Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 07:31 AM
We are back in the lovely NC!
We drove back from Orlando,FL yesterday and returned home. Did some unpacking and some work. Sounds like vacation is no longer happening?!?!
Thanks again to everyone for your wonderful and support with our Disney marathon. Still hard to believe it is all over. Congrats to all the other runners who finished as well. It is a great accomplishment what a great way to start the new year! 
If you happened to miss any of our marathon race re-cap you can check them out here. and here!
Here is a re-cap of our road trip eats from yesterday’s travels:
Very early morning hemp protein cilantro shake
Sorry for the not so pretty picture is was still dark out!
A little bit later when the sun finally showed up we snacked on some more little raw snack bites
Though we were extremely tired so we had to stop and grab some coffee. Luckily there was a Whole Foods in Jacksonville to save the day!
We love the Allegro coffee at Whole Foods!
This caffeine fixed sure hit the spot for us both Helped perk us up for the remaining drive!
Though having a green smoothie and our favorite cocktail Kombucha tea helps too 
That kept us full of a good bit of the afternoon though near the end of trip we started getting a little hungry again so we grabbed a slice of one of our newest raw onion flatbread creations
Thoughts on new flavor? Glorious! Mouthwatering! The perfect crunch and flavor Love it when a new recipe turns out!
After unloading the car and getting back to reality we made ourselves a beautiful salad.
Arugula salad with avocado, lemon juice, sea salt, dulse flakes and garlic.
Than we realized our salad was missing something?!?!
Yes that is much better. We threw some raw crackers on top! Perfect!
As you can tell we are obsessed with these little guys! They make the perfect salad toppers in our opinion
But not only was this salad satisfying we were surprised when we saw this sitting at our front door!!!!!
A package from the ever so lovely and sweet Heather!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you Heather. We were so surprised to see this waiting for us!
The package was full of amazing goodies that are Heathers favorites and we can not wait to TRY!!!
Thanks again Heather! You are so sweet and we honored to have received this package
We have some exciting news coming our way to share with you all. We hope to post about it later.
Have a good day.
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Miscellaneous, Traveling, marathon
Tags: avocado, coffee, disney marathon, green smothie, raw crackers, raw onion flatbread, salad
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 05:29 PM
Hello friends,
Well we survived our road trip down to Orlando, FL! It was a heat wave coming down here Yesterday our day started at 23 degrees and when we entered into Florida it was a whole 41 degrees. OH YAY!
Our morning started very very early! But before we hit the road we made a small pumpkin kefir green smoothie (sorry no picture – camera was packed in car already).
Later on in the morning we enjoyed our full green smoothie – a.k.a. perfect breakfast for a road trip. Sipped on this baby for majority of the morning.
Michelle enjoying her smoothie
Also enjoyed lots of fresh coconut water
Sipped on one of our favorite cocktails
Snacked on one chocolate coconut macaroon and one chocolate truffle rolled in cacao nibs We love our raw cacao!
One of our all times favs!
Also sipped on some water kefir and had 2 slices of our onion flatbread (un-pictured)
Upon arriving in Orlando we stopped at Whole Foods to get some green smoothie essentials lots of fruits and veggies. Than we headed on to the older sis’s place. Unloaded the car and grabbed something quick to eat – ate some sauerkraut with garlic, lemon juice, and sea salt (un-pictured).
Then we wanted to get the legs moving….sitting in a car for 9 hours sure makes you feel all tight.
Our pre-workout mixture: coconut oil mixed with carob, yacon syrup and chia seeds
All three of us went on a hour long walk. Thought about running though we decided due to traveling we better walk. Tomorrow we plan to go for easy run.
Dinner was a watercress base salad topped with fermented veggies, dulse flakes, hemp seeds, and lemon juice. This actually turned out to be somewhat boring salad. Usually ours are full of flavor but for some reason this just did not hit the spot for us. 
Since this salad did not hit the spot we plan on whipping something else here soon. See ya back here tomorrow for more!!!!
Question: what is your all time road trip snack or drink?
Getting closer to the Disney Marathon!! Looking forward to blogger meet-up
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Traveling, marathon
Tags: kombucha, macaroons, pre-workout snack, raw onion flatbread, trip, truffles
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 09:00 AM
Hello friends,
Here is a quick re-cap of our Monday eats. Now only 6 days till marathon. YIKES!
