Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 04:08 PM
Hey friends,
Glad to see everyone liking Michelle’s Coconut Avocado Rice Stack dish! Yummy making me crave it again 
Definitely snowed here but not as bad as I know other places got hit with this snow storm But hey us Florida raised girls are not good with the ice or snow! And we mainly got more ice than snow!
My backdoor area
Snow/sleet is still coming down slowly. Not as bad as I was expecting which is a good thing. I know many of our northern readers think this is a piece of cake 
the only thing about snow is when it melts and turns to ice!!!! That is the part I hate!
To keep us warm this morning we whipped a warmed apple pie green smoothie
Pure2Raw Recipe: Warm Apple Pie Green Smoothie
3-4 stalks kale (we used dino kale)
1 –1 1/2 cups water (depending on your level of thickness you prefer)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 inch fresh ginger
2-3 apples, chopped
1 packet stevia (add more if you need to)
2 tsp lemon juice
How to make it warmed?
One you blend it for a long time or do what we did.
Place some coconut oil in a skillet and place chopped apples in skillet over low heat. And let the apples get a little warm than transfer to blender and blend till creamy!
It is a nice treat on a cold day though you are still able to get your green smoothie in We put ours in a bowl coffee cup (kinda like a bowl) in honor of this sweet lady. We have seen her put her smoothies in a bowl and thought what a cute idea. Though we did not have any of the fun toppings she usually puts on top 
But that is ok, it was still a fantastic smoothie to start our day!
Workout:
55 minute of this new Yoga DVD
(source)
Yep Jennifer Aniston’s yoga instructor’s new dvd. We were so excited to finally get this in the mail that we bought a few days ago We have seen it around in the blog world. And have heard great reviews of it!
Twins Review: 2 thumbs up!!!
We love it. Love the quality of the dvd, the music, the instructor (which is huge for us), and of course loved the yoga poses
Mandy is a doll. So cute and honest in the video. She really makes you feel like you can do anything and so positive about life. I can see why Jennifer Aniston really fell in love with Mandy’s yoga practice style. So different and unique and intense. You will feel your butt, thighs, and abs burn It is definitely a different pace yoga dvd compared to others we have tried. We really like how she incorporates strength training moves along with yoga.
Post-workout meal: Mint lime avocado pudding
Looks a little plain?!?!! Pudding needs something to jazz it up
There that is better Yacon syrup always does the trick!
Got a little hungry few hours later so grabbed some fermented foods
Raw sauerkraut with carrots
Raw fermented veggies
Perfect!
Got something delicious for dinner and dessert tonight Let’s just say lots of chocolate involved!!! Can I have dessert before dinner!?!?!
Check out some great giveaways going on:
Lauren’s glass straws
Kristen Chia seeds
Averie iherbs
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Raw Recipes, product review, smoothies, yoga
Tags: apples, fermented veggies, green smoothie, raw dessert, raw fermented foods, raw sauerkraut, yoga dvd
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Good morning everyone,
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Here is a quick summary of our food intake for the weekend, as you all know we have been trying to up our green intake…to be more exact we are aiming to get 1 lb of greens (not vegetables) into our diet. …because we have learned this is what will heal our stomachs, which will overall heal us. Check here if you want to see why.
Saturday we pretty much enjoyed one quart of green smoothie for each of us, 32 oz of water, our new chocolate cocktail made from our coconut kefir, and some kelp noodles with a pumpkin sauce.
Pumpkin sauce was made from roasted pumpkin with some spices. To be honest it was not the best, we added a little to much cumin : (
Sunday was another 1 quart green smoothie for each of us, more chocolate cocktail, and dinner was this delicious homemade coconut based yogurt and with crumbs of biscotti that Michelle made at 105 degrees. Yes -we froze it and are now enjoying it.
Missed the recipe…click here for the coconut yogurt recipe.
We did not work-out over the weekend. Saturday is our planned rest day, though Sunday was supposed to be an easy 4 mile run. Both of us were bad and decided not to work out. That does not happen often though we both were in a very non-motivating mood – hey it happens sometimes right??
