Vegan Easter Fun

The Delivery: Assorted Easter chocolates from No Whey! Chocolate and Dyeable Ceramic Easter Eggs from EggNots
Staff Pick: The chocolates

The DL: You know what makes the fourth rainy day in a row better? A box of chocolates. The folks at No Whey! are seriously spoiling us, and you know, we're perfectly content with that. Want some chocolaty deliciousness of your own? Head over to the VegNews Store, which has no shortage of vegan chocolate. Have a wonderful weekend!

Easter Basket Surprise!

The Delivery: An early Easter basket full of vegan, gluten-free treats from Allison's Gourmet

The DL: Just because Easter isn’t until April doesn’t mean we can’t bust out the chocolate bunnies now! At least that’s the message we’re getting from vegan confectionary Allison’s Gourmet. The arrival of this festive feast of sweets just happens to coincide with San Francisco's unusually hot February weather, which is making the first day of spring feel just a bunny-hop away. Still battling the late-winter doldrums? Ditch boredom for board games by hosting a veg game night—complete with a menu that’ll gear you up for that fifth round of Scattergories. Get some inspiration by checking out our feature on Gluten-Free Vegan Bites for Game Night!
 

Delicious Vegan Food

The Delivery: Two boxes of treats from Allison’s Gourmet; MozzaRisella’s vegan mozzarella; samples of sour cream, pudding, and cheese from WayFare; and Gardein’s beefless burgers, chipotle-lime crispy fingers, ultimate sliders, and mandarin orange crispy chick'n
Staff Pick: Allison’s Gourmet truffles, peppermint chocolate bark, peppermint cream patties, and peanut butter cups

The DL: Anytime one of the royal purple Allison’s Gourmet boxes arrives at the office, we can’t wait to dig in and see what Allison has come up with this time (needless to say, we are never disappointed). While she runs an artisan bakery, she’s not afraid to go savory now and again—check out her recipe for vegan lasagna in the Novermber+December issue of VegNews, which has already received tons of praise from readers. In case your sweet tooth still isn’t fixed after tasting Allison’s delicious confections, try This Week’s Must-Have: a Marshmallow Truffle Bar from Desiderio Chocolates. Just try to save some for the inevitable drooling onlookers (i.e. us).

Alternative Tootpaste

The Date: Monday, August 29
The Delivery: Toothy Tabs (and some eco-friendly toothbrushes!) from Lush Cosmetics 
Staff Pick: The Toothy Tabs!

The DL: We here at the VNHQ love getting deliveries of chocolate, cookbooks, and chips, but perhaps even more than those three Cs, we love a new vegan product unlike anything we've ever C-een (get it?). Enter: Toothy Tabs. The folks at Lush are aiming to reduce the ecological impact of toothpaste tubes and dispensers with these tabs. Pop in your mouth, brush as normal, and keep some of the one billion toothpaste tubes that end up in landfills annually out. We are so intrigued we might whip some out some of these Toothy Tabs right now. After all, we did just have lunch.

Vegan Energy Bars

The Date: Thursday, August 11
The Delivery: Clif Mojo Bars in White Chocolate Macadamia, Dipped S'mores, and Chocolate Almond Coconut, and Clif Crunch Bars in Blueberry and Chocolate Peanut Butter
Staff Pick: Mojo S'mores! 

 The DL: Here at the VNHQ, we are pretty darned obsessed with s'mores. Not to put too fine a point on it, but maybe there's good reason for this, and maybe you'll find said reason in the September+October issue, which will be out in just a few weeks! Until then, we're hoping that these decadent-looking bars help power us through our November+December issue—we're already in the thick of it!

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.

Vegan Meats, Books, and Raw Chocolate

The Date: Tuesday, January 8

The Delivery: Vegan burgers, chunky strips, and chicken-style nuggets from Fry's Vegetarian; The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker; Edible Secrets by Michael Hoerger and Mia Partlow; and raw chocolate maca sauce and raw chocolate in assorted flavors from Chocolatl

Staff Pick: The goji-maca chocolates

The DL: With Valentine's Day just around the corner, everyone and their vegan mother is trying to get their hands on a box of chocolates. These organic, vegan, low-glycemic bites are the real deal, and their Mayan temple-inspired packaging is an exotic exit from the usual red lips- and heart-shaped containers. We haven't tried them yet, but it's safe to say we probably wouldn't mind sharing a box of these with our partners come February 14. Actually, scratch that—we're going to keep them for ourselves. Maybe we'll even dribble some caramel agave (This Week's Must Have) on top for good measure.

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.

Chocolate!

