Post-ThanksLIVING Day Inspiration: Compassion in Action
We hope everyone had a wonderful ThanksLIVING—giving and receiving love and great vegan food yesterday. Now begins the traditional mad rush countdown to Christmas, and no doubt many of you are out shopping already. Good luck!
While we certainly have lots of great gifts here at Allison’s—from our new vegan artisan caramels and truffles to our monthly memberships—we’re most excited to offer the gift of compassion every day.
Probably many of you sat around a table yesterday with people you love and care for deeply while having a very different experience as they poured more gravy over dry turkey and you tried not to think about the life sacrificed…it’s not easy being the sole vegan or vegetarian at any table, but especially on Thanksgiving.
As a more than 20-year vegan myself, I know that this movement of compassion is only getting stronger. We can see it now more than ever as more celebrities speak out for animals, more restaurants and supermarkets include vegan options, humane standards become more widely adopted, and plant-based diets become more desirable to the ailing, unhealthy Americans eating processed junk food. That doesn’t mean we’ll ever live in a world that’s entirely vegan, but it sure feels like we’re too far down the road towards a more compassionate culture to turn back now—whatever lies ahead of us is closer than what lies behind.
Whether or not you’re adding Allison’s fine products to your gift-giving this season, you may want to consider other compassionate giflt choices like ‘adopting’ a Farm Sanctuary animal, supporting one of PETA’s programs, making a donation to a local animal shelter or buying a foodie friend a vegan cookbook. As the planet continues to transition, gifting compassionately helps us to continue to be beacons in a world that is indeed on its way towards something better for all of Earth’s creatures. And that is certainly something to be thankful for.
18 Vegan MoFo Recipes You Have to Try!
October has flown by… like a pumpkin with wings. Of course, the vegan food options just get better as we get closer to the 
holidays. And October was a pretty delicious month too, especially if you were participating in Vegan MoFo! We enjoyed the interpretations of Allison’s very own VegNews Veganize It! recipes from Julia Moran Martz (Snarky Vegan) and Heather Blackmon (Better With Veggies). Check out their recipes below and let us know your favorites. Did you try any of these at 
home? What was your biggest yummm during Vegan MoFo? We want to know about your favorite vegan recipes on Facebook and Twitter. Have a spooky, safe and sweet Halloween!
Frittata (version 1-Snarky Vegan)
Frittata (version 2-Better With Veggies)
Lentil Loaf (version 1-Snarky Vegan)
Lentil Loaf (version 1-Better With Veggies)
Tuna Free Salad Sandwiches (version 1-Snarky Vegan)
Tuna Free Salad Sandwiches (version 2-Better With Veggies)
And you can check out all of Allison’s original Award-Winning Veganize It! recipes here.
Vegan MoFo Month and Mindful Vegan Eating
This Vegan MoFo month is flying by too fast! We hope you’re eating well and learning lots! Two things that are definitely 
lasting are the yummy recipe contributions from our delightful guest bloggers: Snarky Vegan’s Julia Moran Martz and Better with Veggies’ Heather Blackmon. Have you seen their latest versions of Allison’s Veganize It recipes? We’ve been posting them here on Monday’s and throughout the week on Facebook and Twitter. Good stuff for sure, especially this incredible version of BLT from Heather. YUM.
We’ve got pumpkin on the brain this week! Fall is so full of colors and flavors, it truly is a magical time of year. What fun pumpkin recipes will you be cooking up over the next few months? One that I absolutely love comes from one of our favorite vegan chef’s—Urban Vegan Dynise Balcanage’s pumpkin risotto. Not only is her risotto recipe a delicious and healthy, creamy meal, but it’s a mindful one, too. The constant stirring and measuring the softness of the rice as liquid fills each grain is a meditation and opportunity to really connect with food in such a lovely way. (Find her risotto recipe and many other greats here.) Mindfulness in food is so important to us here at Allison’s that we actually updated our organizing system so that you can better identify and understand our product selection. Take a look and let us know what you think!