Anyways today is a new day. When you get off the ‘workout’ track what do you do to get yourself moving again? Do you talk to yourself? Or do you treat yourself if you workout?
We typically listen to some good uplifting type of music and tell ourselves how much better we feel after we workout. It comes down to a mental game. Though once we hit the gym it doesn’t take us long to get back into the groove of things.
Today’s workout:
60 minute Yoga podcast
10 minutes of leg exercises from Tracy Anderson – we love her!
* we are in the process of researching some local yoga studios and hopefully will start going to some to check them out. Hopefully we will find one that we like. Michelle really misses Laura in OKC and her yoga buddy
To get us going this morning we treated ourselves to an enema…. don’t be jealous. HAHA
Breakfast was a green smoothie – 2 1/2 cups each – filled with water, romaine, granny smith apples, flax meal, aloe vera and hemp oil.
Followed by a new take on hot cocoa. We briefly mentioned before that we turned to hot cocoa last winter to get us off coffee…well it worked for us. For a while we were drinking coffee not for the caffeine but because we loved the taste and then it became apart of our morning ritual. This was what we had to break…find something else to have in the morning.
Now with the weather getting cooler here we are wanting that something warm in the morning…although we are going to try to have it every once in awhile not everyday like before.
Here was our creation today:
Note this was not 100% raw because Michelle heated it up a little past 118 degrees, but feel free to make it a bit cooler.
Twins Non traditional Hot Cocoa
2 cups pumpkin milk (but you can sub it any “milk” of your choice)
1 tbsp carob powder
1 tbsp raw cacao powder (again you can sub in cocoa)
10 drops of liquid stevia (or whatever sweetner of choice)
And then the secret ingredient
1 tbsp coconut butter (we just love the taste and it helped make it creamy)
We have many versions of hot chocolate that over these colder days we will share…
Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!
Till next time,
Lori and Michelle
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Health, Raw Recipes, smoothies
Tags: coconut kefir, green smoothie, greens, hot cocoa, workout, yoga
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 02:24 PM
Hello again everyone,
Lori here again! I hope everyone had a great Tuesday. My day started early – beginning at 5:30am to get to baking in the kitchen for a birthday cake (princess theme) order. Oh the joys of being a baker!
First I had my lemon water while I was gathering all my ingredients.
About an hour later I enjoyed another delicious green smoothie. I just can’t get enough of these!
Morning smoothie:
- 1 granny smith apple
- 1 -2 figs (mine were frozen)
- 1 cup water
- 3 stalks swiss chard (mine were small so I had 3 but you can do one large stalk)
- handful of fresh parsley
- 1 lime zest and juice
- 1 packet stevia
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tps cinnamon
Blend in blender till nice and smooth. And pour and enjoy!
My day seriously flew by. I feel like I was productive my somehow my to-do list just keeps on growing!! Since Michelle was introduced to Kombucha tea at 105 degrees academy. She told me to find this brand at my local health food store called Synergy. They have a variety of flavors. I chose to get the Gingerberry flavor. I have been sipping on it the past few days. It actuallyis pretty good! I will definitely purchase again! Especially knowing how good it is for you!
For my pre-workout snack I was not really hungry for much so I just nibbled on one of our chocolate macaroons!
Now, our macaroons are different those most raw foodies because we like to use stevia as our main sweetner over agave. Due to being a better sweetner health wise and less calories. But still sooooo good!
Totally hit the spot for me! I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a workout today, but as my day went on I was starting to feel stressed. Therefore, I decided to do some yoga. I listened to Moby! I really like Moby especially for calming (yoga) and when I am in a deep thought type of moods.
What is your favorite type of music or musician to listen to for yoga or deep thought meditations?
My yoga session:
To get me going I did about 25 minutes of some legs exercises (kickboxing mostly), calisthenics, and some push-ups. I have been trying to perfect my handstand so that is what I started with and ended with in my yoga session today. Typically, Michelle and I do yoga DVD’s or videos online. There is yoga classes at our gym but we are finding it hard to find a really good teacher. So we feel we get a better session by doing it at our home! I did about 50 minutes of yoga.
