Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 01:23 PM
Happy Thursday everyone!
We wanted to go over a few things going along with our coconut kefir video. Michelle forgot to mention a few things. Many of you might see kefir starter packs in your local stores or online. The difference between the kefir starter packs and the grains is that the packs only last a few times while the grains could possible last a lifetime. That way you really only have to buy the grains once because they will continue to populate and make more. Though if you are just curious and starting out with making kefir the starter packs are a great way to go.
Going along with the grains there are two types water and milk. Both are great! We use both. And now for the ‘milk’ grains you do not necessary have to use dairy to make them as you saw in our video coconut milk seems to be working out just fine. Yes you all may be thinking that the ‘milk’ grains are not vegan, which is true. But we do not make our kefir using ‘real’ milk just coconut or hemp milks and we are loving it because it is very similar to real kefir and it has the sour and creaminess that we love. So to us it is ok even if it started out with real ‘milk’ grains. Though you may experiment with whatever type of grain and liquid you feel most comfortable with doing. We plan to show more on making water kefir later this week.
Anymore questions please just let us know. We are here to help and would love to see more of you trying out making your own kefir!!!!
Ok enough of kefir now onto our eats for over the past few days.
Going along with Gena’s theme of saying “I LOVE TO EAT!” And you all know Michelle and I love to do that. Though we have struggled with eating disorders too. Our journey was a little bit different (our food issues all were based around our stomach issues- we would not eat because we did not want to feel like crap) though eventually over time we finally learned to love food again and embrace ourselves and the food we eat. We also struggled with our body images that we know many of you deal with as well though we will save that big topic another day!
Therefore in honor of National Eating Disorder week we wanted to show you all that eating healthy can be fun, delicious, and comforting! And of course great for your body and mind!
A great lunch filled with coconut oil, pure2raw sunflower cheez flatbread and sauerkraut!
Heavenly! Everyone needs to make this and taste a bit if heaven 
Snack was some cilantro mixed in with some fermented veggies and pumpkin seeds (grounded into flour) of course
And avocado for dinner/dessert – yes please!
Avocado key lime pudding mixed in some sunflower lecithin 
Hits the spot of us both every time. We are huge fans of key lime!!!!
And of course to start our day today …. green smoothie 
This delicious smoothie was filled with dino kale, grapefruit, coconut oil, sunflower lecithin, stevia and lots of fresh ginger
Lately all I have been craving is sauerkraut and grapefruit! Not sure why but I guess those are not bad things to crave
Ok well I challenge of all you to say you love FOOD and yourself!!! And talk about food and why you eat food. Remember food is not your enemy as long as you are eating what is right for your body and it makes you feel good. It took Michelle and I a very long time to realize this and now we are happier than ever! Though not every day we are perfect or 100% happy with everything, though we are grateful with the food choices we make and know that we are on the journey to a better health!
Now go out there and make some delicious food and tell us all about it.
Till next time,
Lori
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Health, Hot Topics, Miscellaneous
Tags: avocado pudding, coconut kefir, eating disorders, green smoothie, key lime pudding, sauerkraut, sunflower lecithin
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
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 03:57 PM
Hello friends,
Glad to see that everyone is enjoying our raw lasagna recipe It is a lot of fun to make and easy to once you got all your layers ready to go! It makes us so happy to hear that many of you would like to try raw lasagna!!!
And we are happy to hear we have inspired some of you to make fermented veggies like our friend Elena.
Re-cap of our eats from Monday!
Our day started with our morning workout!
Followed by a delicious green smoothie of green kale and apples 
Due to having a colonic we did not really have lunch.
But after our colonic we were starving so we made kefir mint kale shake
And we hand a new snack, we dehydrated our leftover butternut squash strips leftover from our raw lasagna
They were a little weird at first, but we kept eating them and ended up really liking them. We can see this as a new snack in the near future
Just coated them with olive oil and spices then dehydrated them overnight. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Later on we were still hungry so we had ourselves our leftover beet cheese spread from the raw lasagna with 2 slices of our raw onion flatbread
YUMMY!!! Great way to use leftover spreads…perfect companions ; )
Then for our raw dessert we created something fun.