Morning: green smoothie filled with green kale, apples, hemp oil, cinnamon, sunflower lecthin
Again – made two cups worth each
Snack: hot chocolate and some chocolate fudge coconut bites
Lunch: romaine salad with fermented veggies, onions, hemp seeds
Lori’s salad
Mine – all mixed together
Pre-workout snack: coconut oil chia seed sludge
I added extra raw cacao to mine… yum
Lori’s version made with some spirulina aka… green sludge
Workout: 20 minutes of calisthenics and 45 minutes of yoga
Post-workout meal: another green smoothie this one filled with pumpkin seed kefir, dino kale, lemon, msm powder, turmeric, stevia, banana
*sorry no picture…figured one green smoothie pic a day is good enough unless of course you all want to see more!
Dinner: wilted arugula salad with more fermented veggies, garlic, lemon juice, dulse flakes, nutritional yeast, coconut oil
Overall we felt great! We had plenty of energy! Our stomachs are getting stronger everyday. We have had less and less gas, bloating, etc. We are finally seeing the other side. We know we will still experience some bad days but overall we are so HAPPY with where we are in our raw foods journey of good health. It always amazes us how each day we learn something new and how we can relate to something we have experienced before. Life truly is a journey!
As of now we are in the car driving down to Orlando,FL to hang out with the older sis and get ready for the marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Traveling, marathon
Tags: coconut, fermented veggies, marathon, pre-workout snack, raw foods, sunflower lecithin
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 03:52 PM
Hello friends,
Looks like it has been cold just about every where lately! Everyone on twitter was talking about how cold Florida has been. Therefore, we are having to re-think our marathon outfits. One thing we learned from our first half marathon back in 2006 we did not dress properly and froze while standing in the corals waiting to start the race. NOT FUN! Lesson learned bring a variety of different outfits because we never know what the weather will be like.
Anyways we wanted to share with all you a few more things that we have done with our pomegranates as yesterday you saw us top our raw yogurt with them. Thanks again to Heather and the people of POM for sending us the pomegranates
First off, was pomegranate gluten free vegan scones
Second, raw pomegranate cheesecake cups
These both were a hit at the farmers market!
Well today we finally got our hair cut. It has been awhile! Both decided to get just a trim, we love our length. Though, Michelle got a few more layers put in her hair than mine.
Lori Michelle
Looks like Lori wins on having the longer hair!!!!!! YAY! Sorry, it is a competition in our family who has the longest hair, though our older sister might have us both beat this year. We will find out tomorrow when we see her in Orlando, FL.
Time to go pack for yet another road trip down south!
Next time you hear from us we were in be in sunny Florida…. well hopefully sunny.
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Miscellaneous, Traveling, marathon
Tags: gluten free vegan scones, hair cut, pomegranates, raw yogurt, trip
Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 02:08 PM
Hello Friends,
How is everyone? I hope you all are well, sorry that I have been out of touch during this holiday season. Luckily Michelle was still keeping in touch with you all
My holiday season with Gary and his family was great. Very relaxing over in the mountains of the Carolina’s. I did not do a great job with taking pictures of my eats because they were not anything too special… sorry!
But yesterday before I left the mountains to head back to Raleigh Gary and I stopped in Asheville to eat lunch and walk around. I have been to Asheville a few times but never really went to the downtown area. Both of us were actually surprised how much we liked the area.
After walking around for a little bit we decided it was time to eat! And guess where we ate????
Yep the laughing seed cafe! The vegetarian place to eat in the area. I have heard a lot about it and was SOOOOO excited to finally try it. Though not entirely vegan the menu did offer many vegan options as well as gluten free!!! The only main down side to the menu is that there was only one raw dish
The restaurant was very cute and welcoming on the inside. It was a tad too cold to sit outside
I was really impressed by the menu they offered a wide variety of dishes. Everything sounded good to me but I had to try the raw salad plate. I also got a Pinot Grigio to go with my lunch and Gary got his favorite type of beer a porter. Also, I ordered a side of their sauerkraut which the waitress informed me that it was RAW too!!! Happy Lori!!!
Gary enjoying his beer
Gary ordered their Portobello Wrap with a side salad!
He really enjoyed it
My lunch was the Dragon Plate – a plate full of raw and enzymatic food. YUM!
Salad all mixed around
Plus my sauerkraut
Everything was absolutely delicious!!! My taste buds were so happy My salad plate was full of different flavors and textures…amazing. Sauerkraut was pretty good as well though I must admit my homemade sauerkraut is better
After a very satisfying lunch we walked around downtown a little bit more and than stopped in a cute local coffee shop to grab a cup of joe before it was time for me to hit the road.
I just got a simple black coffee.
Gary got a double shot macchiato. The cup was so small. Isn’t so CUTE!