I felt great afterward like always! Don’t you just love yoga sometimes how it really can help change your attitude. Love my yoga sessions.
My post-workout smoothie:
Hemp protein shake with blueberries! Yummy!
Hemp protein, blueberries, coconut water, spirulina, maca, stevia, yacon syrup, and sun is shining
My afternoon was pretty busy doing work of some bakery orders for Thursday and Friday. Seriously, my day flew by! I typically enjoy days like that when I had a 9-5 job but now I do not. There never seems to be enough time in the day for me to get everything done that I need to get done!
During all the running around in the kitchen I got a little hungry. So going along with my post earlier this morning I snacked on my of new favorite pumpkin sunflower seed kale chips. Michelle and I created these crackers because we wanted one that was seed based not nut based (like most recipes) and a green in it so we threw in kale. So far they taste great to us! Still need to try it out on others to see if it is a keeper!
Finally it was time for dinner and I sure was hungry. I made a simple kale salad with avocado, nutritional yeast, dulse flakes, and some raw green onion bread. YUMMY! I love simple salads sometimes, well at least my tummy really like them.
I am not sure what dessert will be but I am sure I can find something delicious in my refrigerator. I am thinking more macaroons, possibly?
Well happy Tuesday to you all!
Till next time, from my yoga mat to yours
Lori
The Raw Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Fitness, Health, smoothies
Tags: dulse flakes, Kombucha tea, raw macaroons, salad, smoothie, stress, yoga
Friday, September 18, 2009 at 07:33 PM
Hello everyone,
It is Lori here. I hope everyone had a great Friday. Mine was a day full of baking and making delicious gluten free vegan baked goods as well as some raw food items for the farmers market tomorrow that I sell my goodies at. Check out everything that I did here.
Boy, was I pooped after a long day in the kitchen. I was sure happy to get my workout done first thing in the morning.
Before I left though I drank my lemon water!
I ate my pre-workout bar and the other half of my chocolate wrap that was leftover from earlier this week. Great way to get going!
Today’s workout I decided to do an uphill climb followed by some legs exercises. Love the feeling of burning out my legs!
Treadmill climb workout:
- 3 minutes at 3.5 mph incline 3%
- 3 minutes at 3.6 mph incline 4%
- 4 minutes at 3.6 mph incline 5%
- 5 minutes at 3.7 mph incline 6%
- 20 minutes at 4.0 mph incline 11%
- 10 minutes at 4.0 mph incline 13%
- 2 minute cool down
Legs:
- standing one legged hamstring curl up – 2 sets 13 reps on each side
- seated down hamstring curl ( I did one leg at a time)- 2 sets 20 reps on each side
- leg extension – 1 sets 15 reps on each side
- backward lunges – 1 set – 25 reps on each side
Overall my workout I felt great. Legs were feeling the burn!
What is your favorite leg workout? Mine is backward lunges.
When I got back from the gym I was planning on having a Vega protein shake though I had some vegetables that needed to be eaten up so I made a juice and had my vega protein shake about 30 minutes later with some coconut water. (Sorry no pictures I was in a hurry to get my day going – lots of baking still to do)
Than I made myself a lovely cinnamon spiced green smoothie. I was feeling like cinnamon and added it in to my smoothie today and whoa what a difference. I really enjoyed that hint of cinnamon!
Cinnamon smoothie:
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 2 apples
- lemon juice and zest
- 1 packet stevia
- 1 swiss chard leaf
- large handful of cilantro
- 1 tbsp Vega EFA oil blend
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- heaping 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Blend in vita-mix and enjoy!
The rest of my day just flew by making these delicious raw food items for the market:
Fudgy Brownie Bites
And this new item which had been added to the menu. They have been a huge hit!!!!
