Vegan Caesar Dressing and Beauty Products

The Date: Monday, January 31

The Delivery: Non-Dairy Caesar Organic Dressing from OrganicVille and assorted skincare and haircare products from Sparkle! Naturals

Staff Pick: The dressing!

The DL: We here at VNHQ love our greens. From salads to tacos to green juice, we just can't get enough. Did you hear? Sounds like Oprah (and almost 400 of her employees) are digging the green stuff too—check out how they all went vegan for a week on her show tomorrow! As such, we are always excited for the arrival of another way to spice up our salad bowls. Hello! How often do you find vegan Caesar dressing? Here's to our next lunch break, where we will be drizzling this gluten-free gem all over our spinach and sprouts.

Flip Flops, a Wallet, and Cookbooks

The Date: Friday, January 28

The Delivery: Flip flops from Okabashi, a wallet from The Vegan Collection, Vegan Bake Sale by Carla Kelly, and Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson

Staff Pick: Vegan Diner

The DL: Happy Friday from the VNHQ! On this chilly day the office has been craving some seriously warm comfort food—just the kind of stuff littering the pages of Julie Hasson's new cookbook. (Psst! You might find Julie in our upcoming March+April 2011 issue.) Not only do the french fries (and burger, and potato salad...) on the cover look great, but we love a good non-dairy milkshake as much as the next person. Speaking of milkshakes: want to know which non-dairy milk works best as a base for your next chocolate-Oreo shake? Check out our handy guide to non-dairy milks.

Skin Care and Soap and Books, Oh My!

The Date: Thursday, January 27

The Delivery: Liquid Soap Soother from Emily Skin Soothers, Earth Science's new Active Age Defense skincare line, Clean Start by Terry Walters, and two copies of The Bond by Wayne Pacelle

Staff Pick: The Active Age Defense Hydrating Day Cream

The DL: Who wouldn't want an ulta-moisturizing day cream for these harsh winter months? We are excited to slather the contents of this jar on our faces in the hopes that it will make our skin look gorgeous for tonight. What are the VN staffers up to, you ask? Not only are we (along with our friends at Vegansaurus) hosting the first SF Vegan Drinks of the year, but we are also attending Gracias Madre's one year anniversary! If you don't follow Café VegNews, we eat there. A lot. And we love it. A lot.

Seeds, Protein, and Energy...Plus a Book!

The Date: Wednesday, January 26

The Delivery: Sprouted Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds in assorted flavors from Kaia Foods; Protein Shake Mixes, Antioxidant Boosters, and Pomegranate Energy Fizz Tabs from Arbonne; and Vegans Know How to Party by Nancy Berkoff

Staff Pick: The Cocoa Molé sunflower seeds

The DL: We love vegan treats, especially organic, chocolate molé-flavored ones. These tasty-looking sunflower seeds come in a small, reusable bag that's a perfect size for snacking on the go. We're excited to taste test, both while at the office and during our commutes. If you're looking for a more decadent chocolate treat, make sure to check out This Week's Must Have: Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

WineTime Bars, Noodles, and Seaweed

The Date: Tuesday, January 25

The Delivery: Dark Chocolate, Date, and Almond and Chocolate-Raspberry WineTime bars from ResVez, Inc. and Brown Rice Noodles and Seaweed Snacks from Annie Chun's

Staff Pick: The Chocolate-Raspberry WineTime bars

The DL: Okay, we are flummoxed. A vegan, gluten-free nutrition bar that contains more resveratrol (an extremely potent antioxidant found in grapes) than 50 glasses of wine? Wait, we forgot to mention: it's chocolate-rasperry flavored?!! If we were cartoons there would be huge bumps on our heads with little blue birdies flying around. We are truly intrigued and excited to try these little powerhouses—almost as excited as we were when we found out about Sticky Fingers Bakery on an upcoming episode of Cupcake Wars. Maybe when we open the wrappings a glass of cabernet will appear. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Books, DVDs, and Vegan Caramel Agave

The Date: Monday, January 24

The Delivery: The Raw Truth: Recipes and Resources for the Living Foods Lifestyle by Jeremy A. Safron, Voyage to Betterment: A Health and Happiness True Life Story DVD, and caramel agave dipping nectar from The Real Food Trading Company

Staff Pick: The caramel agave dipping nectar

The DL: What could be better than a sugar-free, organic, vegan alternative to caramel syrup? Well, maybe a trip to India with VegNews Vacations, featuring VN's very own Publisher Joe Connelly and Associate Publisher Colleen Holland, but we can't all be that lucky. We here at VNHQ will mask our jealousy instead by looking forward to dousing some crisp apples in the contents of this bottle of sweet caramel nectar.

