Bean Chips and Reusable Hand Towels

The Date: Wednesday, April 20

The Delivery: Bean chips in assorted flavors from Beanitos and reusable personal hand towels from People Towels

Staff Pick: The Black Bean Beanitos

The DL: We love two-for-ones: at the grocery store, the book store...well, really any store that wants to give us something for free is good. With these dippers, you get another two-for-one: a wheat-free, corn-free chip! These bad boys also contain a bunch of protein (as they are made from beans), are gluten-free, and vegan. Okay, so maybe they're a five-for-one. Need some mental sustenance to go along with your snacking? Head on over to the VegNews Book Club, where this week we are discussing Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan's Daily Companion!

Vegan and Green Cookbooks

The Date: Tuesday, February 1

The Delivery: The Happy Herbivore Cookbook by Lindsay S. Nixon and Eat Greens by Barbara Scott-Goodman and Liz Trovato

Staff Pick: The Happy Herbivore Cookbook

The DL: Home fries and cupcakes and meatball subs are a few of our favorite things. Not the healthiest though, right? Wrong! We are looking forward to Lindsay Nixon's new cookbook chock full of fat-free and low-fat vegan versions of our favorite highly caloric (and highly delicious) eats. We can just picture ourselves whipping up a batch of her guacamole before settling down on the couch. Speaking of couches, today office manager extraordinaire Lyndsay teaches you how to be a cheap (and healthy!) couch potato on VN's newly re-vamped Savvy Vegan blog. Check it out. After you make the guacamole, of course.

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?

Colorful Veganism

The Date: Thursday, October 28

The Delivery: A cookbook, Dark Angell vegan candy bars, and Purely Elizabeth vegan baking mixes. In other words, a great day for deliveries!

Staff Pick: Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

The DL: It takes a great

—nay, AMAZING

—

book for us to be able to pick it when it is competing with new vegan candy bars and cookie mixes, but VegNews columnist Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has produced just that with what looks like a stunning book featuring vegan recipes containing antioxidant-rich colorful ingredients packed with flavor.

Pop this baby on your Christmas list people, it looks like a winner! In the meantime, come schmooze with San Franciscan vegans including the VegNews staffers tonights at SF Vegan Drinks. Cheers!

Take That, Twinkie!

Date: Thursday, February 11

The Delivery: Cream-filled vegan Dillos and some Larénim makeup

Staff Pick: The oh-so-delicious Raz Dillo from Cakewalk Baking Company

The DL: When these were delivered to the VNHQ, we nearly died. We absolutely had to tear into them the second they arrived, and we were not disappointed. The only thing we're disappointed about is the fact that we had to choose only one for Staff Pick. This raspberry- and coconut-covered pastry was totally delicious. Trust us, you probably want to run, not walk, over to Vegan Essentials and order one of each of these fantastic treats.

There's a Valentine's Day Chat with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau on VegWeb tonight at 6 pm. You don't want to miss it!

DIY Vegan Ice Cream

Date: Tuesday, February 17
The Delivery: A whole load of coffee and accessories from Silver Joe's, and two very-vegan cookbook galleys
Staff Pick: The yummy-looking cover of the soon-to-be-published The Vegan Scoop by Wheeler del Torro is making us all scream for (vegan) ice cream

The DL: If you're lucky enough to live in Boston, you should know that the Wheeler's Frozen Dessert Company has some darn-good ice cream, and now they're sharing their secrets. Get your ice-cream maker and scoop ready!

Rawsome Dessert

Date: Wednesday, February 11
The Delivery: Two books, A CD by Compassionate Cooks, a bag of chips, and some body products from Save Your World
Staff Pick: We think Ani Phyo's new cookbook, Ani's Raw Food Desserts, looks darling

The DL: If this cookbook is anything like Ani's first book, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, then we are super-excited to test out these sweet recipes. Who says raw can't be fun?