105 degrees academy – pure2raw

Guest Post: Workout advice from our favorite personal trainer

Monday, May 10, 2010 at 07:27 PM

Hello friends,

Isn’t raw ice cream the best

Today we have a very special guest post. I was lucky enough to not only meet this beautiful lady but I also got to work with her! As well as I have made a great life time friend and forever workout buddy

I am sure many of you know this lady but she is great for workout advice and tips! As well making some delicious raw foods and desserts! It is my deepest pleasure and honor to introduce our guest post today, Gina the writer and creator of Fitnessista!

Hi guys! My name is Gina and I write over at a little blog called The Fitnessista.

I had the pleasure of meeting the twins while Michelle and I attended 105degrees and since then, I’ve been so fortunate to have these girls as friends.

While we were in culinary school, Michelle was my loyal workout buddy. Every morning, at 6am, we set out to the gym for an hour or so before we had to get ready for class and took weekly power yoga classes together. When I first got to Oklahoma, I wondered how my new schedule would effect my fitness level (since I’m used to working out later in the day and wouldn’t be able to keep the same routine), but it ended up being a good thing to switch things up. I started to see changes in my muscle definition and was able to focus more on running and yoga. So even with the crazy amount of sweets I was eating in culinary school, when I left, my jeans still fit. Winner, winner, raw dessert dinner

It turns out that without knowing it, before school I was in a workout rut.

The thing is, it’s extremely easy to plateau with workouts—our bodies are very intelligent machines and will get used to whatever we expect them to do on a regular basis.

In order to see fitness gains and bust out of a rut, one needs to add additional stressors in the current routine. To do this, all you have to do is change one of the 4 characteristics of exercise:

1. Mode: The type of exercise you’re doing. Take a new class or try a new activity. This will challenge different muscles than you’re used to and enable change to start rolling. This is why you’re often sore after taking a new type of class.
2. Frequency: How often you workout. Try to add in an extra day of cardio or weight training, or if you workout almost every day, add in an extra day of rest. Remember, it’s during times of rest that our body can recover and grow back leaner and stronger.
3. Duration: How long your workouts last. Instead of doing a solid 45 minutes every day, try doing 30 minutes one day and 60 the next, for an average of 45 minutes. This way, you aren’t adding in an additional “net” amount of exercise, but are shaking things up to stop cruise control from kicking in. Or, shorten the workouts and increase the intensity.
4. Intensity: Level of difficulty of the workout. Make sure to alternate workout intensities—there’s no reason to go balls to the wall every day. Your body will get used to whatever routine you put it in, whether it’s dilly dallying on the bike or doing full-out sprints on the dreadmill. Just make sure to constantly keep your body guessing.

So as ya’ll can see, it’s easy to make small changes in your workouts and bust out of a workout plateau. My motto is that change creates change- anything you can do to shake things up is a good thing for results and for sanity. It gets boring doing the same thing over and over

Happy training and hope to see you at The Fitnessista sometime

While you’re here at Pure2Raw, order some raw goodies.. the twins really know what they’re doing (*cough* flatbreads crackers cookies *cough*)

xoxo,

Gina

Thanks again Gina for the great guest post! You are the best

I hope everyone has a great day and we see you back later for some socca action and a twins challenge!

Till next time,

Michelle

Pure2raw Twins

Posted by: Pure2 16 comments

Posted in: Uncategorized

Tags: 105 degrees academy, socca

Our story part 2

Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 10:48 AM

Hey luvs

Glad to hear you all have been enjoying our story of how we started up our bakery. And thanks for all the nice compliments on the pics!

And our story continues….

So we looked into selling our baked goods at local farmers markets.  We were terrified!! I can remember our first market. It was selling at the downtown market on Wednesday afternoons.

Lori and I packed up are the car and headed out. We both we were not talking much, which is unusual because the two of us together we sometimes can get carried away, so we both were scared. This was the first time we were ever doing something like this. Sure sure we have been cooking for people and made treats for others as gifts but to sell our gluten-free vegan peanut-free no refined sugar baked goodies was something new.

I remember we both recited the Lord’s Prayer in the car….we need HIS help!!

We put up our tent and table. Put up our sign and said, “Okay here we go, no turning back!”  And then people came (this market was for the lunch crowd) so a lot of people wanted dessert to get them through their afternoon full of meetings!! We had samples, lots of samples (which we learned is a must when selling your product, especially if it is gluten-free and vegan!)  A lot of people we shocked to try something that was “free” of so many things. Some liked it and others did not get it (which is a whole other topic).

First let me back up a little.