Pure2raw Cookies-n-Cream Mush
What is it?
A blend of coconut flakes, coconut oil, and crumbled in our Pure2Raw Brownie Bites. PERFECTION!!
I know these lovely ladies, Averie and Katie, love some raw brownie bites.
Great way to end a Monday!!
Now for some of our newest readers welcome! Many of you have requested about the raw nut free coconut yogurt that you have been seeing a lot lately, well we have shown how we make that a few times on our blog!
Here are the links:
First time Michelle made raw yogurt at 105 degrees and fell in love with it!
Second time we tried to re-create the yogurt but with out using nuts (remember we like to use the least amount of nuts if possible)
Third time we just keep on trying to make a different version of the yogurt.
As you can tell we love our homemade coconut based raw yogurt! Though you have to be willing to open a lot of coconuts!!! But promise it is well worth it!
Although another time we made nut free raw seed pulp yogurt we were inspired first my Gena’s sesame milk, and we used the pulp to make yogurt.
Okay time to get back in the kitchen. We have been making some new recipes ; )
Till next time,
Lori
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: 105 degrees academy, Raw Recipes, gluten free vegan nut free recipe, ingredients
Tags: green smoothie, nut free, raw brownies, raw dessert, raw lasagna, raw onion flatbread, raw yogurt, snacks
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 08:06 PM
Good Morning friends,
Well as many people are running in the half marathon this morning like Sabrina, Katy, and Melissa to name just a few. We wanted to wish them all the best of luck in the race
We have been getting questions of why we are eating the foods we are eating before our race and we plan to share that with you all over these next few days.
We started our day yesterday with a few chocolate truffles and treated ourselves to some coffee.
Than we went to the hotel’s gym to do a easy 30 minute workout. We did a mix of walk, sprint, and easy jog. Then we did a little stretching. Felt great!
Back in the room we enjoyed a romaine grapefruit smoothie with some maca, coconut oil, sunflower lecthin, and msm powder. Delicious!!!! It got thick from the coconut oil so it turned out to be more like a pudding!
Again eating out of a jar just for Heather
Seriously one of the best ways to start the day!! Although it turned out to be our lunch.
Next we packed up all our bags again and moved into another hotel! Traveling with us can be crazy sometimes!
As we drove over to the other hotel we snacked on some raw crackers that we made before leaving NC.
This is our home for the next two days. This is the new tower at the Contemporary Resort.
By the time we unloaded all the bags again we got a little hungry. So Michelle whipped up some coconut yogurt with some spirulina, yacon syrup, and chia seeds.
Plus we sipped on some kombucha.
Then it was time to start making all the goodies for this weekend. All of our pre-workout, during workout, and after workout goodies.
Had to buy some more bananas though – the older sis wanted some of our treats! She wanted energy too and didn’t want to be left out ! Love her!
These little bananas cost us $5.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Better be some good bananas!
Dinner – Round One
One jar of sauerkraut with hemp seeds
Round Two
One jar of fermented veggies (daikon, leeks, beets, carrots) topped with dulse flakes and tahini once again!!!!! Heather we are in love!!!!
Dessert was a few more chocolate truffles! YUM! Can’t get enough of these babies. Good thing we made a double batch.
Our older sister gave us a surprise!
Thanks sis YOU ARE THE BEST!!! It was a package full of marathon goodies to help get us get through the race.
Some water, epsom salt, hand warmers, hand bands, chapstick, nose strips, and kleenax plus a few more things!
Well time to go cheer everyone on and than Food Bloggers Lunch with a bunch of great girls. We are very excited to meet everyone!
