From the kitchen...

For today, Friday April 30th.

Breakfast: Sweet potato bread, raw milk, organic coffee decaffeinated with the swiss water method.

Snack: banana, peanut butter, and raw milk for me.

Lunch: I had the last of the chicken leftover from making broth and pineapple. Savannah had yogurt, pineapple, and blackberries along with a slice of sweet potato bread and peanut butter. Our meals may sound odd for a while because we are busy with Savannah's dance recital this weekend.

Snack: I had sweet potato bread and pecans that were soaked and dried at a low temperature (I always have some made). Also had 4 dove chocolates again today. Kicking that habit is on my to do list...for another day.

Dinner: I had leftover red beans and rice with tomatoes etc. and Savannah had leftovers from last night.

The kids and I are headed to dress rehearsal for the recital. I am bringing water, fruit, and nuts just in case.

Hmmm, I really don't know what Mark has eaten today.

Still not seeing that I eat anything weird. Katy did have a good idea about taking pictures and providing instructions. After this busy weekend I will begin to catalogue our food with pics. And by the way, I never mind questions. Food is my career, hobby, and as a housewife it is my job.

From the kitchen...

For today, Thursday 29th of April.

Breakfast: 6:30amI scrambled farm fresh eggs that I picked up while we were out yesterday. And the same as yesterday they were accompanied by buttered (organic) toast (homemade) and raw milk from a local farm.

The kids I rounded up more groceries at the Kroger here in town. No specialty store needed.

Lunch: Leftover grass fed roast from dinner Monday night and freshly cooked sweet potato with grey salt (not processed so it has naturally occurring minerals and no added chemicals) and organic butter.

Snack: Fresh pineapple that I cut up yesterday and conventional blackberries. Savannah and I also made sweet potato bread from the wheat flour I soaked in yogurt last night. If I let it soak for 24 hours I get a more tender product because the yogurt gets all those probiotics going and it kind of pre-digests the bread. But I had time to cook it earlier so I did. It turned out "different" but not because it soak less than 24 hours. It was suppose to be banana bread but all the ripe bananas were eaten so we cooked an extra sweet potato at lunch, mashed it up and threw it in the bread. It tastes great but looks odd with bright orange clumps through out the bread.

Dinner: Our vegetable was fresh green beans cooked in homemade chicken stock (made it last weekend and pulled it out of the freezer tonight). I have mentioned this on my blog before and I will say it again, one of the simplest and healthiest foods you can make is homemade stock. The entree of the evening was Grilled Beef Braciole with Grilled Tomato-Basil Relish. It sounds fancy but it was a simple and easy recipe that I made with venison round steak instead of beef. I also skipped the grilling of the tomatoes for the relish to further simplify things. This dish was a hit with the whole family.

Dessert: Savannah had her first slice of sweet potato bread. And for the sake of honesty I must tell you I had a dove chocolate. And if I am really going to be honest with you I must tell you that it was my 4th one today. Dang it, I am having a sweet tooth kind of day! Must mean I need to work out (I don't crave sweets when I am working out for some reason).

Now that I am writing out everything we eat, I don't see why people think we are weird??? So far I have not listed one strange food item. Hey, the Peteets are normal after all!

From the kitchen...

Wednesday April 29th





Breakfast: 6:20 am I scrambled 8 eggs (3 for me, 3 for Mark, and 2 for Savannah). They were store bought free range because we were out of the farm fresh. I plan to pick up more farm eggs today when I get Savannah from school. Everyone had a piece of toast from my homemade bread. The bread was made from spelt and wheat flour that had been soaked in water with a few tablespoons of buttermilk. Organic store bought butter and raw honey topped the toast. Savannah had Parmesan cheese on her eggs.


Mark and I both had organic coffee that has been decaffeinated with the Swiss water method instead of chemicals. I drink mine black he uses rapadura in his. Rapadura is a sugar that is much more raw than "sugar in the raw". It's made by the company Rapunzel. We also drank raw milk from a local dairy with our meal.