Samoa ring cookies with chocolate drizzle! YUMMMMM
Finally I got around to making a little late afternoon snack…. I was craving pudding. Luckily I had an avocado on hand – the perfect ingredient to make excellent quick and easy puddings. I wanted mine to bit sweet but tart too. Therefore, I added some stevia and lime juice and zest. I also added in a few bonus ingredients (maca, sun is shining, and chia seed powder) to bump the nutritional value in my pudding. I must say it REALLY hit the spot for me! Now don’t judge my the picture. It was really good! I call it my green “mush” pudding.
I did this in my small food processor so it did not get as creamy as it usually does in the blender. Though it still tasted great!
I finally got to sit down on the sofa and really enjoyed this pudding. And got to be off my feet for a few minutes! Don’t you just love those few minutes of pure enjoyment of eating something totally amazing! It really makes you feel good!
My few minutes of heaven did not last long before I knew it I was back in the kitchen baking some cupcakes and a cake for a birthday.
Though I did spend I little bit of time making my dinner. It was actually overall a pretty easy dinner to create. I grabbed some of my veggies (carrots, bok choy, cucumber, bean sprouts) and used my leftover spread from my fennel tarts the other day as my filler.
Romaine Lettuce wraps:
First was slicing all the veggies to go inside the romaine leaves. I used my handy little tool from William Sonoma. It is a great kitchen tool to have for those quick shredding jobs!
All my veggies
Time to start to fill the romaine lettuce wraps with my creamy pumpkin seed dressing
Now the veggie layer
Now my romaine leaves were not that big to fully roll them. So I just kinda curled them up and ate it like that. Still delicious and good. I ended up having another plate full of wraps!
Now I am sure I will be having something small for dessert due to me getting up at 3:45 am for the farmers market. Yes I get up that early because I like to drink my lemon water and have breakfast way before I have to leave at 5:30am. That way it gives my stomach time to rest and hopefully relieve myself before leaving (sorry for the language, there is just no other way to say it) because I won’t see a bathroom again till 7 hours!!!!! Oh the joys of my job!
I hope you all have a pleasant weekend.
Till next time,
Lori
The Raw Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Fitness, Raw Recipes, smoothies
Tags: avocado, dinner, green smoothie, pudding, romaine veggie wraps, uphill climb
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 01:55 PM
Hello everyone,
It is Lori here. Well I hope everyone is having a fabulous hump day. I know I am!! One that I made a delicious lunch (more on that soon) and I ran 6 miles today at the gym (I beat my sister’s time).
To get my day started I had a blackberry apple smoothie:
Smoothie was filled with 1 apple, handful of frozen blackberries, water, lime juice, stevia, turmeric, cayenne, and hemp oil. It was different than my typical morning smoothies, though I liked it! Hate it when the blackberries seeds get stuck in my teeth. :/
To get pumped up for my 6 mile run today I enjoyed one of our chocolate avocado based wrap. I ate it plain since I did not have any spread made to go inside. Though it was still chocolately and delicious!
Love my raw chocolate!
Now, I did talk with the sis before she left for 105 degrees academy for class and she informed me that she ran a good 6 miles today. That she ran it faster than she normally does! Oh, I thought to myself – I really got to push out do her today with my run. Don’t you just love sister competition. One of the nice things having a twin sister is that you have a cardio (workout) buddy! I really enjoy having a workout buddy especially on those days when you just don’t feel like working out.
Do you have a workout buddy? If not, let me know, I would love to be your workout buddy!
My workout:
- 4 minutes at 6.0
- 6 minutes at 6.1
- 5 minutes at 6.2
- 5 minutes at 6.3
- 5 minutes at 6.4
- Than I started my sprint work. I decided to do a 2:1 (run 2: jog 1). So for the next 25 minutes I ran with this sprint work.
- 25 minutes 2 minutes at 6.6 and one minute at 6.0.
Once I hit 55 minutes I stayed at 6.6 mph till I hit 6 miles which I did at about 57:20. Therefore this means I out ran my sister today! It was a decedent run for me. I got a little tired at points but knowing that my sis already ran 6 miles was motivation to keep going. This is when a cardio buddy comes into key play. Because they can help keep you going or challenge you to do better! Or if you do not have a cardio buddy good music can also help. Check out here about why music can help or hurt your performance.
