 9 percent say they should not be labeled. The vast majority of respondents across demographic groups favored labeling, with little division either by political party or by how much respondents had heard about the development of genetically modified crops.

Although respondents were near unanimous in saying genetically modified foods should be labeled, many expressed uncertainty about the environmental or health consequences of growing and consuming them.

Twenty-one percent of respondents said they think GMO foods are safe to eat, while 35 percent said they're dangerous to eat. But another 44 percent said they're not sure. Likewise, 39 percent of respondents said they're unsure of what impact growing GMO crops might have on the environment, although those who did have an opinion were more like to say such crops are bad for the environment. Overall, 35 percent said growing GMO crops is bad for the environment, 8 percent said it's good for the environment, and 18 percent said it would have no impact.

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Harvard Study Confirms Fluoride Reduces Children's IQ

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 4th, 2013

A recently-published Harvard University meta-analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has concluded that children who live in areas with highly fluoridated water have "significantly lower" IQ scores than those who live in low fluoride areas.

In a 32-page report that can be downloaded free of charge from Environmental Health Perspectives*, the researchers said:

A recent report from the U.S. National Research Council (NRC 2006) concluded that adverse effects of high fluoride concentrations in drinking water may be of concern and that additional research is warranted. Fluoride may cause neurotoxicity in laboratory animals, including effects on learning and memory ...

To summarize the available literature, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies on increased fluoride exposure in drinking water and neurodevelopmental delays. We specifically targeted studies carried out in rural China that have not been widely disseminated, thus complementing the studies that have been included in previous reviews and risk assessment reports ...

Findings from our meta-analyses of 27 studies published over 22 years suggest an inverse association between high fluoride exposure and children's intelligence ... The results suggest that fluoride may be a developmental neurotoxicant that affects brain development at exposures much below those that can cause toxicity in adults ...

Serum-fluoride concentrations associated with high intakes from drinking-water may exceed 1 mg/L, or 50 Smol/L, thus more than 1000-times the levels of some other neurotoxicants that cause neurodevelopmental damage. Supporting the plausibility of our findings, rats exposed to 1 ppm (50 Smol/L) of water-fluoride for one year showed morphological alterations in the brain and increased levels of aluminum in brain tissue compared with controls ...

In conclusion, our results support the possibility of adverse effects of fluoride exposures on children's neurodevelopment. Future research should formally evaluate dose-response relations based on individual-level measures of exposure over time, including more precise prenatal exposure assessment and more extensive standardized measures of neurobehavioral performance, in addition to improving assessment and control of potential confounders.

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*Download 32 Page Report 

Open-Faced Ham, Egg, and Avocado Sandwich

Yields: 4

4 thick slices of your favorite artisan bread, toasted

4 poached eggs

4 thick slices ham or Canadian bacon

2 large ripened avocados

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Toast bread and assemble your open faced sandwich while the bread is still warm. Season lightly with sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the top and garnish with your favorite fresh herbs. Serve immediately.

Perfect Poached Eggs:

4 large very fresh eggs

Break eggs into a bowl. Heat about 2" of water in a deep sided skillet on medium heat. When bubbles cover the bottom of the pan and sides, gently pour eggs into the water. Lower the heat to the lowest setting so the water does not boil. Leave the eggs to cook uninterrupted for 4 to 5 minutes. You will know that the egg is cooked when the whites are set and the yolks begin to thicken. Remove from the water, set on a paper towel, and gently dry. Place atop other sandwich ingredients as seen in the picture and garnish however you see fit.

Gluten Free Eggplant Parmigiana

1 (one) medium, very firm, shiny eggplant 

26 ounces fresh roasted tomato sauce of your choice 

8 thick slices fresh mozzarella 

3 large room temperature eggs 

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour blend 

2 cups gluten free Panko style Bread Crumbs 

Sea salt and black pepper 

Extra virgin olive oil 

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 F

Season flour with sea salt and black pepper. Cut eggplant into 8 equal size discs. Toss eggplants in flour to fully coat. In another bowl, whisk eggs. Dip eggplants in the egg mixture making sure to get it fully coated. Roll eggplant discs in bread crumbs (make sure to get a thick coating). Line eggplant discs in a single layer in a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning eggplant over halfway through cooking. 

Cover the bottom of a serving platter with hot tomato sauce and add eggplant discs in a single layer. Add a thick slice of fresh mozzarella on top of each disc followed by extra sauce (refer to picture). Scatter freshly grated parmesan cheese over the top. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously over the top and grilled until cheese is bubbly.

Serve immediately.

Below is a single slice alternative to the family platter shown above

How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life

www.huffingtonpost.com - April 2nd, 2013

The slow insidious displacement of home cooked and communally shared family meals by the industrial food system has fattened our nation and weakened our family ties. In 1900, 2 percent of meals were eaten outside the home. In 2010, 50 percent were eaten away from home and one in five breakfasts is from McDonald's. Most family meals happen about three times a week, last less than 20 minutes and are spent watching television or texting while each family member eats a different microwaved "food." More meals are eaten in the minivan than the kitchen.

Research shows that children who have regular meals with their parents do better in every way, from better grades, to healthier relationships, to staying out of trouble. They are 42 percent less likely to drink, 50 percent less likely to smoke and 66 percent less like to smoke marijuana. Regular family dinners protect girls from bulimia, anorexia, and diet pills. Family dinners also reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. In a study on household routines and obesity in U.S. preschool-aged children, it was shown that kids as young as four have a lower risk of obesity if they eat regular family dinners, have enough sleep, and don't watch TV on weekdays.

We complain of not having enough time to cook, but Americans spend more time watching cooking on the Food Network than actually preparing their own meals. In his series, "Food Revolution," Jamie Oliver showed us how we have raised a generation of Americans who can't recognize a single vegetable or fruit, and don't know how to cook.

The family dinner has been hijacked by the food industry. The transformations of the American home and meal outlined above did not happen by accident. Broccoli, peaches, almonds, kidney beans and other whole foods don't need a food ingredient label or bar code, but for some reason these foods -- the foods we co-evolved with over millennia -- had to be "improved" by Food Science. As a result, the processed-food industry and industrial agriculture has changed our diet, decade by decade, not by accident but by intention.

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Gluten Free Shrimp Cakes with Creamy Horseradish Mustard Sauce

Yield: 18

1 cup chopped cooked shrimp 

1 cup chopped raw kale, stems removed 

1 large chopped shallot 

2 large room temperature eggs 

1 cup cooked brown rice 

1 cup almond flour 

2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill 

2 tablespoons chopped roasted red peppers (optional) 

Sea salt and black pepper

Combine all the ingredients (add more flour if it's not binding). Season to your preference with sea salt and black pepper. Drop tablespoonfuls into the palm of your hands (wet hands in cold water to prevent sticking). Form into balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cover the bottom of a large deep sided skillet with extra virgin olive oil or a good quality veggie oil on medium heat. When hot, add 6 cakes(don'tflatten),leaving plenty of room in between. Fry on one side until golden brown and crispy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Flip over for a further three minutes (flatten top slightly). Remove and drain on a paper towel. Serve warm with Horseradish Mustard Sauce on the side.

Horseradish Mustard Sauce:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt 

1 tablespoon French mustard

 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish 

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 

2 tablespoons raw honey 

Sea salt and black pepper

Blend all the ingredients until creamy. Season to your preference with sea salt and black pepper. Serve chilled.