After breakfast I made lunches for Savannah and I to take with me since we will be out and about most of the day. Savannah's lunch included per her request chicken by itself, no sandwich n0 chicken salad, just chicken. This was leftover from making stock over the weekend. With it she had an individual container of Stoneyfields organic Greek yogurt with strawberries. I don't normally buy flavored yogurt but she begged for it at the store the other day and I got it for her as a treat.



My lunch consisted of homemade almond butter that I made last week on homemade bread. No jelly or honey needed, this stuff is AWESOME! The almond butter is worth every minute it takes to make it. With it I packed raw milk in my sigg.



On our way out the door to Kindermusik I grabbed a banana for me for a snack. Savannah ate a snack at school. It was probably something processed like pretzels or crackers but I don't worry about it since it is such a small portion of the food she consumes. Mark ate lunch out with his boss.



Lunches were eaten in the car after I picked Savannah up from school. Picked up more farm fresh eggs while we were in the neighborhood.



Later that afternoon at home Savannah asked for a snack of peanut butter and raw honey. The peanut butter was store bought organic because I could not find raw peanuts last time I went to the health food store and homemade nut butters are only worth making if I can start with raw nuts. I had plain yogurt (no honey for me. I like it plain.) and then I cut up a fresh pineapple for us.

Dinner was leftover red beans and rice made with all natural organic pecan smoked sausage topped with avocados, tomatoes, and green onions.

After dinner I set some wheat flour out to soak in water and yogurt in preparation for making banana bread tomorrow.

Archer had momma milk.

From the kitchen...

After speaking at MOPS today on the subject of nutrition I have decided that "from the kitchen" should be a daily or almost daily segment for a while. For those of you who don't know, for years now Mark and I have tried to avoid processed foods and make everything we consume. The question I get most often is "how do you find time to do it?"

In the spirit of authenticity and transparency I am going to post the answer to this question and the 2nd most asked question, "What do the Peteet's eat?" Apparently inquiring minds want to know so I will be posting the foods we eat and what and when I made the ingredients. With this peek behind closed doors you will see the what the Peteet's do well along with the things we let slide but probably shouldn't. We are talking full honesty here.

For those of you who do not know us well I will warn you that we are weird. We don't cook or eat like everyone else and with the state of health of Americans (or lack there of rather) I am OK with being weird. One might say I embrace it as a badge of honor that our family is headed in the right direction.

The door opens tomorrow...

Vegetable Frittata

From the kitchen...

Vegetable Frittata
6 farm fresh eggs
1/4 cup homemade creme fraiche (raw cream could be substituted)
a little oregano from the garden
mushrooms and green onions (leeks would have been good too) sauteed in organic butter
zest from 1 lemon
Grey salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup green heart gouda, grated

This was our eat-what's-in-the-fridge dinner the other night.

Whisk eggs, creme fraiche, zest, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour over skillet with sauteed veggies. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Sprinkle with grated cheese and put under broiler a few minutes until lightly browned.

I have no idea what exactly green heart gouda is by the way. I picked it up at whole foods a while back. It is a very hard cheese so it has kept well. The earthy flavor went well with the mushrooms. A raw jack or a parmesan would have worked well too.

Oh, I almost forgot that we had nitrate free canadian bacon that I sauteed with the veggies.

Record Breaker

Yesterday morning was crazy. Archer woke up at 5am wide awake. I however would have appreciated another hour of sleep. The morning progressed in a chaotic manner as I got Savannah off to school and Mark off to work. I headed to work myself with Archer in tow leaving the house in a state of disaster. But what I really wanted to do was stay home, straighten up the house and take a nap.
Struggling to stay awake at my desk as I worked and while rocking Archer who was fussing, I prayed. "Lord, is it worth all the stress to work these measly 4 hours a month? Is this what I need to be doing? I enjoy it but I am willing to let it go if You want me to. I really have no idea on this one so I need your help."
Archer fell asleep then which I was thankful for. I was afraid his fussing would escalate to a point of embarrassment. It's just a wee bit unprofessional to bring your baby to work and then have him disturb everyone else. Not to mention that I use the owner's office now to nurse and change diapers. I already feel like I am inconveniencing everyone.
Once he was asleep I stepped outside the office to get a few more medical charts. Just then the owner said (literally moments after I finished that prayer), "Christina, you know I really don't mind Archer being here. His fussing doesn't bother me. He really is the happiest baby. I love going into the office and seeing him. He always smiles at me."
This is a grandmother who as she put it is going through grandmother's empty nest. Her grandkids are all teenagers now, to old to be babies but too young to start the next round of babies in the family.
So this was my answer from God (and record breaking fast I might ad! I love it when He does that.). For whatever reason He wants me to continue to work at this job. Now I pray I fulfil God's purpose for me here...with Archer in tow :)