We will check back in later,
The Twins
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Disney, Hot Topics, marathon
Tags: coconut oil, disney marathon, fermented veggies, green smoothie, Kombucha tea, raw crackers, raw sauerkraut, sunflower lecithin, tahini
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 03:30 PM
Hey luvs
Sorry that our music playlist came out so small. We are not sure what happened when we imported it ; /
As we mentioned earlier that we were having technology issues. But we are back in action. Glad to see everyone enjoying our first video!!!
Here is our day yesterday!!!!
Today we started our morning with one of our typical green smoothies, similar to yesterday.
Glass of water kefir was a mid-morning snack.
Lunch was a glorious salad with fermented veggies, raw sauerkraut, and a slice of raw onion flatbread. Perfect!!! This kept us full all afternoon : )
Snack was un-pictured chocolate macaroons and glass of our homemade Kombucha. We had to show the sis a scoby!!
Then we debated if we wanted to go for a quick run or hit up the expo. We decided the expo to hopefully beat the crowd.
At Disney Marathon Expo at the Wide World of Sports.
Older sis Jen and Lori
Where is Michelle??? Sorry for the dark picture
Oh there I am!
Getting excited for the race…we think ; )
The expo was crazy as it is every year. Although this year was our first year going on Thursday (our past races Friday is normally the day we arrived), which was nice because it was a little less crowded.
We did browse all the booths but nothing really sparked our interest. It is the same thing every year. Well the expo took longer than we expected, so no workout today : (
We got our goody bag, race bib, race t-shirt, and these most essential post race celebration tools
By the time we got back, we were starving and quickly gobbled down some yummy eats.
The first part was inspired by the wonderful Heather.
Our first meal out of a jar full of fermented carrots and daikon plus a couple spoonfuls of tahini.
Yummy and creamy
We sprinkled in dulse and nutritional yeast!
Seriously this was the best meal….something we plan to recreate again. Heather I think we love tahini just as much as you do : )
Hopefully we made you proud Heather.
Second part of our meal was our homemade raw yogurt which we stirred in chia seeds and drizzled with yacon syrup!! YUM! Look like ice cream.
And of course we have been staying hydrated with our lots of water and some coconut water : ) Gotta love Zico!!
Then we quickly rushed and packed the cars and headed to our hotel. Well hotel number one for this night. This part is a little confusing, our sister got us a room closer for the marathon, the resort we try to stay at every time therefore we leave here tomorrow to check in there tomorrow. The joys of being in our family…we tend to make things a bit more complicated.
My older sister and her husband our Disney Vacation club members and had a room for the weekend at Saratoga Springs at the same time of the marathon.
Anyone want to go for a swim??
This was our first time here and we were blown away of how nice it is that we are sad to have to check out tomorrow. : (
Nice pic….Lori in the background, haha.
Cute little kitchen…oh yes we filled the fridge
Green Smoothie? Or Raw sauerkraut anyone? Or maybe raw yogurt? Are you surprised?? haha
Having a fridge is a must now for us raw vegans : )
Lori was kind and made us all some tea.
Finally relaxing while watching the big game.
Off to go relax hopefully!
Till next time,
The Twins
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Disney, Fitness, marathon
Tags: disney marathon, fermented veggies, green smoothie, raw onion flatbread, raw sauerkraut, raw yogurt, tahini, Zico
Friday, January 1, 2010 at 08:35 AM
Hope everyone had a great News Years Eve!!
Here is our first meal of 2010
Pear Green Smoothie
Pure2Raw Recipe: Pear Green Smoothie
Serves 1 – 3 cups of pure goodness
- 1 cup water
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 pear
- 3-4 stalks of kale
- 2 tbsp flax meal
- pinch sea salt
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
Blend and enjoy!
Our mom emailed us this morning and said she made this smoothie too and loved it!! : )
Have you had your green smoothie today??
