Photo by Annabelle Breakey from Gluten-Free Cupcakes

Everybody loves strawberries.  At least everybody I know.  They're an absolute favorite food in our house.  Luckily, we are fortunate enough to have access to, and afford organic strawberries.  For those who are not so lucky, sadly, the dangers are many.  First and foremost, a toxic pesticide called methyl iodide is used to grow our favorite berry, and according to John Froines of UCLA, it is "one of the most toxic chemicals on earth."

Methyl idiodide is a gas pesticide that is injected into soil, it is not on our actual berries.  The problem?  Methyl iodide is:

Do people really need to be poisoned so that I can have strawberries for dessert?  I say no.  Thinking of a corporation touching nature's bounty is most disturbing indeed, which is why I am begging Arysta (the largest pesticide company in the world) to: keep your hands off our strawberries!  Since this company is in the business of selling poison, I highly doubt they will listen to my plea.

Thankfully, one of my favorite organizations, PAN, has come to the rescue, filing a petition with the EPA to ban the use of this scary pesticide nationwide.  EPA is considering public comment until April 30th.  What can you do?  Just head over to PAN's website and sign the online petition.  This chemical is too toxic to be used safely as a soil fumigant pesticide, and has no place in our country's agriculture.

By the way, conventionally grown strawberries come with a mouth watering dose of 53 additional pesticides.  However, you can take heart in the fact that there are many amazing companies such as Swanton Farms that are doing it right --growing beautiful strawberries without ANY chemical assistance from corporate America.

We grow strawberries in our sunny front yard.  The stunning photo above (taken by the incredible Annabelle Breakey) is from my forthcoming book Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour (coming out in less than 3 weeks --um, not sure what they're thinking, but it's on sale for pre-order for only $9.03 right now).  Most importantly though, remember to protect nature's bounty by protecting our strawberries!

Yesterday my son and I made the delicious strawberry sorbet pictured above.

As July 4th approaches, our ice cream maker has been getting a real workout. It's hotter now so we're always looking for good frozen treats to cool us off. When I asked my older son what he thought about the sorbet, he simply said, "yum." That sums it up fairly well. I find it light, sweet and refreshing.

On another note, I enjoy using holidays throughout the year to pause, reflect and freshen my perspective, finding that even secular celebrations come in handy for this. With July 4th just around the corner, I've created a little list of independence offerings that provide new ways of doing the same old everyday things. I hope you like it and find it useful.

And for a wholesome, delicious dessert to go along with your independence celebration, try this sorbet. You will wow your guests with a burst of fresh fruit flavor!

Strawberry SorbetNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
10 oz bag of frozen organic strawberries
2 cups water
¼ cup agave nectar

1. Place strawberries, water and agave in a Vitamix
2. Blend on highest speed until smooth and creamy
3. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and process according to instructions
4. Serve

Serves 4

Happy Fourth of July! I hope all of you have a fantastic holiday weekend and enjoy good food with good friends! Feel free to leave a comment below to let me know what you will be eating doing this weekend.

Eight days into the New Year and it seems as though the post-holiday blues have hit.

We've had more than our usual share of cold dark weather here in Colorado, and all I want to do is go into hibernation, sleeping day and night. Of course, that's not what's taking place in my reality.

This time of year I find myself spending a good deal of time cleaning and sorting. I cleaned out the pantry and fridge the day we returned from our holiday trip, figuring out what I needed to restock. Above is a picture of the bottom shelf of my refrigerator. I store nuts and seeds (which have oils in them that can go rancid if not refrigerated) in the fridge. There's also a jar of homemade soup stock on the right side of the photo.

Why glass, you ask?

I have been using glass mason jars for storage for more than a decade. I dislike plastic for numerous reasons. Start with petrochemicals, then move to xenoestrogens. You get the idea.

On a more practical level, glass is gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing. Built to last. No stains on glass, no yucky lingering food smells.

Glass is practical. Forget about the struggle to find matching lids. No mystery foods concealed by plastic hiding out in the back of the fridge turning into a science experiment. You can see your food. And my favorite part? Good use of vertical storage space.

Last but not least and possibly most important, glass is cheap --costs much less than plastic.

I buy glass jars at my local hardware store, McGuckin's, you can also buy ½ quart (1 pint), 1 quart (2 pints) and ½ gallon (6 pints) jars online.