Who Do You Know?

Have you ever met a fellow mom whose knowledge, daily activities, and energy overwhelm you? I had such an encounter yesterday when we invited friends over for a playmate. While the kiddos played the mom's chatted. By the time they left I was exhausted! The other mom wore me out and all we did was sit and talk.

She must be one of the most productive people I know. She takes on parenting with %110 of her energy while always researching and studying her next move. One of her areas of expertise is education however she is not nor was she ever a school teacher. But she has researched, studied, and even visited every school from 45 miles east of us to 60 miles west of us (do you know how many schools that is?). She knows all about different teaching methods from Classical Education to Montessori. She knows the creed, motto, and mission statements of all the schools and has really dissected the words to absorb all their meaning. And she began this journey before her first child was born. Meanwhile, when I was pregnant with my first child I spent ample time picking out fabric for baby bedding.

Wow, talk about being on top of things.

Now, I will admit things are different around here. In other areas everyone attends public school. This is not the case in our town. As soon as you announce you are pregnant people start asking you what you are going to do about school. Will you home school, go the private school route, or how about the duel language program in the public schools? I know families in all of these and I have asked questions and looked into all of our options...or so I thought.

But yesterday I was given so much information about all of these. And for the record she was not slamming any of these she was just relaying the results of her research. And I am thinking to myself, am I suppose to know all this stuff?

She humbly apologized repeatedly for monologuing. But I kept her going with my questions. Although the amount of information she gave me was overwhelming I still wanted more.

After she left I began to do what all moms do and what all moms know we shouldn't do. I began to compare. The thoughts ran through my head, "Have I been a lazy parent? Why have I not done this much research on the subjects we talked about? Why don't I already know all of this? What do I now do with this information?"

Then I thanked God for all the women in my life that know so much more than me. I thanked him for giving each of them their particular passion so I can learn from them. I thanked him for all the times they have overwhelmed me because that means I am taking on new information. There are so many women I know that make me a better mom just by knowing them. They are not here to make me feel bad about myself, they are here to teach and encourage.

I pray that I do not underwhelm other mom's but overwhelm them with the things I am passionate about. And I guess there were things I researched too while I was pregnant that others did not. And no surprise, they are the things I feel passionaltely about.

The Tale of the Beach Babe Goes Punk Princess and the Sleeping Prince

Part 8

Savannah awoke to fireworks on her headboard the morning of her 5th birthday.

The birthday girl with her new favorite stuffed animal aquired on this trip.



Savannah was happy to open her present and find that we got her the Giada DeLaurentis DVD set she wanted. Yup, my 5 year old asked for a 6 disk set of Italian cooking shows.
This is why Cindy calls her meatball, a nickname that Savannah loves and one we should all implement!

The morning of her birthday we rode all her favorite rides again. This meant lots of time spent on the tea cups and the Alice In Wonderland ride. Archer of course slept through most of the it.

Part of her birthday present was a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where Fairy Godmother's in training do your hair, make-up and nails.

The Fairy Godmother in training showed Savannah 3 pictures of different hairstyles she could do. One was a traditional princess up do. Another was half up and half down but still with a crown. And last but not least was the Punk Princess complete with spiked multi colored hair and body jewels.

My out-of-the-box-child wanted nothing to do with the traditional look.

So Punk Princess it is.