We quickly wanted to share some things we are going to work on in the new year:
- Take one night off from all work
- Make a mess, clean it up immediately
- Try a yoga studio
- Get better control over our email -inbox
- Find a better balance between work and personal time
- Be more positive
There are more but these are the ones that came to my mind right now ; ) Still waking up I guess.
Do you have any goals for the new year?
Have a great New Years Day!!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Health
Tags: goals, green smoothie, yoga
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 08:22 AM
Hey everyone
Hope everyone had a great Christmas or the holiday you may celebrate.
I must say I did miss having my twin sis around but my family tends to keep busy with random projects, so I have not had much time to get any work done that I brought home, sorry sis, we will have to it when I get home.
Lori had a great time in the mountains, although she complained a lot that she was cold. Well I must say the weather here has been perfect. The sun has been out most of the time and when you can wear sandals all day I have no complaints!
I did get to meet up with some of girls for a quick catch up the other day. It is always so nice to see old friends, because these girls mean the world to me : ) I am so grateful for having such great friends!! We all live all over the country so we do not get to see each other much anymore, so any chance we get is always a special time.
Well I was up late with the older sis,Jen, wrapping gifts….we were playing Santa this year : ) We also did some prep work for Christmas day meals.
Things Jen and I made:
Can you guess what I enjoyed? Both my older sisters tried the raw macaroons loved them : )
Christmas morning I rose early to get these in the oven
This is a family tradition….homemade cinnamon buns ; ) These are not gluten free nor vegan so Jen and I did not enjoy any. I was thinking about making raw cinnamon buns but honestly was just lazy!
I did make myself and my other sister, Carrie, some hot cocoa for us non-coffee drinkers
Perfect!
Sorry for the poor picture(s)
My mom made two different quiches for all the non-vegans in the family.
The whole spread
I will admit I am a great baker…
Cinnamon buns came out perfect!
Almost made me want to have some…
My grandpa said it was much than store bought ; )
But I greatly enjoyed one of these
Green Smoothie
One glass for Jen and one glass for me…it was a perfect blend of collard greens, bananas, lemon, and a stevia! Oh and I think I might of added a little cinnamon too ; ) My tummy thanked me for this!!
We had a lots of fun opening gifts and then it was time to get back in the kitchen. I made some veggie dishes for us girls…butternut squash zucchini hash with a acorn squash tahini sauce, a mix of roasted veggies, and a large avocado salad with nutritional yeast and dulse! Everyone else enjoyed the typical holiday food, while my sisters and I enjoyed our greens.
My plate…x2
Delicious…I even think I ate a little too much…crazy…who says you cannot fill up on just greens and veggies ; )
I did enjoy some Organic Vino and 2 raw candy cane macaroons. It was a great ending to end the day.
Now I am not sure what my plans are for today…some how have to figure how to pack my suitcase with all my presents.
Till next time,
Michelle
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: holidays
Tags: gluten free, green smoothie, raw macaroons, vegan
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
Monday, December 14, 2009 at 06:37 PM
Good evening friends,
Another busy day here with the twins
Did manage to get a lot done today which is always a great way to start the week!! Did laundry, tons of emails, tons of baking, organizing, and even manage to get a few Christmas gifts out of the way.
How have the twins been doing on our cleanse?
Good. Taking each day at a time and trying to not stress over anything. Easier said than done
Enjoyed yet another green smoothie.. .this time out of a glass straw!! Fancy eh?
Beautiful and delicious wilted salad with onions, garlic, and avocado
Ok we are obsessed with these simple yet satisfying salads
And made some more pumpkin seed milk
We don’t want to bore everyone with posting all of our food/liquid intake over this cleanse because it is all going to look pretty much the same. Unless you all what to see it? Of course, if we eat something unique or ‘food blog’ worthy we will share it
Like who wants to see us drink more green smoothies…. ok maybe us!
But we did want to share one thing that we have been learning while on this cleanse. One thing that we figured out today is that majority of our problems comes from our mind. All Mental?!?
You might thinking what am I talking about.