Post-workout Smoothie:
Today I absolutely loved my post workout smoothie and will be making this again!
Here is what I did:
- 1 cup coconut water
- 4 tbsp hemp protein
- 2 tbsp goji berries
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 heaping tbsp maca ( I load up on this after a hard intense workout)
- 1 packet stevia
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp spirulina
- 2 tsp sun is shining
Put all the ingredients into your blender and blend till creamy. Than devour.
My lunch today was something a little special and took a day to prep, but though it was worth it! I have always seen tarts in raw cookbooks or online and wanted to try one myself! So here it goes.
First you got to make your crust for the tart:
- 2 1/2 cups Almond meal
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 scallions,
- 1 tsp sea salt,
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Blend in food processor till combined. Add water if really dry. Dough will be thick. Than take your dough and scoop them into your molds. I only had one mini tart mold and 2 larger ones, so that is what I used. But you can use any size you prefer. Next put your tarts into the dehydrator over night. In the morning flip them out of the tart molds and put them back in the dehydrator till desired crispness.
Tarts right out of the dehydrator.
my one little mini tart... so cute
Next is to make the balsamic fennel. I used one bulb of fennel.
(Tip: you need a mandolin for cutting the fennel or you can do my hand)
Balsamic sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- pinch salt
Put sliced fennel into a bowl and pour the sauce over it and mixed with hands till fully incorporated. Than place on dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 1-2 hours. (I did not wait that long – I was hungry) I did about 45 minutes.
While they are dehydrating it is time to make the cream that is going to be our filling for the tarts.
Cream filling:
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (mine were soaked and dried, though you could just use soaked and rinsed pumpkin seeds)
- 2 pinches of lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tsp olive oil
- small handful of fresh cilantro
Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend.
Yummy!
Now I used pumpkin seeds as my base you can use another nut like cashews or macadamia’s for you would like. I try personally not to always use a lot of nuts and since my base was almonds I decided to use a seed for my “cream”.
Now finally time to put it all together!
Again, so cute! Can't wait to eat it!
Creamy, flavorful, salty.
These tarts really hit the spot for me. I ended up eating the mini tart and half of one of the larger ones:) . The balsamic on the fennel really helped round out the whole dish. I also like how the crust was neutral so it did not take away any flavor from the cream filling or fennel! I will definitely make this recipe again though I am sure next time I will do something a little different. I can’t help it, I like to play around with recipes all the time! Isn’t that what “cooking” or shall I say ‘non-cooking’ is all about! Well I hope you like my little kitchen experiment with raw fennel tart!
Twin Question: What is your favorite dish to play around with in the kitchen?
Till next time, from my tart to yours
Lori
The Raw Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Fitness, Raw Recipes, smoothies
Tags: cardio buddy, fennel, lunch, post workout smoothie, raw chocolate wrap, running, smoothie, tart
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 06:11 PM
Hello everyone
The sis and I took a 3 day break from working (physically & mentally)…mostly due to her going to the beach with her boyfriend and I just stayed home and watched movies : ) So today we tried to get back in the swing of things…catching up emails, creating to-dos list for the week, and working out. And it was rough….had a slow start then the day just flew by and for some reason our to-do lists did not get shorter.
Why is it so hard to get back into your daily routine after getting back in town or from whatever break you may had?
We did manage to get a 30 minute walk in with 30 minutes of yoga. Tomorrow we plan to get up early and get our workout done first thing! Once we finally got our workout in, we felt great because it got our blood moving…plus helped us finish our day off strong!
Our meals for the day:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Snack: 2 mini chocolate cheezcakes (all raw and delicious, so much better than the real thing!)
Lunch: 2 slices of onion kale pumpkin seed bread with arugula and tahini
Pre-workout snack: a few spoonfuls of coconut oil and lemon juice.
This is not our typically pre-workout snack, but we did not have anything else on hand and were in a hurry to squeeze a workout in, which we hate doing because we love our workouts. It was just one of those days that your never felt like you got caught up.
