Issue with Peanuts

There have been some questions about peanuts, and if we use peanuts at our facility. To let everyone know -Twin Cakes Bakery is a 100% peanut free facility! And we have researched and found peanut free suppliers for the ingredients we use here at Twin Cakes. It was hard and took some time, but we eventually found peanut free vendors! Although we are not a tree-nut free facility. We use all types of nuts, but mostly almonds, walnuts, and cashews. Although not all of our products actually contain nuts, but are made on the same equipment. We are sorry that we cannot accommodate the tree nut allergy though we please the peanut allergy. We get a confused expression from people when we say we are a peanut free facility but not tree nut free. We felt we need to clarify that peanuts are not a nut. Peanuts are in the legume family. Some other familiar legumes are alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, mesquite, carob, and yes peanuts. Legumes are highly important for supplementing protein. Now the issue concerning peanut allergy. Many people have mild to severe allergic reactions to peanuts. We noticed our reaction to peanuts when we were younger. We took it out of our diet and then a few years later re-introduced peanuts back into our diet. Our symptoms returned so we no longer consumed peanuts from then on. Peanut allergy is very serious and should not be taken lightly. Since the peanut is apart of the legume family and is not related to nuts, individuals with peanut allergies may not be allergic to nuts, and vice-versa. What are some symptoms of peanut allergy - well it can vary to person to person according to www.peanutallergy.com. But here are some of the symptoms: stomach ache, itchy eyes, itchy skin rash, hives, runny nose, tingling in tongue or lips. There are some more severe reactions like tightening of the throat, hoarse voice, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, and coughing/wheezing. Prevention and awareness is key to living a peanut free lifestyle. It can be done with just a little extra time in reading labels and educating yourself on "safe" foods. More and more restaurants and places are becoming more aware of this serious allergy and are making it more safe for individuals suffering from it to dine out. We hope that this information, though it is brief does help everyone to better understand peanuts. There are plenty of informational websites that go into more details of peanuts, it's history, and prevention. Please check them out if you can.

Our sister was in Oprah's Magazine

If you all have seen or have purchased the newest Oprah Magazine, you will find near the back an ad for a Book Club Alert. My older sister (who is a graphic artist) create this ad for the author who was on the best sellers list. Way to go sis, we are so proud of you!!! Please check out the ad in Oprah's newest magazine issue on stands now and James Sheridan's The Pandora Prescription Novel.

Presenting at SparkCon this Saturday

In downtown Raleigh the 3rd annual SPARKcon event is happening from Thursday to Monday. Days filled with great artist, speakers, dancers, and musicians to show their talents and passions. Check out the website for more information: http://www.sparkcon.com Michelle and I will be presenting some of our favorite food recipes and tips on Saturday, September 20th starting at 3pm. Stop by and check it all out, it should be fun!Look forward to seeing you all there.

Why the Twins are vegetarians/vegans

Well Lori and I were at the grocery story the other day and while standing in line to check out we noticed the October issue of VegNews, which is one of our favorite magazines. There were a lot of good articles in this issue that makes us proud to be a part of this growing trend in vegetarian cooking. As being vegetarian/vegan personal chefs, we want to help busy working professionals to enjoy vegetarian home cooked meals at their convenience. We, like many other vegetarians, want to show others that having a meatless diet is not impossible. There are many options one has to chose from to be able to sustain a well balanced diet. One article discussed a new trend of healthy vegetarian fast food restaurants. We noticed this is a concern for most busy people, to be able to eat healthy without spending hours in the kitchen. Here at Twins Kitchen we want to help be your choice for quick healthy vegetarian meals. We can individually package your food so you can grab and go. So in sense we are your healthy fast food personal chefs that prepare your meals in your kitchen. We hope everyone will try to incorporate more vegetarian meals into their diet! You will notice in the magazine tips and recipes that hopefully will aspire you to become a vegetarian/vegan yourself. In the October issue of Oprah Magazine, the last page is an article written by Oprah herself about being a conscious eater. She talks about her discussion with Kathy Freston and her 21 day vegan cleanse. Kathy Freston has a book out called, Quantum Wellness. It is a great book about becoming more aware of your food and how it got to your plate. I hope you all pick up this issue and take a look at Oprah's words about her journey of eating less meat and gluten. You may wonder, isn't hard to be chefs and not include meat in your menus? Well, no, because there is a wide variety of food that we get to play around with when testing new recipes. In addition to vegetarian cooking, we also are gluten free. And once again this may seem hard to do, but with an open mind, some research, and experimentation we love cooking and eating the way we do. We may not be able to push someone to see the endless benefits of eating no meat (or gluten) but we sure hope to entice one to eat more plant based foods.

Stand up to Cancer

I hope that everyone got the chance to see the Special on Stand up to Cancer where all 3 major broadcast aired the program. It was to done to raise awareness to the issue of cancer and help raise money for research. I was deeply moved by the program, which I am sure others were too. It made me realize that every dollar can help reach the goal of ending cancer. Everyone has or is being touched by cancer. My grandmother, Polly, died 8 years ago from breast cancer and my great aunt, Betty, died 2 years ago from breast cancer and pancreatic cancer. I miss both terribly, but I am positive about the future. I Stand up to Cancer! I will do my part in supporting those individuals who are battling the disease, will you Stand up to Cancer? Does not matter how much you give, give what you can and spread the word. Please check out the website and donate, https://www.standup2cancer.org/donate_splash.asp