Twin Cakes Bakery - Asthma Fair in Wake County

This Saturday, May 2, from 9am -1pm at the WakeMed Andrews Conference Center off New Bern Avenue in Raleigh there is going to be the 2009 Asthma Fair. More information about the event: The Wake County Asthma Coalition is hosting an Educational Asthma Fair in celebration of the World Asthma Day and Asthma Awareness Month. There will be free parking at the WakeMed Hospital Andrews Center. Families and asthmatic children and/or adults are invited to attend and learn how to take control of their Asthma. There will be lots of door prizes and variety of vendors there with samples, product information and educational sessions. It will be a great time. And Twin Cakes Bakery will be present at the event offering a variety of gluten free, vegan - allergy friendly products for all to try. We hope you can stop by. There is more and more discussions being done about the relationship between asthma and food allerigies, specially dairy, wheat and gluten. These are considered more of hidden triggers to asthma. There have been some studies that show a link between gluten sensitivity and asthma. From our findings there have been many individuals who had breathing issues and who cut out wheat and gluten from their diet starting seeing great improvements. Though every one is different it is still worth a try to see if it works for you (though I would recommend speaking to your doctor about this). There is more to be learned about the relationship between gluten (celiac disease) and asthma. Please check out these articles for information. http://www.livingwithout.com/2009/junjul09-breathing.html http://allergyandasthmatreatment.com/wheat-allergy.php http://www.allergy-details.com/allergies/allergy/asthma/gluten/wheat/asthma-gluten-wheat

What fats/oils we use in our gluten free and vegan baked goods

People are always asking us what ingredients we use in our products and why we use them. So, we are going to discuss some of our ingredients every week here on our blog. These week we are starting with our fats. The two main fats we use are olive oil and coconut oil (very occasionally we will use soy butter though usually done per customer request). In some of our raw products, our Pure2 raw line, we use cacao butter as well. We still believe in moderation with any fats, those we chose to use these fats over any other fat do the health benefits of them. Why do we use these fats? Extra virgin olive oil is derived from the first pressing of the olives and has the most delicate flavor and most antioxidant benefits Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, a type of fat that researchers are discovering has excellent health benefits. For more information on olive oil check out: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=132 http://nutra-smart.net/olive.htm http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/an01037 These are just a few sites with information about olive oil. You may do your own research and find out more. The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, and much more. Here is some more information on coconut oil: http://www.coconutdiet.com/health_benefits_coconut_oil.htm http://www.coconut-connections.com http://www.coconut-info.com/ http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org These are just some sites that discuss coconut oil, there are plenty more research and articles on this great product. What is Cacao butter? It is what white chocolate is made out of. It contains no chemicals, no hexane and no solvents. Cacao butter goes great in dessert recipes or as skin moisturizer. Cacao butter is made by cold-pressing the organic Cacao nibs (which we will talk about at another post) into a "cake" in such a way that the oil begins to separate from the protein and fiber. It is one of the most stable fats known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent rancidity and give it storage life of 2 to 5 years. There are more great benefits of raw cacao butter which we will post on a later date. So check back in for more information.

Check this new post on Gliving

We follow on Gliving on Twitter and they posted a new post that caught our attention and we wanted to share it. It is similar to a previous post on our blog about the meat industry and the environment. Here is the link: Television Star Emily Deschanel (Bones) You can't be Green and Eat Meat http://gliving.com/television-star-emily-deschanel-bones-you-cant-be-green-and-eat-meat/ Thank you Emily! It is great to see actors and actresses supporting a good cause.

Twin Cakes Bakery on Twitter and Flickr

Want to say connected with Twin Cakes Bakery.... well now you can by following us on twitter and flickr. We will soon have a facebook page as well for everyone to follow. The twins will let everyone know when that happens. Here is our link for twittter http://twitter.com/TwinCakes here is our link for flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/twincakesbakery/ Now you can stay connected with your favorite Gluten free and Vegan bakery. We are planning to post more information on our blog this year about the ingredients we use, what is raw, why we bake the way we do, and much more. Please stay tuned for more information to come.

Future of Vegans... another reason to be vegan

There was a great article in the March/April 2009 edition of the VegNews magazine called "The Road to Vegetopia- (re)imagining the Future of Food". It has tons of great information and points that really make your think about things and makes you really appreciate being a vegan. The article discusses a lot about meat factories and farmers. It is really interesting and somewhat disturbing to find out what happens in the meat industry. One great point that we really liked and whated to share with all of you is...."animal agribusiness accounts for 18% of all greenhouse gasses --- a full 5% more than all of the world's cars, trucks, trains, and planes combined." Now if by knowing this doesn't make you consider cutting down on meat or cutting it out completely from your diet... ? The article also does a great job in describing how climate change, overpopulation, and food scarcity are all factors that are becoming more and more serious!! The rest of the article discusses how vegetarians and vegans are going to change the course of eating for the future.... which we are very proud to be apart of! You can check out this article plus much more on VegNews website at http://www.vegnews.com/web/home.do. Enjoy. And cheers to being Vegan and spreading the news about how great it is to be vegan. And today is a great to try to be a vegan or vegetarian for a day because its Earth Day! Earth Day is a day to give back to the earth and your local community. Remember to try to incorporate more greens into your diet.... your body will love you for it and the environment.... Here is one of our favorite smoothies - it is really simple and there are other versions of this out there. But give it a try if are up to trying something new. Twins Green Banana Smoothie: 2 frozen bananas 1 cup coconut water 1 packet stevia handful of fresh parsley 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach - just blend in blender and enjoy from the Twins!

Midtown Farmers Market - North Hills in Raleigh

Here are some pictures of last Saturday's first farmers market of the 2009 year! It was a lot of fun and great to see everyone again. It is going to be a great 2nd season. There are 35 vendors now at the Midtown Farmers market.... so there is plenty to choose from and have a great time meeting all the local farmers and crafters! Here is some items that we will be selling tomorrow at the market: our famous vegan gluten free spinach quiche carrot cake cupcakes brownies cinnamon buns raw moon pies (our favorite) raw onion pepper bread with spinach pesto spread and much more.... come and check us at tomorrow in the North Hills plaza around starbucks from 8am to 12pm!

2009 Farmers Market Season starting...

The Twins would like to announce that the Spring 2009 Farmers market season is just around the corner. As you can see we are very excited for the new season, this is our second year of selling at local farmers markets. We hope that everyone will be able to come out and support us and the rest of the local farmers/crafters. We plan to sell at the Mid-Town Farmers Market (formally known as North Hills Farmers Market). The Mid-Town market time are from 8am to 12pm every Saturday starting April 11th. The location of the market is in the plaza in front of the movie theaters. Also, Twin Cakes bakery will be selling at the Hillsborough Farmers Market... the season has already started. We plan to start selling there this coming Wednesday, April 8th, it happens on every Wednesday from 4pm and 7pm. It's location is in the Home Depot parking lot. Remember if you have any special request or want to make a pre-order to pick up at the market please call us 919-306-5304. Thanks. We look forward in seeing everyone again! You will see a range of products this coming season... though as you all know everything is gluten/wheat free and vegan as well as some RAW food items, and a few other new items!