After the little cup of joe (which totally hit the spot) it was time to say goodbye to my holiday vacation and to Gary to go back to reality work. Gary is leaving tomorrow for Paris, he is studying abroad there for his last term of MBA school.
But now I am back and time to get back in the groove of things. Vacation was nice and just want I needed to end the 2009 year! Big plans and decisions to make here in 2010!!!!
And if you missed the first time around we did a guest post on Averie blog the other day. If you did not see it please check it out we share this
gluten free vegan ‘healthy” mac-n-cheese recipe
Now that I am back in reality I have been slowly catching up with you all and with the sis. Hope everyone has a great Sunday!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Raw Recipes, Traveling, holidays
Tags: coffee, gluten free, guest post, holiday, vegan foods, vegetarian, wine
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 07:23 AM
Hey luvs
Just wanted to apologize for not checking in yesterday. I never really had the opportunity to sit in front my computer till late last night and it was for only a brief moment. I am going to apologize now too that I may not be around much these next few days, but I will do my best ; ) Lori does not have access to a computer, so just me! Oh and she made it to the mountains of NC!!
Yesterday was a crazy day for me, I had an early flight and then as soon as I landed the lovely city of sunny Fort Myers, FL, my mom and sister took me to a lunch with my dad, my other sister, my grandmother, and some of my dad’s employees and all. It is something we do every year.
I just got literally a bowl of plain lettuce and my mom brought my apple cider vinegar for my dressing ; ) Then I of course brought along some snacks (raw flatbreads, crackers, and chocolate macaroons).
Then I finally made it home, unpacked a little, and then myself a very large green smoothie! It was just glorious!! Especially my mom had the fridge packed with all types of greens and fruit for me ; ) Love it!
My older sister was going to get her hair done my best friend, so I tagged along as a surprise. My friend had no idea was in town so it was perfect. I just love catching up with old friends : ) It was a great time, and I might or might not of had a glass of wine ; O
Last night I went with my dad to watch some basketball. There is a big high school basketball tournament that is hosted at my old high school and some of the top teams come to play. I cannot remember the last time I was back at my old school in addition to watching basketball. It made me want to get on the court and shoot around a little. I could feel the old competitiveness in me coming out ; ) Well the games were great, the semifinals and tonight is the finals. Oh and the tourney is called City of Palms. If you got ESPN, check it out some of the games will be on and hey you might see me….you never know, haha!
Well hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday thus far (sorry I have not checked my google reader in 2 days, but I do plan to catch up with you all soon!)
Till next time,
Michelle
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Traveling, holidays
Tags: apple cider vinegar, chocolate macaroons, green smoothie, holiday, raw crackers
Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 09:20 AM
Hey everyone
Sorry for no post yesterday, we were in the car for 10 hours and decided to take the night off when we got in. Thank you for all the safe travel wishes! The road trip went well despite both of us were just extremely anxious to get out of the car, so made the hours, miles go by slow.
Lucky for us we packed along some treats to enjoy during the ride. But before we got in the car, we enjoyed a green smoothie, which we made the night before so when we pulled it out of fridge in the morning it was more pudding like….and surprisingly good.
Thinking ahead, like the smart people we are ; ) we made some “fudgy” macaroons the last night at our parents house…they are a must for us when we travel. I think this wonderful lady would approve.
Yes we enjoyed every single one over the 10 hours…it was like having a treat when we made it to the next city…or crossed over into the next state.
They were so delicious I cannot even tell you : ) There was a mix of chocolate, lime and hemp seeds macaroons!!
We both did not get good sleep, I guess just wanted to get the drive over with and be home already, so we were struggle more than usual to stay awake so to speak. Lucky for us as were pulling off to use the restroom, we were saved my Starbucks!
Unfortunately it did not save us. Lori did not want any so I enjoyed it. I managed to drink about 1/4 of it. It just did not taste good to me, one was because I was drinking it black which I hate. If I am going to have coffee I have to add my hemp or almond milk, I do not like sweet coffee but creamy yes! And second I just do not like the taste of coffee, no matter where it came from, coffee taste like dirt to me now. Period. Which is weird for me to say because I used to be addicted to this stuff.
I have learned my lesson, no worries though, I did enjoy a un-pictured Kombucha Tea!!
Now you may be thinking eating macaroons is not the healthiest to have as our meals (well actually for us it is : ) ). We did pack along although eats.
And
Both of these were from the Whole Foods in Orlando made by the company Glaser Organic Farm. You have seen us eat a lot of their sauerkraut here and here, while we were in Florida, they all have been delicious.