Organic Soy Creamer

The Date: Friday, January 21

The Delivery: Soy creamers from Organic Valley in Original and French Vanilla

Staff Pick: The French Vanilla. Mais oui!

The DL: It's a very busy Friday here at VNHQ, as we are rounding third base for the home stretch with our March+April 2011 issue (and oh my gosh, it's going to be totally awesome). Between editing and design and then editing the design, we are excited about the chance to add a bit of french vanilla goodness to the cups of tea that are helping us handle our stress levels. You can find out a little bit about our upcoming issue, and guess who you'll find inside, on our Facebook page. Happy Friday to all!

Vegan Books!

The Date: Thursday, January 20

The Delivery: A manuscript of Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist, Vegan's Daily Companion by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and The Bond by Wayne Pacelle

Staff Pick: Vegan's Daily Companion

The DL: After two weeks of cheese, muffins, macaroons, queso, and mozzarella sticks, we here at VNHQ really needed a breather. And what better way to get one's mind off delicious vegan food than with delicious brain food? We chose Vegan's Daily Companion not only because we love Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (and her Joy of Vegan Baking), but also because the book's focus on compassionate living from every angle will be a perfect read for the new year. Plus there's a super cute cow on the cover. Hmm. All of a sudden we're craving something sweet. Where are those Candle Cafe muffins?

Oat Shakes and Macaroons

The Date: Wednesday, January 19

The Delivery: Chocolate and tropical fruit OatShakes from Simpli and pomegranate, pistachio, vanilla, and cacao macaroons from Ecoterra Raw Market

Staff Pick: The macaroons!

The DL: It might be sunny and (almost) warm outside the VNHQ today, but getting these little bite-sized babies made us think of bundling up on the wintery streets of Paris. We can't help but hope that one bite will transport us to a fashionable café on the Champs-Élysées, where we will find ourselves surrounded by a mound of vegan macaroons and espresso. Speaking of being fashionable, make sure to check out some animal-free winter fashion for keeping warm in style. Au revior!

Vegan Nacho Cheese and Baked Goods

The Date: Tuesday, January 18

The Delivery: Nacho Mom's fire roasted nacho cheese and assorted muffins and tarts from Candle Cafe

Staff Pick: The muffins and tarts from Candle Cafe

The DL: As if a three-day weekend (and subsequent four-day work week) weren't good enough, today we were visited by the lovely, wonderful, talented (we could go on...) duo of Bart Potenza and Joy Pierson, owners of Candle 79 and Candle Cafe! With all the delicious tarts and five (yes, five) different kinds of mini-muffins including cranberry orange and sweet carrot, it is safe to say that our bellies and our hearts felt the vegan love. Some serious jogs around the VNHQ are in order to work off these goodies—make sure to visit VegVote and let us know about your go-to winter workout!

Cookies, Brownies, and Vegan Mozz Sticks

The Date: Friday, January 14

The Delivery: A seriously awesome haul: trail mix cookies and brownie bears from the Sun Flour Baking Company and a ginormous bag of Teese vegan mozzarella sticks from Chicago Soydairy

Staff Pick: The mozzarella sticks

The DL: Question: Is there a better way to celebrate the beginning of the three-day weekend than with mozzarella sticks? Answer: Unequivocally, no. Needless to say, we will be digging into this ginormous bag of cheesy goodness like competitive food eaters. We will, however, pause from pigging out just long enough to wish you all a safe and exciting Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. See you Tuesday!

Tea and Vegan Cheese

The Date: Thursday, January 13

The Delivery: Assorted teas from David Rio and vegan crumbled feta, smoked gouda, chipotle cheddar, and monterey jack cheeses from Heidi Ho Organics

Staff Pick: The feta cheese!

The DL: To say that we here at VNHQ love vegan cheese is like saying "the sky is blue" or "VN Jan+Feb cover girl Kris Carr is crazy sexy awesome." Not to get all giddy school girl on you, but we're as excited to try out the crumbled feta as we are for the upcoming MLK holiday. We're going to need some major detox after this sampling—check out our top detox foods for some body-purifying ingredients that can be found in your kitchen.

