Vegan Lotion

The Date: Tuesday, May 31
The Delivery: Yumé Blush body chiffon in Orange Vanilla, Lavender Lemon, Chocolate Raspberry, Coconut Lime, and Pineapple Orange
Staff Pick: The body chiffon!
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The DL: We love having silky smooth skin in the summer time (or any time, really), but a lotion that's edible? This we have to try. We're hoping that the content of these little jars taste just as delicious as they sound (Chocolate Raspberry? Don't mind if we do!). Maybe we'll go out and buy some chocolate-raspberry truffle bars, just to make sure. You can never be too careful, right? 

Pizza, a Cookbook, and Eye Makeup Remover

The Date: Friday, May 17
The Delivery: Frozen pizzas from Rossini's Gourmet Fare, Fast and Flavorful Meatless Meals by Jessie Price and the EatingWell Test Kitchen, and eye makeup remover from Earth Science
Staff Pick: The chamomile green tea eye makeup remover

The DL: With Southern Comfort and SF Vegan Drinks back-to-back, not to mention finishing up our fantastic July+August issue (it's white hot!), today is leaving the VN staff a little worn out. We hope the calming chamomile in this eye makeup remover will calm and soothe our tired, puffy eyes. Not that we're complaining: If it's wrong to have two straight days of delicious food and tasty spirits, we don't want to be right. We are, however, looking forward to a very restful Memorial Day weekend. We will see you again Tuesday!

Vegan Pizza and Cheese

The Date: Thursday, May 26
The Delivery: Frozen vegan cheese pizzas from Amy's Kitchen and assorted vegan cheeses from Heidi Ho Organics
Staff Pick: The pizza!

The DL: You might have noticed a fair amount of frozen pizzas gracing the pages of this blog. What's the deal, you might ask? Well, you'll just have to wait for our September+October issue to find out! While the entire office is still stuffed from last night's Southern Comfort dinner at San Francisco's Millennium Restaurant (check out Press Pass later this afternoon to hear about chili-cheese fries, beer-steamed brats with a topping bar, ice cream sandwiches, and much more), we still can't wait to taste these lovely cheese pizzas.

Vegan Skin Care and a Book

The Date: Wednesday, May 25
The Delivery: Face and body care products from Ojavan Products and Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson
Staff Pick: Npató Mineral Mud Face and Body Mask

The DL: It's spring in San Francisco, which means it's sunny and 72 one day, but raining and 52 the next (today it's the latter). We hope this cruelty-free, vegan face and body mask made from the waters of Utah's Great Salt Lake makes our skin springtime fresh and ready for the summer months (even if our weather isn't). To make sure your face and hair stay silky smooth and free of sun damage this summer, check out our new featurette, a guide to healthy summer hair and skin.

Vegan Chocolates and Frozen Pizza

The Date: Tuesday, May 24
The Delivery: A box of vegan chocolates from Premium Chocolatiers and frozen cheese pizzas from Turtle Island Foods
Staff Pick: The chocolates!

The DL: Just stop right there. Did you see those chocolates? We had to pinch ourselves quite a few times to make sure we weren't dreaming when we opened this box and inside found vegan chocolates that looked so amazingly scrumptious. Plus, you know that it has to be something special to beat out frozen vegan pizza. We're going to cut this post short so that we can spend more time taste-testing. In the meantime, check out our new featurette on natural allergy relief in case your springtime sniffles are getting out of hand.

Makeup and Vegan Truffles

The Date: Monday, May 23

The Delivery: Concealer from Larenim Mineral and a Truffle Sampler from Super Foxy Sweets

Staff Pick: The truffles!

The DL: We are already pretty darn full from birthday cake, but with flavors like Cinnamon Chili Blood Orange and Pistachio Cardamom, we'll make room to taste test these sweets. Planning on marrying your sweet? (For the record, we mean another person, not an edible truffle.) Tune in to our next VegNews Twitter Chat tomorrow at 6pm PT and find out how to throw the perfect vegan wedding! We'll be chatting with some of this year's VegNews wedding couples, as well as the real-life couple behind vegan-catering business Local Love. Hope to see you there!

Cupcakes and Chocolates!