The Nori Crackers were different…took us awhile to get use to the flavor. Despite the fact that we love kelp and dulse, Nori is a little harder for us.
We liked the idea though of mixing a bunch of veggies with tahini and then spreading them on nori, dehydrating them till crispy. Idea wonderful, taste not so much, unless you like the taste of nori!! We had just a few of them so we have some leftover that we will try to get down today ; /
As for the sauerkraut it was perfect.
Yes we travel with nutritional yeast : )
What is nutritional yeast?
A vegan must have condiment. It is a large flake, yellowish in color, that is an non active yeast. So it won’t affect someone who suffers from yeast over growth or Candida. In Australia and New Zealand, nutritional yeast is also called “savory yeast” or “savory yeast flakes”. It is not the same things as Brewer’s Yeast!!
6 reasons why we love nutritional yeast:
- yummy nutty cheesy taste
- full of b-vitamins
- good source of protein
- low in fat and sodium
- gluten free and vegan
- adds a whole new level to any dish, in our opinion
We love to sprinkle it on salads, sauerkraut, mix in salad dressings, sauces, spreads, hummus, or sprinkle it over any vegetable or meal. We love this stuff!!
Our dinner last night was a typical one for us…now our friend Heather thinks her foods is not always pretty (we beg to differ cause your food always looks great to us)… what till you see this.
We were starving so quickly made zucchini pasta with basil sauce topped with turmeric, nutritional yeast, and black sesame seeds.
I know it is not pretty looking, but it hit the spot for us.
Have you had a not too pretty meal but tasted great?? We tend to have a lot of meals like this, you?
Check out these amazing giveways
Katie’s - Artisana Yummy Products
Ingrid’s – Teeccino Herbal Coffee
Averie’s – Amazing Grass Giveaway
And check back in because we got something exciting to share.
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Traveling, ingredients
Tags: coffee, gluten free, green smoothie, Kombucha tea, macaroons, nutritional yeast, raw sauerkraut, vegan
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 06:30 PM
Hey luvs
How was your Thursday? We had a pretty good day here full of good eats and shopping!!! I must admit Orlando has some of the best outlet malls ; )
Lori and I are up here in Orlando again staying at the older sis’s place as part one of our road trip back to NC.
Breakfast was a lovely simply spirulina maca smoothie. We were not too hungry because we had a late dinner.
During the journey up here we enjoyed our favorite cocktail Kombucha tea. We got this from the local health food store the day before, and stocked up mom with some, she likes them!!
When enjoyed lunch at a restaurant we have been wanting to try every time we come to Orlando, but somehow never manage. So this time we made it a priority.
Can guess where?
This lovely lady has been here a few times.
Got an idea yet? Maybe this will help…
Cafe 118, yep a raw restaurant in Winter Park, FL. It is a cute little part of town.
The restaurant was a little smaller than I imagined, yet very simple and beautiful! Coming from 105 degrees I had different expectations. The menu was a little limited but still seemed hard to decide what to eat.
I ordered the Arugula salad
Lori ordered the Mixed Green Salad
Both salads were delicious…simple and light…perfect for what we wanted!
You may be wondering why two raw girls would both order salads to eat at a well known Raw Restaurant when there were yummy things like Raw Lasagna or Spinach Wrappers? Good question, we both did not want something nut based because it tends to be too heavy for our stomachs plus we were traveling and have been sitting in a car for a few hours. Plus, we are watching are nut intake, again too hard for us to digest.
But the real reason was because we wanted this
And this
We are huge dessert girls, especially raw desserts, so we looked at those first ; ) then decided salad sounded perfect.
Who wanted want a Raw Key Lime Tart in a Macadamia Nut Crust
And Raw Chocolate Pudding
We shared each one equally : )
Guess we did not like them…
I could not believe how “real” the mousse tasted, it almost made Lori and I question if it had dairy?? It was so light and airy. Tasted like the chocolate mousse our grandmother used to make for us as kids.
I was in chocolate heaven : )
Overall experience with our first time to Cafe 118 was hit. We both felt great after the meal and it is not too often that we get to go out to eat and order whatever we want on the menu! I sure miss that from being at 105 degrees.
We spent the rest of the day shopping buying some near workout attire for training in the colder weather for our marathon. Yes we have not forgotten we have a race soon. Our training has been going okay, not great, we did manage to get a quick 3 mile run in tonight. Plan to get back into the groove of things this weekend.
Our plans for the rest of the evening is cleaning the sis’s is place for when she gets back…there are a few surprises!
We will try to check back in tomorrow evening once we get back home. Hope everyone has a great night.