Post-workout Meal: Juice (apples, kale, cucumbers, ginger)
Dinner: Smoothie
This smoothie was good we want to share the recipe: serves 2
2 apples
2 bananas
about 10 or so fresh basil leaves
2 cups water (or less if want a thick smoothie)
2 tbsp coconut oil (optional-we just love it)
Blend and enjoy the BLISS!
This smoothie is so gentle for the mind and the stomach…just want we needed after a few days of eating lot of sweets and wine…yep we are not perfect LOL> This particular smoothie coats the stomach and digestive tract. Basil aids digestion and eases stomach cramps, constipation, and nausea. Plus, adding herbs to your smoothies lends to an exotic twist with some extra healing powers.
Well we hope tomorrow we will wake up with some energy and focus! We are starting to remember we are not on vacation anymore, haha.
Till next time,
The Raw Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Miscellaneous, Raw Recipes, smoothies
Tags: green smoothie, herbs, juice, vacation
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 08:27 AM
Hello everyone,
Here is a quick re-cap of our chia pudding from last. Actually this was our first time making chia pudding. The brand of chia seeds that we like is Salba
. Let me tell you it was delicious and easy. We added hemp milk and fresh mint to ours. We have been craving fresh mint lately. Mint can turn any drink to a nice smooth and refreshing drink especially during hot summer months. Chia pudding is very easy to make and a great way to incorporate chia seeds into your diet. We typically throw them into our smoothies. But we liked this version of chia seed pudding and plan to make this again this week.
twins chia pudding with fresh mint
Why should I eat chia seeds?
Benefits of Chia:
- powerhouses of nutritious energy and filling
- high in omega-3 fatty acids – which everyone needs more of
- great source of calcium, iron, and protein
- full of soluble fiber- which helps gets “things” moving along for you!
- great for athletes and people watching what they eat
- a great thickener substitute – add any to pudding or sauces
- it is gluten free
You can add chia seeds to puddings, smoothies, sauces, dressings, eat it plain with some milk or water, put in cereal or oatmeal, mix with almond butter to create a delicious spread.
Now go add some chia seeds to your favorite dish for added nutritional bonus!
Twins Questions: What do you like to do with Chia seeds?
Green Lemonade for Breakfast
This morning we had our typical lemon water while we sat and meditated. Great way to get focused for the day ahead. Next we made ourselves a green lemonade. Yep you heard me right, green lemonade. It is a fairly simple idea it is typically lemons and a green. Today we used swiss chard plus we added a few extra ingredients. You can start small and simple with this juice. Lemons help break of the “green” feel and taste. We added just one packet stevia to help give a little sweetness this morning.
Green Lemonade:
swiss chard
celery
lemons
celery
ginger
turmeric
stevia
Sorry we forgot to take a picture. Hey it was earlier this morning. The juice made about 2 cups so we shared it and each one 1 cup of the green lemonade. We were busy all morning in the kitchen which made us hungry. So we treated ourselves to one of our favorite “raw” coffee drinks.
Twin Raw Coffee:
3 cups water
2 tbsp mesquite
2 tbsp lucuma
2 carob powder
2 tbsp coconut butter or a nut milk or butter
1 packet stevia
handful of fresh mint
2 tsp vanilla
Blend in a vita-mix or any blender and blend till smooth. And enjoy!
Next snack of the morning was a bowl of apples and blueberries with some coconut butter and cinnamon. AWESOME!
Next is yoga followed by another delicious smoothie. Stay tuned to see how the rest of our day and detox cleanse is going. So far we are feeling great with just little headaches now and then. Both got energy which is a great feeling!
Twin Question: Do you have a green lemonade juice? If so, what is it?
Till next time. Cheers from our glasses to yours!
The Raw Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Health, Raw Recipes, smoothies
Tags: chia seeds, coconut, green lemonade, mint, raw coffee, salba, the raw twins, yoga
Snow/sleet is still coming down slowly. Not as bad as I was expecting which is a good thing. I know many of our northern readers think this is a piece of cake 