This is so Savannah except for the dress.

We were surprised she wore the Cinderella dress around the park. It's so girly.

But, the one constant is that she always surprises us.

Once she was a glammed up we took her to a princess lunch in California Adventure.

Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White were all in attendance.

This was the REAL Snow White, no kidding. Just look at her!

Her voice was the same as on TV as well.

She is Savannah's new favorite.

Is the hair not cracking you up?

You should have seen the back. There were long multicolored braids.

Archer is begging for no more princesses...

...but he forgot to specify no fairies either.

Sorry Arch, next stop is Pixie Hollow.

Here Savannah got to meet her favorite fairy Silver Mist, the water fairy.

Savannah with Tink and the fairy dude.

I don't know his name because Savannah always watches the Tinkerbell movie in French. I know it sounds pretentious and she doesn't do it with other movies.

But, Tinkerbell must be watched in French for some reason.

Strawberry ice cream for dinner...

what a way to end your birthday and vacation.

The End.

The Tale of the Beach Babe Goes Punk Princess and the Sleeping Prince

Part 7

Goofy's Kitchen is by far the best character meal I have attended.

There was a large selection on the buffet, Grandma had the best gluten free meal of the trip (including pancakes and waffles freshly made for her that she said were excellent), and the character interaction was so much more than them just coming by to take a picture.

They didn't plan this pose by the way. They both just happened to put their hands to their mouths at the same time.

Look for Mark and Savannah hanging over a giant bowl in this picture.
Goofy got all the kids to come to the middle of the floor and help him make a cake.
There was music, shakers, and lots of giggles.




Savannah got to dance with Baloo. They became good buds.

Hugging Chip or Dale.

By the end of the meal Archer woke up and was starting to fuss. The giant chipmunk (Chip or Dale) came over and rubbed Archer's head with his paw. Archer immediately stopped fussing and began to smile and coo. Before we knew it Goofy came over to see what we were all laughing about and he began to rub Archer's head too.

The kid loved it!

Who knew?

Here Savannah is watching the Pixar parade at California Adventure.

Lots of her favorites were featured such as Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc. No WALL-E though.

Another shot of her at the parade.

She really enjoyed it, can you tell?

The Lady Bug ride in Flick's Fun Fair at California Adventure.

It's a sedated version of the Tea Cups.

Another Disney park rule is that you must try on funny hats in the stores and take pictures.

Again, I don't make up the rules, I just follow them.

Savannah and her Daddy.

Oh wait a second.

Never mind, that's Woody in the picture.

Honest mistake.

Next up the final day of our trip...Savannah's actual birthday!

The Tale of the Beach Babe Goes Punk Princess and the Sleeping Prince

Part 6

Due to things unplanned on my itinerary our first ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Savannah had seen this ride on TV and youtube and was anxious to ride this "train".

It however was not the best ride to start off with.

We asked her if it was too loud, too dark, too fast, or too rough and she replied, "it's too everything!

I think if this had not been her first "real" ride she would have been okay.

Archer spent a lot of time here.

We saw Goofy everywhere on this trip.
Here he is in front of his house.





Got to love Toon Town.

The Queen of Hearts

Savannah thought it was "way cool" to see the Fairy Godmother.

Ralph Brennen's Jazz kitchen brought her beniets when they found out it was her birthday.

They were not nearly as good as the double chocolate bread pudding souffle that Mark and I split.

They brought out a huge chocolate souffle that had more of a light bread consistency. Then they took the top off and poured in a warm vanilla sauce you would normally find over bread pudding. But it doesn't stop there! They then poured in a warm chocolate sauce.

Paired with a cup of decaf...I was in heaven.

Notice Archer's hat? I couldn't let him go to DL without mouse ears!

I found this toboggan at a children's boutique in our town.

It wasn't just cruel and unusual punishment.

The evening was cold so he NEEDED it. :)

One must also ride Dumbo with mouse ears on.

I don't make the rules, I just follow them.

Another one of Savannah's favorites.

Archer is happy to be anywhere with us!