The Date: Wednesday, October 6

The Delivery: Chocolate

Staff Pick: Antidote Choco Lavender Sea Salt bar

The DL: Vastly improving our Wednesdays were these classy-looking chocolate creations from Antidote Choco. What's with all the high-end vegan chocolate coming out of NYC these days? Step it up San Francisco! Since sea salt makes everything better, we are most excited to bite into the Lavender Sea Salt bar. We know you're jealous, but we're paying it forward. It may not be on the same level as sea salted chocolate bars, but if you're looking for some vegan, kid-friendly, personal-care products, you'd be crazy not to enter the giveaway on VegNews.com!

Sjaak's Bites

The Date: Friday, September 10
The Delivery: Chocolate Bites
Staff Pick: Sjaak's Hazelnut Butter Bites

The DL: We may or may not have mauled the postman as he delivered a huge box that we immediately identified as being from Sjaak's, purveyors of fine vegan chocolates. Fortunately, in addition to a big shipment of vegan organic peanut butter cups to sell in our VegNews Store, Sjaak's included a sample of their "Milk" Hazelnut Bites for us to sample. Consider our heavy Friday afternoon workload significantly lifted!

Amazing Assortment of Raw Chocolates

The Date: Tuesday, July 20
The Delivery: Wellness guides, olives, biscotti, and raw chocolates
Staff Pick: Raw chocolates from Veggie Brothers

The DL: We received another shipment from the Veggie Brothers today, and these chocolates have the potential to be our favorite of their treats. All the chocolates are raw, organic, and vegan. The Veggie Brothers sent us the "amazing assortment," so we're excited to try any of the goji berry, raspberry, walnut, cherry, pistachio, pecans, coconut, strawberry, or cashew chocolates.

Dinner and a Movie

Date: Friday, October 9
The Delivery: A new line of chocolates from Lagusta's Luscious, a hefty cookbook, and the documentary film Seeds of Hunger
Staff Pick: 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson

The DL: What can we say, we love our cookbooks here at the VNHQ, and the new collection of recipes from VegNews columnist Robin Robertson is filled to the brim with kitchen inspiration.

Blue-Plate Special: Classic Meatloaf

Date: Wednesday, August 26
The Delivery: Several rolls of Taza Chocolate and a couple new products from Field Roast
Staff Pick: The Classic Meatloaf

The DL: This is not your average meatloaf—being made with grains and vegetables—and we say bring it on! Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be in the kitchen making some gravy and mashed potatoes for the side.

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Take it to the Max!

Date: Thursday, May 21
The Delivery: An assortment of Go Max Go Foods' new vegan candy bars wrapped in their snazzy, new packaging, along with two elegant bottles of Kikusui Junmai Ginjo Chrysanthemum Mist Organic Saké.

Staff Pick: Go Max Go Foods' Vegan Candy Bars

The DL: It's no secret around here—the VN staff is in love! With Go Max Go Foods' Candy Bars, that is. We've fallen head over heals for these rice-milk chocolate coated nuggets of rich, gooey goodness. Although we've already sampled the launch version of these treats, we think we better taste-test these newly-outfitted versions to confirm product consistency. Can't wait to try these yourself? Keep your eye out for our upcoming giveaway!

Need for Sweets

Date: Tuesday, May 19
The Delivery: A ton of Simplifast, two chocolate bars (one vegan, one not), non-vegan marinade, and a kids' activity book
Staff Pick: Dagoba's seed-infused chocolate bar

The DL: It was a very busy weekend for the VN staffers, and the craziness isn't stopping anytime soon. How do we cope? With chocolate, of course! So, it's a good thing that it keeps coming though our door—our sweet cravings are never-ending.

Mooving Onto the Weekend

Date: Friday, March 20
The Delivery: Several frozen entrées (some non-vegan), chocolate bars from Newman's Own, shea nut butter from Vermont Soap, and two NuHemp products
Staff Pick: The Poblano Chick Patties from Moo Moo's Vegetarian Cuisine look mighty delicious

The DL: Some of us here at the VNHQ are happy to see the weekend here at last, and these yummy-looking meals helped to top-off the excitement. Have a good one!

Tea Time!

Date: Friday, October 24
The Delivery: Chocolaty-mint tea and convenient applesauce for the little ones
Staff Pick: Get your chocolate fix in a healthier way with Mighty Leaf Chocolate Mint Truffle Tea

The DL: Some of us at the VNHQ can't even go a day without having chocolate, so we thought that it would be a good idea to check this dessert-like tea out. An herbal beverage that tastes like truffles? Yes please!