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Traveling, restaurant reviews
Tags: 105 degrees, marathon, raw desserts, raw food
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 06:23 PM
Hey everyone
Hope you all a great Hump Day!
Our day flew by today, we were busy cleaning and packing, and somehow we are leaving with more stuff??
And our new love fair is…
No not him…although he has a special place in our hearts ; )
No Not this either…which we have at least one a day, yikes!
But this little device…do you know what it is?
(not our house just got picture off internet)
We woke up and decided to go for a run. We did a quick 2 mile run and then both were just not feeling it today. So we came home and were inspired by our friend Megan do give our mom’s rebounder a try.
Verdict?
We loved it, a new love affair ; ) It got our heart rate up, calves were burning, worked up good sweet finishing the workout with push ups and core work. A great quick, effective workout!
We are thinking of getting one for us to have…hint hint mom!: )
Another new love affair we enjoyed today was
Yes we have had dulse flakes before but these were the full sheets, not the little dulse flakes. We actually liked the flavor of these bigger slices, so you will be seeing more of these yummy guys!
There are so benefits of dulse, but we love them because of the iodine and natural form of electrolyte. Have you had dulse before? How do you like to eat them?
We enjoyed our dulse shredded over raw saukerkraut and avocadoes with nutritional yeast and lime juice!
Then it was time to say goodbye to one sis as she is leaving for an unexpected trip, so what did she ask for…food she can eat while she is gone. She is heading to a small town in PA that is full of greasy, fried meat eaters, so she had to bring her own food.
A lot of Twin Cakes Pure2Raw goodies, plus other quick meal like Kelp Noodles! She is so excited to eat more raw : ) Although said she is going to miss her green smoothies. We will keep you all posted how a gluten free, raw newbie does in a small meat eater town with nothing to eat but these items above.
Well we got our car packed, time to relax one with the parents one more night before we hit the road tomorrow morning.
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Fitness, Traveling
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 06:25 PM
Hey luvs,
How was your Tuesday, well ours was pretty good : ) It was full of more of this
Want to know a little secret…we want to be a Cullen : )
We took our mom to see New Moon, yes she is a fan too, although not as die hard as we are, but that is okay. She enjoyed it!! And we both really enjoyed the movie more the second time around. We were really able to relax and take it all in – all the emotion that we loved from the book.
Have you seen it? What are your thoughts? Does it take you once or more than once to really enjoy a movie – to pick up things or just because it was good to see over and over? I feel there are only a handful of movies I would see over and over.
We did not get a workout in today, our time was limited due to family obligations. We had to say good bye to one grandpa this morning as we took him to the airport. And then we are unexpectedly were back in the kitchen making some raw goodies for the older sis to enjoy due to her unexpected trip. Darn, haha, we just hate creating goodies ; )
Before I share what we ate today I want to show you our family dinner from last night. Remember I mentioned yesterday about making raw tostadas for the family
Everyone ate it…chewed…sat…and we waited patiently for their verdict…
Smiles all around = )
They were all surprised that it actually tasted pretty good. Dad said, “not bad”. Mom said, “Good, just have to get used to the texture” She does not like avocados. I know devastating….but we were just pleased with their efforts. Although tonight we let them enjoy what they want. It is a work in progress.
Our Christmas Tree was delivered last night
Yes a very tall, skinny tree lightly flocked – Perfect! Tonight we put up the outside lights, so it is slowly starting to look a lot like Christmas here : )
Okay now onto our eats…
Some things we made today for us to enjoy were 2 green smoothies, key lime avocado pudding (we are upping our fat intake as an experiment, we will report why soon), chocolate truffles, macaroons, and
Sauerkraut with nutritional yeast, “caramelized” onions and dulse flakes
Hot Cocoa (one of my best ones I must admit!)
Looks like our trip might be coming to end earlier than expected, so we will spend the rest of our time home cleaning our mess we made in the kitchen and the packing. And we hope to get a long run in tomorrow morning before hitting the road. We shall see…I feel like I say that a lot but we never really know what to expect these days…oh life ; )
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Raw Recipes, Traveling
Tags: green smoothies, hot cocoa, raw desserts, raw sauerkraut
Sorry for the not so pretty picture is was still dark out!
Though we were extremely tired so we had to stop and grab some coffee. Luckily there was a Whole Foods in Jacksonville to save the day!
We love the Allegro coffee at Whole Foods!
Thoughts on new flavor? Glorious! Mouthwatering! The perfect crunch and flavor 
Yes that is much better. We threw some raw crackers on top! Perfect!