How did we know we wanted it to be a gluten-free vegan peanut-free sugar-free bakery?

Well because that is how we ate and thought that is what our bakery would be as well. Ever since we moved here we find out there was no allergy friendly bakery. So we started taking some of our family recipes plus created our own to be gluten-free vegan all naturally sweetened treats. Finding suppliers was a headache all together because we wanted to be peanut-free as well. Over time we perfected our recipes and Twin Cakes Bakery was born. And let me tell you, we spent hours in the kitchen creating recipes over and over again till they were perfect!! We had a lot of failures….trash full of bad recipes plus we enjoyed some of the not so bad ones ; ) We wanted our products to be different…to be better…to be healthier!! Our gluten-free baked goods are not your typical white rice flour, evaporated cane sugar, potato/tapioca starch filled, tofu infused gluten-free vegan treats. We wanted texture, flavor, so we created our own blend of wholegrain gluten-free flours, plus a few other tricks.

At the market, I remember some people’s excitement to find a treat they can eat…some could not have sugar, solved, some could not have eggs, solved, and most could not eat gluten, solved! It was a success!! Word was spreading fast about us.  The only advertising we did was through word-of-mouth at the farmers market ; )  We love our customers!!!

Now the madness began…

Throughout our first months selling at the farmers market we got more and more request from individuals do we offer soy-free, corn-free, casein free, potato-free, rice-free products. I mean the request kept coming for us to make this without this and that. It was crazy. More light bulbs went off. Hearing all these request made us recreate all our products again to meet all these food allergies request. Which looking back on was not a very smart business decision, because we wasted more ingredients and time. Not good for a company just starting off….we are just people pleasers. Having this type of personality ended up hurting us…we eventually had to learn to say no.

By turning our bakery more into an overall allergy friendly bakery, it made our own personal diets to more allergy friendly. We started taking out soy and corn from our own diet. Finally we got some relief with our stomach issues!! The more we took out the better we were feeling.

Our mom made our table cloths and sign!! love u mom ; )

So what about our raw products?

Well one day at the market a new regular came to our table and asked us to create her some raw foods. She was already vegan but wanted to try raw. She just got back from NY and ate at the prestigious Pure Food and Wine. After a long interesting conversation we were intrigued.  So immediately after the market Lori and I started researching….and we fell in love!!

We loved everything about raw foods!!! The idea, the health benefits, the people…it all seemed to make sense. So back to the kitchen is was…but with new tools!! And then Pure2Raw products were born ; )

A few months after we started this blog, to share our journey of raw foods.

Over the first two years of business we sold at 4 different farmers markets, done so many events for various charities and schools, done one TV show, and been in the local paper and magazines.

And then Lori became a certified Raw Vegan Chef and counselor and then we heard about the new culinary school opening…105 Degrees Academy, (check out my picture) and we knew we had to go!! Hello Matthew Kenney was running it. One of our biggest raw chef idols.

But which one of us would go?? We debated over this for weeks…time was ticking and we had to make a decision. So I enrolled. And the experience was amazing and I was lucky enough to spend it with another person I was thrilled to meet, GINA!! Love her!!

I sometimes still cannot believe I met Matthew and got to work at his restaurant….amazing!!!  I was truly blessed for such an unbelievable experience!

Where we are now?

We still sell at farmers markets in the local area, side orders all the time for birthdays, etc, launched a mini online store here on P2R, and getting ready to launch our Twin Cakes Bakery Online store….finally are online bakery that we have been talking about for years….our dream is coming true ; ) We even more surprises ahead….much more to come from us.

Mom makes our aprons too!!

It sure has been a long and hard journey, but all the ups and downs were worth it. We have learned so much about ourselves, how to run a business (out of your home), how to start up an online store, how to wear all the hats of running a business (bakers, cleaners, accountants, sales personnel, marketers, errand runner, financial advisor, etc) all while trying to have a personal life (eat healthy, workout daily, blog, travel) and relax somewhere ; )

Who do we did it for?

You!!! All our customers, our readers, our family and friends. For the little boy or girl who gets so excited when they can come to our table and PICK ANYTHING off it because it is SAFE for them to eat!! And now we get to share that with more people….

Blessed, I think so!!

Lori and I thank everyone for their support and patience. We have many more business ideas to come so please hang around for the ride!!

Phew….that is how we got to where we are today!

Man I am hungry talking about all this food ; ) But before I go check out our amazing giveaway plus our friend Betty is have one too!