One of our Twitter friends asked us for a quick vegan lunch recipe. We recommend Allison’s Amazing Veganize It! Vegan Alfredo recipe. It’s easy, filling and oh so creamy –a delectable meal for the month all about yummy vegan meals. Let us know your favorite quick or not-so-quick recipes of the month. Sweet eats!
On Winning, Winners and Monster Candy
It’s always refreshing to know that you’re appreciated. Allison felt a big rush of that this week as she learned that her 
“Veganize It!” column was the winner of the VegNews award for best column! If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a deliciously fun way to learn how to turn non-veg recipes into scrumptious vegan meals. And, the recipes are so easy and malleable that our two Vegan MoFo bloggers are tweaking them all month long. You can read the latest from Julia and Heather on Mondays and throughout the week on Facebook and Twitter.
This week we also announced the winners to our first-ever Tee and Tote Design Contest! Congratulations to our Grand Prize 
winner Erika Themaras, our 2nd prize winner Jonathan Day and our third place winners—it was a tie—Karen Rosenstein and Devin St. Clair! All the entries were inspired and creative and we loved getting to know all of the artists. We hope you love the designs as much as we do, and we look forward to more contests in the future.
Speaking of the future, Halloween is right around the corner, and we’ve got a special batch of hard caramels that just melt in your mouth in four yumtastic 
flavors: vanilla, mocha, chocolate and butterscotch pecan. The creamy organic vegan goo is perfect for any ghouls, goblins and monsters who prefer healthy treats in a scary world. Until next time!
Vegan MoFos Meet Vegan Monsters!
October is Vegan MoFo month and already just a week in our incredibly talented guest vegan chefs have recreated several of Allison’s “Veganize It!” recipes in mouth-watering detail. 
Congrats to Heather Blackmon and Julia Moran Martz (aka Snarky Vegan) for their commitment to make at least 20 vegan meals this month! We’ll keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook as they submit new recipes and we’ll feature their faves here on the blog too.
This week Allison also announced a very special limited edition Halloween candy: Hard Caramels. They come in four ghoulishly good flavors for your little vegan monsters: Vanilla, Chocolate, Mocha and Butterscotch Pecan, and make the perfect Halloween treat for tricksters of any age. The all organic ingredients are a much healthier choice than the corn syrup laden junk sure to be the
predominant option as door bells are rung across the country by costumed kids this year.
We announced this week that we’ll be officially moving from our Facebook friend page to our Facebook fan page. Many of you already “like” us there, and we hope many more of you will join us! The shift happens officially on November 1 and will allow us to better manage our time and interactions with you in one Facebook home. We look forward to seeing you there and on Twitter! Until next time….
4 Reasons This Week Made Us Extra Proud to Be Vegan
If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been asking some questions over on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks to all who answer—it’s so great to 
get to know you better! And the verdicts are in—you all definitely love pancakes and French toast pretty much evenly across the board as long as they’re vegan. The same goes for chai and hot chocolate, too. Good choices indeed!
Thanks for the nice shout out from Shae Thompson on Facebook who enjoyed our fudge. Feedback keeps us pressing on to bring you the best products and service!
We were moved to tears by the story that broke last week about the chimps at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NorthWest in Cle Elum, WA, who had spent their entire lives in laboratories and finally got to experience some increased freedom. It’s a reminder of why we do what we do and that there’s no reason to ever give up hope that all animals will someday enjoy happy endings like this one.
Public voting ends today for our first-ever Tee and Tote Design Contest! Thanks to all the contestants and voters! Next phase is the ten designs that received the most votes go to our incredible panel of judges who will select the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners, which we’ll announce next week! Good luck to all the contestants and thanks to everyone for supporting us.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Weekly Wrap-up: The Art of Vegan Voting
The weather may be getting cooler, but things have definitely been heating up in our Tee and Tote Design Contest! With 20 
amazing entries, the voting is fully underway! You’ve got until the end of the month to vote for your favorite, helping us get down to our top ten designs.
From there, it’s onto the judges for the hard part: deciding who wins! Fortunately we have an incredible team of vegans-with-style hand-picked by Allison, all of whom are excited to help select the three winners (thanks team!).