The Date: Friday, May 20
The Delivery: Gourmet mini-cupcakes from Bliss Cakes and The Goddess Box of chocolate truffles from Chocoveda
Staff Pick: The Wild Jungle Peanut-Butter Chocolate Delight cupcake

The DL: Choosing a staff pick today was anything but easy. How can you choose between a box of chocolate truffles and six different kinds of cupcakes (Mayan Spice Chocolate?! Lavender Vanilla?!). Not that we're complaining or anything. We'd be more than happy to choose between truffles and cupcakes over and over again. In the end, we went with the ol' close-our-eyes-and-point method, and it went swimmingly. Needless to say, every truffle and cupcake will most likely be devoured by day's end. We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

 

Vegan Wine!

The Date: Thursday, May 19
The Delivery: Four bottles of wine from Snoqualmie Vineyards
Staff Pick: 2009 Winemaker's Select Riesling

The DL: With temperatures rising (yet still fluctuating) here in San Francisco, the delivery of light, yummy wine makes the end of these warm spring days just that much better. Since we're busy at work finalizing our July+August issue, we'll have to hold off on happy hour today, but we can't wait to uncork this Washington wine. Perhaps we'll have a pre-SF Vegan Drinks sip next Thursday; that is before trying out this month's special (a vanilla and pumpkin martini!), of course.

Magazine and Lip Balm

The Date: Wednesday, May 18
The Delivery: The Summer 2011 issue of Vegan Magazine and cacao lip balm from Navitas Naturals
Staff Pick: The lip blam!

The DL: It's safe to say that we here at VNHQ are chocolate lovers. We already eat the delicious stuff pretty much every day, so why not try it out on our lips for a change? We can't wait to try out this lip balm made from the cold-pressed oil of the cacao bean. Maybe it will keep us from coveting the box of Boadwark Chocolates in the VegNews Vegan Wedding Giveaway. Maybe.

New Books

The Date: Tuesday, May 17
The Delivery: Lunch Wars by Amy Kalafa and Plant Peace Daily by Rae Sikora and Jim Corcoran
Staff Pick: Lunch Wars

The DL: Amy Kalafa, in her documentary Two Angry Moms, discovered our nation's school lunches were less than ideal; her new book, Lunch Wars, teaches readers how to fix it. We are excited to read this new book, filled with ways to make positive change and improve the lunches America's children eat. More veggies, please!

Superfruits, Sunscreen, and Lip Balm

The Date: Monday, May 16
The Delivery: Sun protection and night treatment balms from Hurraw!, superfruit berries and powder form Navitas Naturals, and non-vegan sunscreen from Elemental Herbs
Staff Pick: The blue-chamomile vanilla night treatment balm

The DL: Long time no see, readers! After a few days without our blogging abilities (we were starting to get the shakes!) we are back with some really awesome offerings. For example, our brand-new Vegan Wedding Package Giveaway includes chocolates, candles, and our May+June issue. Not too shabby! In addition to all the wedding goodness, we are already crushing on this new lip balm from the mere sight of it. Hurraw's new gem is specially made for nighttime, featuring super-moisturing avocado oil and chamomile essential oil. Getting beauty sleep, literally? Sounds good to us!

Sticky Fingers Surprise

The Date: Friday, May 13
The Delivery: A box full of goodies from Sticky Fingers, including Cowvin Cookies and Jenny's Brownies
Staff Pick: The Cowvin Cookies

The DL: We're not sure of the occasion for this special delivery, but we're not complaining. The lovely people of Sticky Fingers must know that the favorite cookie of the VN staff is the Cowvin Cookie—they are just so delicately sweet and delicious. Thank you Sticky Fingers and happy Friday to everyone!
 

Honest Tea Drinks

The Date: Wednesday, May 11
The Delivery: Lemonade, Passion Fruit Green Tea, and CocoaNova drinks from Honest Tea
Staff Pick: CocoaNova in Mocha Cacao

The DL: Disclaimer: This picture represents less than 10 percent of the healthy-drink haul we received from Honest Tea today. While our stocks of these new beverages won't be depleted any time soon, we think the supply of the Mocha Cacao might run out first. A guilt-free, healthy vegan chocolate drink? We thought that was the Loch Ness Monster of the drink world. If you'd rather get your chocolate fix in solid form, head on over to the VegNews Store, where vegan candy bars, peanut butter cups, and marzipan bars await.

Vegan Cooking Sauces

The Date: Tuesday, May 10
The Delivery: Ready-made Indian cooking sauces from Stonehouse 27
Staff Pick: The cilantro and coconut cooking sauce

The DL: We here at VegNews are pretty loco for coconuts these days. From our new Food Feature extolling coconut's many culinary and bodily benefits to This Week's Must Have (chocolate coconut milk, anyone?), this fuzzy brown gem is constantly in our thoughts. Enter: Stonehouse 27's new cilantro and coconut cooking sauce with hints of lemon and ginger. We can't wait to see what this sauce can do to a plate of veggies, and are happy that we get to keep this coconut kick going. Now, if only we had some of that Coconut Bliss ice cream left....

