Where I'm Coming From

A couple of weeks ago I began to post the our family's food journal. But as I read my posts I realized they weren't adequate to help people. Important information was missing. For example what we don't eat is almost more crucial than what we do eat. And I never got around to posting why we eat the things we do. So let's start over from the beginning and I will tell you where I am coming from as a dietitian.

Since college I have strived to eat healthy but that can entail an array of ideals depending on the decade.

"Eat eggs. they are the perfect protein."

"No, eat egg whites because they don't have the fat and cholesterol. You don't want heart disease do you?"

"No, eat the whole egg because the yolk has fat soluble vitamins."

"I hear egg beaters are best because they aren't even eggs!"

"Don't eat eggs at all. They come from an animal!"

"Wait, you have to buy cage free eggs. Then, it's ok."

"No, buy the eggs fortified with omega 3 fatty acids. They help your heart. But I don't know if you are still just suppose to eat the whites."

"Didn't you hear that the American heart Association now says we can have 2 eggs per week and we won't die immediately afterwards?"

And that's just on the topic of eggs. I could go on about carbs, fat, meat, milk, whole wheat, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and a million other food items. Is the on going debate of what exactly is healthy overwhelming you?

No matter what food item we choose to follow the debate on over the years the same theme remains. It begins with a food found in nature, man decides the food is bad and/or he can make it better, hype surrounds this new epiphany, everyone MUST consume it, years later it is discovered this new version is toxic, research shows the original version was actually healthy but now people are scared to eat either.

Think about it. Pick a food and see if my theory fits.

This same theme is found in the bible over and over again when man thinks he has a better plan than God. Man then screws things up. And when things are bad enough he returns to God's perfect plan.

The food we consume is so far from what God created for us.

Our great grandmothers cooked with meat from the local farm or their own, vegetables from their garden, milk from their cows, and eggs from their chickens. (these are actualy "whole foods" by the way, not processed food you buy at the store Whole Foods. I love them but they have plenty of junk too.)

Our grandmothers cooked with meat sometimes from the grocery store, vegetables sometimes from the garden, milk from the milk man, and sometimes some canned goods to make things easier.

Our moms cooked with meat, eggs, milk and vegetables from the grocery store, store bought bread, canned goods, and occasionally they bought fast food.

Our generation does not cook with ingredients. Recipes call for a can of this, 2 cans of that, a jar of this, and a box of that. Actual food is not listed. The rest of the diet is filled in with fast food.

We don't know how to cook with real food. We don't even know what real food is.

Because God does not make mistakes and man cannot help but make mistakes our family avoids manufactured (man-made) foods. Nutrition trends will come and go but in the end research ( I am a science gal after all you know) always backs God-made food.

So when you are trying to figure out if you should avoid genetically modified foods, pesticides, or fruit loops ask yourself these questions:

Is this something that naturally occurs in nature?
Have people been eating this for thousands of years or is this new?
Does it resemble the way it is found naturally in nature?

Try it on any food, you will be amazed.

I am starting a food blog that will be up soon that goes into this and so much more in detail. Most importantly I will show you what this mantra looks like on the dinner table (and let me tell you the Peteets eat some really good food!).

If you live locally I will be teaching a class this summer for fellow mommas (it will be a play date for the kiddos). Contact me if you want more info.

From the kitchen...

We had family in town this past weekend for Savannah's dance recital (pictures coming soon) and then Archer got pink eye. All that is to say I have not had time to blog. Our poor little guy is grumpy and requiring lots of holding.

However, I think posting what we eat when things are busier than normal is even more important than posting our normal food. But since I am short on time I will give you the best meal and the worst meal. Everything else was somewhere in between.

Saturday night: Fresh caught wild salmon grilled, fall vegetables (acorn squash, sweet potatoes, apples), and whole steamed artichokes. Everything in this meal is a favorite of Savannah's. I think she ate 8oz. of salmon by herself. The artichokes are fun for all kids. You pull off a leaf and dip it in melted organic or farm fresh butter with fresh squeezed lemon juice and then bite off the meat. What kid doesn't like to dip stuff?

Sunday night: After the dance recital we let Savannah pick a place to eat out and she chose a local pizza place.

Tonight: homemade pancakes (cornmeal, oatmeal, wheat flour, buttermilk, and some other stuff) using my favorite recipe ever and scrambled farm fresh eggs. It was the best I could do with a fussy baby.

I will get back in the swing of my reporting tomorrow along with info on why we eat the things we eat, how we make it, and tons more info. Hmmm, perhaps I need to move this show off the family blog and start a food blog. Just a thought...

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...