He is so sweet.

The Tale of the Beach Babe Goes Punk Princess and the Sleeping Prince

Part 5

The question must be addressed of why we chose Disney Land over Walt Disney World. After all, WDW in Florida has EPCOT (my favorite park) which features pavilions from several different countries that Savannah is very interested in. So which is better? Disney Land or Walt Disney World? It depends on what you are looking for. Here is why we chose DL over WDW this trip.

1. DL in is southern California and WDW in central Florida. Did you see the pics in my previous posts of the OC? Enough said.

2. Once we found out we were pregnant and would have an 11 week old on this trip we knew DL would be the destination for us. Staying on property at DL you can walk to both California Adventure and Disney Land park making it easy to go back and forth from your hotel room to the parks. This comes in handy for adults too who cannot stay in the parks from 7AM opening until they close at midnight. But if you are staying on property at WDW you may have an hour bus ride to various parks because it is 30 square MILES (not acres). Nothings is close together at WDW.

3. Fantasyland at DL is far superior to WDW and that's what most kiddos ages 7 and under go for. DL's Fantasyland's increased number of rides over WDW makes up for DL's vertically challenged castle (but usually only the adults notice how small the DL castle is in comparison to WDW anyway.)

4. And lastly it's the original. This is the park Walt personally created. But this fact only has cool factor if you are a Disney fan.

Goofy checked into the Disneyland hotel with Mark. He was just hanging out in the lobby.

Balloons delivered to Savannah's room for her birthday. The hotel also had a birthday button with her name on it and an autographed 8x10 of Tink waiting for her. Nice touch.

The view of Never Land pool from our room.

We were lucky enough to get a newly remodeled room.

The rooms were very nice, modern, with an understated and tasteful Disney theme.

Notice the Mickey hands holding the lights?

The headboard may look beautiful as is during the day. But at night music plays and fireworks light up and then it really shines as the focal point of the room

After checking in Wednesday afternoon we spent the evening in DL park.

Savannah's first DL ride and Archer's first ride ever were the Jungle Cruise.

Here is Arch on the ride.

Our "tour guide" was pretty good. It's always funnier when they know their jokes are corny and they play up that aspect.

Next up, the Tiki Room which Archer found it hard to sleep through.

I've seen this attraction a million times at both parks and let's face it, it's pretty cheesy.

But you would never know it by watching Savannah watch the show.

She was amazed by the animatronic birds and singing.
To her it was wonderful.

Next stop Fantasyland where we rode the infamous Tea Cups. I know some people hate these but I LOVE them. The more spinning the better. Savannah liked to spin the wheel in the center as fast as she could to make them spin more ( just like me!). We rode this ride several times through out our trip but one time when it was just the 2 of us she looked at me as we giggled and said, "We are just like sisters!"

How sweet.

I imagine she and I will be close like sisters when she is an adult some day.

I look forward to it.

Some may call me abusive but I like It's a Small World as well!

As you can see from the pic, Mark painfully endures it.

Archer slept well on this ride.

It's a Small World has added several Disney movie characters into the ride in the Mary Blair style. Although they did it well and put characters in the appropriate sections (for example stitch and lilo are in the Polynesian section), I don't think the ride needed it.

But Savannah did want us to take picture of some of them.


That's the end of our first day at DL.

The park opened at 7AM the next morning and I am a rope drop kind of gal when traveling.

Too bad my travel mates were not!

The Tale of the Beach Babe Goes Punk Princess and the Sleeping Prince

Part 4

Before heading to Disney Land we decided to make one more stop in the O.C., Dana Point.

We missed their yearly whale watching festival by one week.

In hopes of seeing some stragglers we walked a nature trail on top of the cliff overlooking the pacific. We never saw a whale but we did hear sounds that suspiciously sounded like one.

It was beautiful none the less.



Good bye Orange County. Good bye Pacific ocean.
Good bye fresh local grown delicious food.
Good bye peace and serenity.

We are moving on to a chaotic, sugar charged, artificially made wonderland
and I can't wait!
Mickey, here we come!