Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 05:01 PM
Hey everyone
Remember when we showcased our new items:
100% Organic t-shirts for all you wonderful bloggies out there
And
Well they are officially ready, so we have added them to our online store.
An easy fun way to advertise your blog ; ) And helping the environment by purchasing organic material!!
We are running a special SALE on them in honor of FitBloggin. The special starts today and runs through March 19th. So hurry and get your order in before sale ends.
Note these shirts run a little big. Shirts are prewashed, preshrunk, and side seamed.
Happy shopping! Tomorrow we will be announcing our St.Patty’s Day specials!!
Till next time,
Lori
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Events, Fitness, environmental friendly, pure2raw products
Tags: FitBloggin, organic cotton, shopping online, specials, tshirts
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
Posted in: 105 degrees academy, Giveaway, Hot Topics, Miscellaneous
Tags: farmers markets, online bakery, owning a business, pure2raw, raw foods, shopping online, Twin Cakes Bakery
Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 09:59 AM
Happy Sunday everyone!!
I have been up for 2 hours and have done nothing besides writing this long and useful post!!! Don’t you just love Sundays!! An official excuse to be lazy, right??
Anyways our friend Averie asked us to share our favorite things. It has been a topic we wanted to do just never got around to it, so when she mentioned it we thought now is a great time to share.
Twin’s Favorite Things – again these are from our own experiences you can make your own call
How we go about getting our ingredients. We do most of our shopping online although if we are low on certain ingredient and we know a local health food store around us sells it we will just by it from them. We try to buy in bulk as well because in the long run it saves you time and money.
1) Coconut Oil - best quality and tasting - Artisana Premier Organics coconut oil and coconut butter
best for your money – one gallon tub from Sun Foods
best convenient – sold in most health food stores Nutiva
Other high quality coconut oil brands we have been enjoying Vivapura and Virgin Coconut oil De Coco Creme
2) Best online stores to shop: how we shop the most are Natural Zing, Amazon, Navitas Naturals, and Mountain Rose Herbs. For specialty items Raw Food World and Sun Food.
What we have been know to buy at Natural Zing: MSM powder, kelp noodles, coconut oil, tahini, maca, lucuma, yacon syrup, chia seeds, spirulina, raw cacao powder, raw cacao nibs, camu camu, and nuts and seeds, hemp seeds
Amazon: coconut water, Artisana and Navitas Natural brand products, dehydrator, vitamix, spiralizer, mandoline, nutritional yeast
Navitas Naturals: chia seeds, raw cacao, sprouted flax meal, yacon syrup, mesquite, maca, hemp seeds, lucuma and stevia
Mountain Rose Herbs: cinnamon, turmeric, sea salt, maca, chia seeds, chorella, spirulina, dulse flakes, any spice really, green tea (for making our kombucha tea)
3) Hemp products: Best overall Manitoba Harvest (can be pricey)
Best second choice Nutiva
Other overall decent hemp protein Ruth’s Hemp (we get from Natural Zing) or buying in bulk from Whole foods or Mountain Rose Herbs
4) Stevia – powder we like the best is Sweet Leaf the packets (which you can find in most heath food stores)
Second best is – KAL Pure Stevia Extract liquid (we get from health food stores)
Third best is – Stevia powder from Navitas Naturals (this is an acquired taste)
We find to like most Stevia products but we prefer liquid forms of it the best. We know for some Stevia is hard to get used to though we have been using if for over 3 years and we hardly notice it anymore. To us it is worth the after taste or getting used to factor from it having no calories and for us it is truly the best sugar substitute. We use it a lot in our bakery and personally!
5) Other random ingredients we use and where to find them
Nutritional yeast – most health food stores sell it (RedStar is our favorite)and Amazon
Irish Moss and Sunflower lecithin – I mentioned this yesterday
Florida Crystals Organic Sugar – we use for making kombucha and water kefirs (most health food stores sell this brand)
Native Forest Unsweetened Classic coconut milk – again most health food stores should sell this
Living Harvest – hemp milk (unsweetened)
Pacific Foods – Almond milk (unsweetened) and Hazelnut milk, and Rice milk
Again how we go about purchasing these items varies every time we need something. Some times it comes down to money, convenience or brand loyalty. It really all depends what we are shopping for and what we are low on. It also comes down to personal preference and money.
This great lady also has great tips on buying in bulk. Also we know because we have done it that most health food stores allow you to buy in bulk (cases) like Whole Foods, Earth Fare, and any local health food store in your area. Just go and ask the customer service area and they should be able to help you out. Buying in bulk is great especially for a family with lots of mouths to feed! Mountain Rose Herbs again is a great place to do this as well because they offer bulk discounts to everyone and their products are organic 
We hope this list of our favorites helps you along your journey of finding great healthy additions to your lifestyle like is has ours! Please let us know if you have any specific questions.
And Lori was correct in her guess with what our dinner was from last night! Kelp noodles though we a great twist And speaking of this lovely lady she is hosting a great giveaway – an ice cream maker If you get an ice cream maker you can start making delicious ice cream like this
Cookie dough Ice Cream
Back to our dinner:
Kabocha Kelp Noodles
We blended in our roasted Kabocha from earlier this week add in some salt, leftover sage that we roasted with the squash and some water. Threw it all into the blender and blended till creamy though ours we kept on the thick side
Than created a ‘green’ sauce to over the top, you know us with our greens! Green sauce was a blend of tahini, yacon syrup, apple cider vinegar, parsley, shallot, sunflower lecithin and water! Blend till creamy. And pour on top of kelp noodles and kabocha squash mixture.
We just mixed it all together and topped with more fresh parsley
Amazing! We think all squash lovers would approve of this sauce A great way to end a Saturday night. One reason why we created this dish was to show a customer at the farmers market yesterday morning what else to do with squash. She mentioned she does not know what else to do with winter squashes and that’s when we thought of using it as pasta ‘tomato’ sauce! Although we feel this would work with any veggie dish!
We got lots of goodies lined up today for the big game! Super bowl day! We can’t wait to show you all what we come up with tomorrow 
Cheers from the Twins. We have no favorite for which team to win we just want a good game to watch and the commercials!
Till next time,
The Twins
L&M
Posted by: Pure2
Posted in: Hot Topics, Miscellaneous, ingredients, product review
Tags: coconut oi, favorite things, hemp, kelp noodles, raw ice cream, shopping online, squash, stevia, sunflower lecithin