Below is a letter I wrote to the editor of our local newspaper, The Daily Camera, that was published online August 6th and printed in the paper the following day:

While I might not agree with Clint Talbott's exact choice of words in his Aug. 2 editorial, I agree with his point. I cannot find one good reason to spend $100,000 on obtaining citizens' opinions when we live in a democracy where we may express them freely.

Too shy to go to a city council meeting? Send an email or letter to your council person. We all have the right to make ourselves heard in this country and I believe it is our responsibility as citizens to do so. Some may choose to abdicate this freedom, however, in Boulder, those that do express themselves to their elected officials are now the "squeaky wheels?"

Has democracy become a "carefully worded" multiple choice quiz for those too busy to participate of their own volition? I suppose convenience is something we have all grown so accustomed to that we now expect it not only from the fast food industry, but from government officials. Congratulations --with this survey we move one step closer to becoming a "take out" republic. Have we really stooped to spoon feeding our citizens their rights? If so, I'll take pepperoni and cheese with my survey.

Elana Amsterdam
Boulder, Colorado

This premium producer of high quality beef sued the USDA for denying it permission to test their cattle for mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse). Creekstone Farms has their own slaughterhouse and processing facility. They do not use hormones or antibiotics and feed their herds pesticide free grains. They want to take their high standards one step further and test their herds for bse.

An additional driver of their decision to (try to) begin testing for mad cow disease: the company wishes to begin exporting their product to the lucrative Japanese market. To export to Japan Creekstone must test for bse. Japan does not allow meat into the country that has not been tested.

Ok, let me see if I have this right. In Japan you can't eat a steak that hasn't been tested for mad cow disease. However, in the United States, a government agency that allegedly protects consumers, has denied you the right to know if it is safe to eat the steak on the plate in front of you.

In March 2007 a federal judge ruled in favor of Creekstone, giving them the right to test their cattle, effective June of the same year. In a stonewalling maneuver directed by the Bush administration, the USDA has appealed the ruling, effectively delaying implementation of testing until the court challenge has played out. Thus another chance for us to see the true colors of Bush II --wealth over health.

That's the short of it. The whole story is quite convoluted. The EPA claimed that it does not have the "authority" to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Go figure? Supreme Court told EPA otherwise. In the face of EPA foot dragging, the Governator decided to draft his own set of carbon dioxide regulations for the state of California.

Problem? The Bush Protection Agency, ahem, I mean the Environmental Protection Agency has taken almost two years to get back to Ahnold on his plan. Now, the Governator is mad. Instead of “I’ll be back!” He’s fighting back and has threatened to file another lawsuit against the EPA if they do not grant California approval by October 25, 2007.

California simply wants to monitor its own green house gas emissions. And while Bush claims he fully supports the rights of states, when it comes to the environment, his administration shows much more interest in wiretapping. Let's hope the Governator can take him down on this one. Hasta la vista baby.

Steinman has testified before Congress as an expert witness on the levels of chemical contaminants in the blood of persons eating locally caught fish from Southern California bays. It was his landmark study, published in the Journal of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, that led to the historic movement to clean up the Santa Monica Bay.

Steinman is an advisory board member for The Green Guide Institute, a national non-profit organization for consumer research and information.

He has won awards for his reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Sierra Club, and the Society of Professional Journalists.

David Steinman is married with three children and lives in California.

Petrini founded Slow Food International three years later, renouncing not only Fast Food, but the overall pace of Fast Life. Issuing a manifesto, the movement called for the safeguarding of local economies, the rediscovery of authentic culinary tradition and a sustainable, ecologically aware consumerism.

At the table, Slow Food advocates a return to traditional recipes, locally grown foods and wines, and eating as a social event. Today the movement is active in over 50 countries with over 80,000 followers

Carlo Petrini, President of the International Slow Food Movement is a writer; he lives in Bra, Italy.

Monica Moore is a founding member of the worldwide organization Pesticide Action Network and has worked on pesticide issues for close to three decades. Although she keeps a low profile, she is a hero in the environmental movement, having received numerous awards, most recently "Advocate of Social Justice" from the Ecological Farming Association.

She co-founded Pesticide Action Network North America in 1984 and was an Executive Director there for over 20 years. She currently serves as an advisor and board member for numerous local, national and international non-profit environmental organizations.

Ms. Moore also consults internationally on sustainable agriculture, preservation of biodiversity and genetic resources and is fluent in Danish, German and Spanish.