In case you missed the news, our judges include: Gene Baur of Farm Sanctuary, Colleen Holland from VegNews, Nathan Runkle 
from Mercy for Animals, Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart from Vaute Couture, Chloé Jo Davis from GirlieGirlArmy and Troy Farmer and Katie Frichtel of Raven + Crow Studio.
You have until September 30th to vote for your favorite design—have you picked one yet? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter! And send us your contest ideas for the next Allison’s Gourmet giveaway.
Weekly Wrap-up: We Have Blogger Fever, Contest Update and More!
In case you missed the news, Allison made her way up to the first Vida Vegan Con in Portland last month. She was sending us 
play-by-play pics throughout, but her Wednesday wrap-up really takes the experience to another level…and makes us a little hungry! Good times and lots of good food gave the glorious vegan blogger community so much to talk (and write!) about. We’ve all been kneeling around Allison listening to her stories as if she’s come back from a visit with Santa (and, no, that’s not Santa in the pic–that’s Bob from Bob’s Red Mill!). What a treat indeed. Whether you’re a blogger or just a vegan—and especially if you have plans to visit Portland anytime soon—we definitely recommend checking it out.
Gah! We’re just a week away from the deadline to submit your designs to our first Tee and Tote Design Contest! In case you haven’t heard us yapping on about it over the last month, we’d love to see your creative design to be used on signature Allison’s tee shirts and tote bags. You also have the option (but not required) to design a new Allison’s Gourmet logo as well! The grand prize winner will receive $500 and lots of yummy yummies
, so get your submissions in by September 15th.
We really love the conversations on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so please keep the comments coming and let us know what you’d like to read and discuss. More vegan recipes? More stories from Allison? More product specific info? We’ve got some inspired ideas on the way, and always love your input in the process. Until next time…
Weekly Wrap-up: Let’s Get this Party Started
It’s official. We’re in the final days of another summer countdown. September has arrived as what feels like an eager guest showing up before the party starts. And oh what a party September’s going to be! (It’s just that, you know, we 
could still use a few more years of summer!).
Fresh from the Vida Vegan Conference in Portland, Allison is chock full of wisdom, inspiration, vegan cupcakes and new friends we hope to be seeing a lot more of—at least on Facebook and Twitter. If you don’t know about the conference, we highly recommend you spend some time checking out their website, which is full of sweet nuggets of information and creativity.
Thanks to everyone who cast their votes for Allison’s in the VegNews Veggie Awards! Winners are announced in the November/December issue (can you believe we have to wait THAT long?!)—and even if we didn’t win, we’re winners everyday just by having great fans and 
supporters (ahem, YOU!). And speaking of support—another big thanks for helping spread the word about our Tee and Tote Design Contest! There are still 2 somewhat warm and inspiring weeks to submit your designs for a chance at $500 and lots of goodies.
There’s plenty more excitement lined up for September and beyond, but like any good party, we don’t want to spoil the fun, so we’ll leave many of the surprises to be discovered as the festivities move along. Have a great Labor Day, everyone!
Weekly Wrap-up: Living La Vida Vegan Con, Prizes, Contests and the Party of the Summer!
And so another perfect August winds itself down to memories and photographs…but we’re actually really looking forward to the September just ahead. While Allison is up in Portland getting super inspired at the first Vida Vegan Conference, we’re holding it down here, with lots going on!
There’s still a week to vote in the VegNews Veggie Awards. You can qualify to win lots of great prizes by voting for your favorite brands. We’re nominated in three awesome categories: Best online bakery, best candy, and best column (Allison’s awesome “Veganize It!”).
You also still have plenty of time to get your Tee and Tote Design Contest entry submissions in before the first round of voting begins on September 16th. We are amazed at what’s already been submitted and can’t wait to receive your entries! Winner gets $500 and lots of sweet treats. Feel free to spread the word and join in the sweet talk on our Facebook page and on Twitter.
And if you’ve got Labor Day parties planned, now is a great time to order to 
have enough cookies, fudge or brownies on hand to make just one more special summer memory that lasts.