Till next time,

Michelle

The Twins

L&M

Posted by: Pure2 18 comments

Posted in: Hot Topics

Tags: 105 degrees academy, farmers market

Love of coconut butter

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 07:44 AM

Good morning friends,

Thanks for all the lovely and inspiring comments about staying true to yourself They really helped and brought a smile to our faces! So thank you!!!

As it is a nasty,cold and wet day here in NC we thought about trying to bring some joy and happiness to our blog today to help get everyone’s mind off the weather

Today we are going to share how we made our coconut rice stacked dish!  This is a re-creation of Michelle’s final dish at school!

Seriously has become one of my favorite meals! It is easy to make, pretty to look at, and leaves your taste buds satisfied.

Pure2Raw Recipe: Coconut rice stacked avocado dish

Ingredients:

• 1-2 avocados
• 1 small red onion
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• pinch sea salt
• couple pinches of your favorite jerk seasoning (we created one by using cinnamon, cloves, thyme, nutmeg, & cayenne)
• 1 small head of cauliflower or half of a large one
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 tsp curry powder (mainly for color)
• 3/4 cup softened coconut butter (not the oil, though if you need use the oil I will up the coconut flakes)

Directions:

Take your red onion and slice it up into thin strips. Place on dehydrator sheet and coat with olive oil, pinch salt,  & your jerk seasonings. Let dehydrate for at least 5 hours. *Or you may lightly sauté the onions and spices on a skillet. You want the onions to be lightly caramelized.

Next, take your head of cauliflower and lightly chopped it up (this helps when you put it into the food processor to keep them all similar in size)

Place chopped cauliflower into your food processor. *we used our small food processor so it took us two times to get all the cauliflower chopped finely

Pulse till finely chopped

Next add in your coconut flakes

Place into food professor with spices, garlic, and pinch salt. *we added in some lemongrass to ours love it!

Pulse till finely chopped again

Combine finely chopped coconut flakes with your finely chopped cauliflower and add in the 1/4 tsp curry or turmeric

Next add in coconut butter and stir till well combined!

Our all time favorite brand of coconut products Artisana!

That’s it. Time to put the whole thing together!

Slice up your avocado, grab your onions, and bowl of coconut rice.

Time to build layers. We used a large circle cookie cutter to build our layers in. You can use anything you can find that is deep to build up the layers in but easy to remove.

What we did: first put a layer down of the coconut rice, next top with top slices of avocado, than top with red onions. Than repeat that same thing one more time. And it is done!

*note- there will be leftover coconut rice which you can save to make more stacks with or create another delicious meal out of it. Or you may eat plain Lots of options to play around with!

Seriously much better than rice out of a box in my opinion! And a lot quicker to make

Great way to ‘add’ more veggies into your diet and kids diets too!

Love how the red onions bring so much color and height to this dish

We love this dish: easy, full of nutrients, full of the healthy fats, raw, vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free!

Dinner is served! We hope you and your family give this a try and let us know how it is It is a fun way to experiment with new veggies and spices to bring in color and variety into your diet

Thanks for stopping by for another twins un-cooking lesson.

Till next time,

The Twins

L&M

Posted by: Pure2 9 comments

Posted in: Dinner, Un-baked

Tags: 105 degrees academy, avocado, coconut

Highlights of 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 01:57 PM

Hey friends,

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL! We wish you all the best for 2010!!!!

Things that the twins accomplished in 2009:

Started our Pure2Raw blog

Sent samples out to our favorite bloggers – Heather, Gena, Gina, Liz, Katie, Lori

Completed our second year of business

Certified RAW Vegan Chefs

Michelle attended the first Raw Foods cooking school

Met Fitnessista

Met the Pilot

Met Matthew Kenney

Met Ani Phyo

Met Anthony (Raw Model)

Met Karen Knowler

Met Courtney Poole

Met Philip McCluskey

Met Tim VanOrden

And Ran in our second half marathon at Disney with our sisters

And of course we ate very well…

Delicious Raw Foods

Kelp Noodles

Final Dish at 105 Degrees

Raw Desserts

Smores

Raw Ice Cream

And much more…just too many to list : ) We love food!!

Well, that is all that we can think of that is big that we did this past year. Now to start our 2010 year off right we are running in our second Marathon!!! And many new and exciting things happening with our company. We see an online store coming soon!!!!

Cheers to good health!

The twins do plan on drinking some red wine tonight to celebrate our accomplishments and to prepare for a great new year!

We got our fresh coconut water all ready for tomorrow

Till next time, from our wine glass to yours

The Twins

SEE YA IN 2010!!!

Posted by: Pure2 7 comments

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Tags: 105 degrees academy