Hummus, Vegan Queso, and Books

The Date: Wednesday, January 12

The Delivery: Cedar's Mediterranean Foods Fat Free Original and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Food For Lovers Vegan Queso, Venturesome Vegan Cooking by J. M. Hirsch and Michelle Hirsch, and The Veganopolis Cookbook by David Stowell and George Black

Staff Pick: The vegan queso!

The DL: The chip-and-dip gods blessed us here at VNHQ today. Not only are we looking forward to making the vegan cashew spread from the VN Recipe Club, but we also received three more yummy-looking dips at our front door! We are very excited about taste testing, and hope nobody pokes an eye out during the tortilla triangle frenzy.

Books and Vegan Beauty Products

The Date: Tuesday, January 11
The Delivery: The Safe Food Handbook by Heli Perrett, PhD, and body scrubs, oil, and gel from Glow Naturals
Staff Pick: The Lavender Cookies & Cream Body Scrub

The DL: We're pretty avid readers here at the VNHQ (as you might have noticed from our Book Club!), but there's something that we love even more than reading: the ingenious combination of cookies and body scrub! We look forward to trying this offer from Glow Naturals, and hope that upon opening the jar, lavendar-flavored sugar cookies magically appear.

More Vegan Cupcakes

The Date: Friday, January 7
The Delivery: Sticky Fingers Bakery cupcakes
Staff Pick: The cupcakes, yet again!

The DL: We were actually short on deliveries today, but thankfully—and surprisingly—there were still a few cupcakes left. Are we ever going to argue with cupcakes? No. Here's hoping that everyone has a totally sweet weekend, since we know we will with these goodies around!

Vegan Cupcakes and Tea

The Date: Thursday, January 6
The Delivery: Chocolate, vanilla, carrot cake, and red velvet cupcakes with tons of frostings, Cowvins Cookies, and brownies from Sticky Fingers Bakery, and two flavors of Runa tea
Staff Pick: The cupcakes!

The DL: You know how people are always calling some confection or other "the new cupcakes," as in, whoopie pies are the new cupcakes or pies are the new cupcakes? There are more theories on this than we can keep straight. Here at the VNHQ, we're pretty certain about one thing: cupcakes are still cupcakes. These mutli-flavored goodies from Sticky Fingers are sure to disappear faster than you can come up with whatever the new cupcake is today.

Nuts for Coconut Milk

The Date: Wednesday, January 5
The Delivery: Lots of goodies from So Delicious
Staff Pick: The individual serving Coconut Milks

The DL: The holidays might technically be over, but that doesn't stop the steady stream of gifts from flooding into the VNHQ each day. OK, maybe technically they aren't gifts—they are, in fact, products for review—but opening the big delivery boxes certainly feels like opening presents. Today, we were thrilled to discover a huge box from So Delicious that contained a selection of the company's Coconut Milk line, plus a sweet Hamilton Beach blender and a fancy glass. Trying to decide what to pick was tough, so we went with the mini-milks, since three flavors are better than one. Today, for the first time ever, we feel like Jillian Michaels might be jealous of us!

Oil and Books

The Date: Tuesday, January 4
The Delivery: A Sea in Flames by Carl Safina galley, Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender, and Kelapo's coconut oils
Staff Pick: Planet Home

The DL: While it's tough for us to choose a non-food thing as the staff pick, both of these books look so interesting that we had a harder time deciding between the two of them than forgoing our usual predilection for edibles. We very much liked one line on the cover of Planet Home, which reads "Live with Less and Have More"—a perfect idea to kick off a new year. Here's hoping your enjoying reading another book at the moment, specifically The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life with the VN Book Club!

New Year, New You

The Date: Monday, January
The Delivery: Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Staff Pick: The only item!

The DL: Happy 2011, everyone! We're thrilled to be back at work here at the VNHQ, and hope that you all had wonderful holidays. While we weren't overwhelmed with the volume of today's goods, it's hard to argue with the quality. Yes, we've received this book before, and yes, we're grateful to see it again. Maybe some of us are thinking about reducing ourselves a bit after teh holiday indulgences. Maybe this book comes at the perfect time. Just saying! Here's to the new year, and more new products to come!