Well, we all know how stress is very important in our overall health. Lori and I tend to over do some things sometimes all the time. What do I mean? Maybe because there is two of us but we seem to over analyze everything from food to work to exercise. I think our main issue is trying to be PERFECT!
Does that ever happen to you?
That you try and try and try and you don’t seem to be getting any happier. Or that you try one thing but are not seeing the results you want therefore you try something else. And before you know it you have tried over 1,000 different things and still might be in the same spot where you started.
Or are you?
Maybe even through all the research, trying different products, doing things differently you actually learn things. Hopefully you learn what doesn’t work. And maybe that is all you need to find what really works. Or maybe it just makes you more confused and frustrated that you don’t want to do it anymore.
Well that is where we feel we at in our journey. Nowadays we are going to really try hard to JUST BE! Be and live in the moment and let life take its course!! And hopefully we heal along the way… well we hope that is what everyone wants out of life!
For us raw food is what is going to heal us and now we just have to be patient. And truly enjoy our journey! We hope that our story and struggles are able to help someone, even if that is just one person. Because we wish we had someone to follow during our beginning stages! By going more into a raw foods lifestyle we both have learned so much about food in general and our own health. And that is one gift that we are so thankful for!!!
* And for our new readers this blog is about our journey of healing our stomach, depression, constipation, acne, and dealing with stress. We love food so we will share recipes, tips, and anything else that we can think of We hope you all stick around to watch our journey and hopefully learn something along the way!!!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Health, Hot Topics
Tags: acne, candida cleanse, constipation, dairy free nut free milk, depression, green smoothie, pumpkin milk, salads
Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Hello friends,
It is almost the weekend I know everyone is happy about that!
Here is a re-cap of our day 2 of our Candida Cleanse
Breakfast: green smoothie sludge (granny smith apples, flax meal, dino kale, ginger, cinnamon, lemon zest, stevia)
Smoothie turned out be more sludge, thick like so we ate it with a spoon. Actually really enjoy it I know we can be weird.
*saved half of this smoothie to be part of our pre-workout snack which we added some coconut oil to it for energy
Snack: one glass of homemade kombucha tea
Post-workout snack: rice protein, stevia, maca, and fresh parsley and mint
Dinner: wilted kale salad with avocado and apple cider vinegar
Dessert: warm sesame sunflower seed milk with stevia and cinnamon
Supplements: candex morning and evening, oil of oregano twice a day, L-glutamine twice a day, probiotic twice a day
How are we doing:
Well all of our meals have been delicious. We are actually liking these very simple meals. Our bodies are craving them!!
Although we have been missing a few of our sweet treats but managing to get by We both know our bodies need this cleanse so we are sticking to it. It is hard especially since we bake all day for our customers orders!
How is our face/skin doing? Well no improvements yet. Had a few more little breakouts randomly over the face. Though I know things sometimes have to get a little worse before they start getting better, Gena reminded me of this I am trying to stay positive through it all.
Now for some fun stuff! Awards! Now who doesn’t like awards ;
Please vote for us-pure2raw- for raw chef, raw blog, funniest raw vegan women.
Please vote for Twin Cakes Bakery – for best vegan company, best cracker (herb cracker), and best raw vegan sweet treat (chocolate macaroon)
And vote for some of other favorites Gena (choosing raw), Mike Lieberman (urban organic gardener), Kris Carr (crazy sexy life), and Ani Phyo and many more!!!
Please vote for your favorites! Thanks for your support!
Click here Best of Raw to vote!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Miscellaneous, detox
Tags: best of raw, candida diet, cleanse, dairy free milk, green smoothie, Twin Cakes Bakery
A great lunch filled with coconut oil, pure2raw sunflower cheez flatbread and sauerkraut!
Hits the spot of us both every time. We are huge fans of key lime!!!!
This delicious smoothie was filled with dino kale, grapefruit, coconut oil, sunflower lecithin, stevia and lots of fresh ginger 
