Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 03:13 PM
Hey everyone
How is everyone’s Sunday going?
Ours started with some fresh grapefruit juice mixed with some coconut water and spirulina and stevia. I know it may sound weird but it was actually really good.
Later we enjoyed our green smoothie before we went for our run today.
Filled with mint, parsley, ginger, water, chia seeds, and papaya drizzled with yacon syrup
Well we are finally starting to get our workout groove back. It turned out to be a beautiful day here in south Florida so we took advantage of getting our Vitamin D 
Twins Workout:
Both felt great, so happy to get a good workout in finally!
So as promised we are going to share one our favorite raw desserts.
Raw Cheesecakes or as we call it Cream Cakes
This recipe might sound daunting, but it is so easy and delicious.
Ingredients:
Crust
1 cup pecans, unsoaked
1/3 cup, medjool dates (pitted), roughly chopped
1 cups coconut flakes
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Place all ingredients into food processor.
Pulse till combined, it will be light and fluffy.
Press into bottom of pan. We used a 8in spring board pan.
First line bottom of pan with parchment or wax paper
Filling
1 1/2 cup cashew butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup water
pinch sea salt (optional)
1 tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup cacao powder (raw chocolate powder)
Directions:
Place cashew butter, agave, water, sea salt and vanilla to blender. Blend till smooth.
Add in the coconut oil and blend.
Then end with cacao powder.
Blend till combined.
Pour into pan on top of crust, we sprinkled some cacao nibs (optional), you may use chocolate chips if you want.
Then place in freezer…that is it. No baking required. : )
Pull from freezer and let come to room temperature for about 20-30 minutes.
Slice and enjoy : )
Keep remaining slices, if any, in the freezer!!
Verdict:
Everyone loved it!!!!
Loved that it was not too sweet.
Texture was perfect.
Flavor yummy.
Easy on the tummy to digest.
Full of antioxidants and vitamins (gotta love chocolate)
One of the healthiest cheesecakes you could ever have!!! See you can still eat healthy and enjoy desserts too with no guilt!!
Hope everyone has a great evening. Ours will be filled with lots of desserts : )
TIll next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Fitness, Raw Recipes
Tags: coconut oil, desserts, green smoothie, raw cheesecake, raw desserts, running, vegan desserts
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Hello friends,
We wanted to go over some of the ingredients that we have been using in our recipes as well as provide you all with some substitutes.
Now many of these ingredients may be new to you or yes a little more expensive than SUGAR. But the health benefits out weight all that : ) We are fortunate enough that with our bakery we get to play around with these ingredients. So if you ever get the chance to play around with these ingredients we hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
At the end of the post we provide where you can get all these goodies!
Ingredient and substitution lesson with the twins:
grab a paper and pen 
Ready-
Here we go-
Coconut oil
Full of lauric acid, provides energy for the body, good fat, great for the metabolism and thyroid.
Common use: baking, cooking, face, smoothies, sauces, puddings, sports drinks, bars, any desserts
Substitutes: olive oil, soy butter (if you can tolerate soy), ghee (for non-vegans), palm oil
Yacon Syrup
Low-glycemic sugar, lower in calories then most sweeteners, taste like molasses and caramel, can improve digestive health due to containing prebiotic (which is the food for the good bacteria)
** yacon also comes in powder form
** it does have an unique flavor so it may take a few times to get used to the flavor although we LOVE IT!
Common use: replace honey or maple syrup, or any liquid sweetener (we like to use it more than agave because it has more health benefits than agave), add it to anything that you want a little bit more sweetness like smoothies, puddings, any desserts, fruit, sauces, dressings, nut milks
Substitutes: maple syrup, molasses, dark or light agave, honey
Lucuma powder
Low-glycemic sugar substitute, rich maple-like flavor, full of vitamins and minerals like beta caratone, niacin, calcium and iron
Common use: great in ice creams, yogurts, desserts, smoothies, puddings, pies, nut milks
Substitutes: maca powder, yacon powder, stevia (though will have to alter the ratio in recipes), nut flour, coconut flour, rice protein powder or hemp protein (though will need to add some other sweetness to the recipes)
Maca powder
Rich in amino acids, phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals, increases energy, can help with endurance, supports the immune system and adrenal function (helps with stress) and we just love the flavor!! Gives things a malted flavor : )
Common use: desserts, pudding, smoothies, yogurt, ice cream, nut milks
Substitutes: lucuma, yacon powder, nut flour, coconut flour, rice protein and hemp powder (these will alter the taste and texture)
* we have discussed maca here before
Stevia
Zero- glycemic level, zero calorie, can improve digestion, excellent choice for those watching sugar and calories, comes in liquid or powder form
Common uses: drinks, smoothies, coffee,tea, any dessert (will have to alter the wet to dry ration), yogurt, puddings
Substitutes: although there really is no substitute if you using it for the reasons listed, although all the sweeteners list here would work, just have to alter the recipe
Dates/date paste
Natural sweetener, high in glucose (a carb for fuel), rich in fiber, full of calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, sulfur
Common uses: desserts, sauces, dressings, smoothies, puddings, snacks, bars, granola
Substitutes: dried figs, dried apricots, plus the other sweeteners listed above
Please keep in mind when you make substitutions in any recipe, not just ours, that we ask you to please use some common sense If they batter is dry add more liquid and vice versa. Example, if you use high fats nuts (walnuts) in your recipe, you can use less liquid due to the natural oil from the nuts. Or if you prefer stevia as your sweetener, whether liquid or powdered, you will need to “make up” for the volume missing, so either add more dry ingredients or liquid.
We hope these tips help, and you have any questions with using these different ingredients please email the twins at twins@pure2raw.com. We would love to help you out : )
Our favorite places to get our ingredients:
Here are some new places we have come across, we have not tried them yet, but look good!
And to continue on with our dessert theme week today is
RAW SMORE’S
Now Matthew Kenney has his recipe of this classic in his book Entertaining in the Raw. And our friend Shannon Marie has done her own twist on this dessert.
And we wanted to get in on the action…. We will see this later what we did. It is still in production. We will get the recipe and pictures to you as soon as it is ready!!!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Health, Raw Recipes, Theme Week
Tags: coconut oil, dates, desserts, lucuma powder, maca powder, raw desserts, raw smores, stevia, yacon syrup