Movie Passes

The Date: Monday, May 9
The Delivery: Passes to a viewing of the new documentary Forks Over Knives
Staff Pick: The passes

The DL: Tonight, some of the VN staff is heading to downtown San Francisco for a press screening of Forks Over Knives, a documentary about solving America's health care crisis by changing America's diet. We have heard truly fantastic things about the film, and can't wait to watch. If you live in LA or NYC and saw the film this past weekend, head on over to our Facebook page and enter to win our Forks Over Knives giveaway. Telling us your thoughts about the film could get you an awesome $150 prize pack!

Vegan Books

The Date: Friday, May 6
The Delivery: Are You Sure That's Vegan? by Claire Gosse and 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart by Neal Barnard, MD
Staff Pick: 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart

The DL: We cannot say enough wonderful things about Dr. Neal Barnard, and we hope the same goes for his book! With shopping guides, recipes, dining out tips, not to mention a plethora of research that backs it all up, it looks like this book makes going vegan (and losing weight) a no-brainer. While we're on the subject, celebrating Mother's Day is a no-brainer with VegNews' guide to a Vegan Mother's Day. A brunch with blueberry scones, tofu scrambles, French toast, and peanut butter frozen yogurt? Count us in.

Vegan Lip Balms, Nacho Cheese, and Cupcakes

The Date: Thursday, May 5
The Delivery: Lip balms from Organic Indulgence, Nacheez vegan nacho cheese (mild) from Love & Joy Foods, and a cupcake-making kit from Miss Vegan
Staff Pick: The cupcake kit

The DL: Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody! Is there a better way to top off your taco- and margarita-filled  vegan celebration than with cupcakes? Yeah, we couldn't think of anything either. Miss Vegan, the maker of these tasty-looking treats, is currently running a campaign on Kickstarter to turn its online baking business into a food truck. Want to help a vegan out? Check out Miss Vegan's fundraising page and donate away. After you finish that cerveza, of course.

Jam and Vegan Desserts

The Date: Wednesday, May 4
The Delivery: Assorted cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, and more from Dirty Vegan Foods and fruit compote from Bouncing Berry Farms
Staff Pick: The vegan mini doughnuts!

The DL: A burrito-filled lunch with Jolinda Hackett, writer for About.com, plus Alejandro and Nikhil from Best-of-Show-winning Back to the Roots, has made for one fantastic Wednesday, and these mini doughnuts were the icing on the cake. Strawberry glazes, chocolate, and coconut are just the tip of the vegan-doughnut iceberg, and we can't wait to sink in while working on our better-than-ever July+August issue. Want to make sure you get the July+August issue before everyone else? Today is the last day to subscribe in time, so head on over to the VegNews store and nab a subscription today!

Brazier's Vegan Cookbook

The Date: Tuesday, May 3
The Delivery: Whole Foods to Thrive by Brendan Brazier
Staff Pick: Whole Foods to Thrive

The DL: We are big Brendan Brazier fans, and cannot wait to try out some of the recipes in his new cookbook. With whole-foods bites including Chocolate Goodness Smoothies, Beet Ravioli with Basil Macadamia Ricotta, and Walnut Cranberry Energy Bars, we hope eating just like this Ironman will turn us into superhuman athletes. Or we'll just ignore the serving sizes and scarf down entire pans of Brazier's Summery Simple Peach Tart. Either way, really. More interested in devouring a plate of nachos topped with Daiya pepperjack? Be sure to enter the VegNews Cinco de Mayo Giveaway for a chance to win a vegan nacho kit (BYOS: bring your own sombrero).

Vegan Books and Veggie Burgers

The Date: Monday, May 2
The Delivery: The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker, Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale by Carla Kelly, and a box filled with the new Ultimate Beefless Burger from Gardein
Staff Pick: The veggie burger!

The DL: We first tried this new creation from Gardein at this year's Expo West, and we think it's safe to say being reunited really does feel so good. Flavorful, healthy, and downright massive, these patties would be a great addition to any springtime barbecue. In case all that time in the sunshine has you parched (not to mention a little woozy), reach for some coconut water: it is packed with electrolytes to keep your bod hydrated and happy. Learn more about the coconut and all it can offer (Curries! Cooking oil! Deodorant!) in our new food feature.