Valentine’s Day: It’s Closer Than You Think
So I know Valentine’s Day is still over a week away, and most of us are probably just now starting to think about it. But I just have to say, we sure wish that calendar makers would consult with us before placing important holidays on Mondays and Tuesdays! 
Here’s the one challenge to an online business: you have to order early to allow time for shipping, and, since we don’t ship over weekends, getting packages delivered on Mondays is impossible, and deliveries on Tuesdays require Overnight shipping which is expensive. So, this year, ordering early is even more important then usual.
Don’t wait until the last minute and leave finding the right gift for your Valentine to chance or the whim of the grocery store candy isle clerk. Your sweetheart deserve more than that, don’t you think?
How about treating him or her to the compassionate indulgence of some of the very best organic, dairy-free and fair-trade chocolate on the planet. And, although chocolates are customary for this time of year, we have plenty of other options if chocolates aren’t suited to either their taste or your purpose. Maybe a fair-trade tea sampler or something from our vegan bakery will more accurately express your sentiments. We’re here to help, we want to make your Valentine’s Day as delicious and stress-free as possible: just let us know how we can help.
Making the Most of Winter
The Winter Solstice happened last week, which means that it’s officially cold, dark and winter. I generally dislike winter. Instead of snuggling by the fireplace all day where I’d like to be, I’m usually up and about, interacting with the cold, dark world. But, I’m trying to make the best of the situation and find ways to enjoy these winter month.
Photo by Julia Moran Martz of Snarky Vegan
The “bright” side of being past the Solstice is that at least the days aren’t getting any shorter, and cold weather is a great excuse to eat and drink warm and hearty yummy things both savory and sweet. I make a lot of soup this time of year, and one of the things that we’ve been doing every day at Allison’s through the busy holiday rush has been drinking lots of warm beverages.
Mostly we do fair-trade tea, with vegan cookies to go with it, of course. Lately, to mix things up, we’ve also made some awesome mugs of hot cocoa drinking chocolate and even some organic coffee (although we’re all so “up” already that we opted for the amazingly delicious Decaf Vanilla Nut variety). In my off hours I’m making a point to get some exercise, and spend some time outdoors which is hard at first, but once I’m out and warm, it really lifts my spirits.
How do you stay warm and happy during the winter chill?
Order Now: Holiday Flavors and Seasonal Favorites
I know it seems like December just began, but believe it or not Hanukkah begins in just 11 days (the night of the 19th) and Christmas is in 16 days! Once they get going these holidays just fly by, don’t they? Thankfully, you don’t have to wait until the last minute to order your holiday gifts for on-time delivery. 
December’s monthly flavors of gourmet cookies, organic brownies and vegan fudge are newly available, making now the perfect time to order all your holiday gifts online. Choose our delayed delivery date option during checkout to have your gifts delivered exactly when you want them. 
With top-notch dessert options for every taste from fair-trade coffee and tea to our new line of exquisite artisan chocolates, cross “holiday shopping” off your To Do list and let us worry about the rest of the details. Or, if you’d rather let your loved ones choose their own favorites, an instant gift certificate delivered via email or postal mail, lets them do just that.
Thank you for allowing us the honor of sending important gifts to people you care about. We appreciate your trust. Happy Compassionate Holidays!
New Categories Make Shopping Even Easier!
We just past the second anniversary of the launch of our gorgeous new website. Although, at two years old, it’s not really “new” anymore, 
we’re always updating and improving our look as well as our premium selection of products, so there’s usually something new to see and drool over. Recently, we’ve added a few new categories including Gluten-Free, Business Gifts, Gifts By Price and Seasonal Gifts (including Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Halloween and Holiday gifts). We hope that the added categories will make our website easier to navigate and make finding and ordering your favorite treats simple and quick.
Halloween is just around the corner, so there’s not time to loose if you want a taste of the four limited edition flavors of our new Hard Caramels Halloween Candy including Mocha made with our own premium, fair-trade coffee. Order before this Monday the 24th to ensure delivery in time for all those trick-or-treaters on the 31st. 
Other warming Autumnal favorites to match the change in the season include our Spice Lover’s Gift Set and Mexican Chocolate Brownies.
I know it seems early, but malls are already starting to play “Jingle Bells” and we’re already gearing up for the winter holidays. If you want to plan ahead and make shopping easy and stress-free this year, let us take care of all your holiday gifts online. 
We offer a delectable selection of classic and unique confections and baked goods as well as fair-trade tea, coffee, and chocolate gifts. Our elegant gourmet coffee gift baskets make excellent corporate holiday gifts that will create smiles all around at any office party and are sure to impress your co-workers. Shop around now so you know what you want to order later, or, if you really want to be ahead of the game, order your fair-trade gifts now using our delayed delivery date option to choose exactly when you want them delivered.
Weekly Wrap-up: Contests Make for a Sweet (and Nerve-Wracking!) Week
Our week has been somewhat single-focused on our first ever Tee and Tote Design contest—can you blame us? Not only are we super excited about seeing all of your great designs, but we’re a little nervous too! The anticipation (deadline is September 15) is enough to make us brew up a nice cup of fair-trade tea and nibble on our favorite vegan cookies to calm the nerves. That always works…
Tessa broke down the benefits of our monthly clubs on Wednesday (they’re also one of the prizes in our design contest!). 
It’s a good read to understand the programs and why your sweet tooth can have its cake (or vegan brownie, as it were) and eat it too—without the guilt. Organic and vegan treats are so much healthier than the conventional, GMO, high fructose corn syrup stuff out there, and it’s nice to have a steady supply to treat yourself, or others, throughout the month.
So hopefully you’ll tell all your artist-minded friends and co-workers about our design contest, and maybe if they win the $500 and monthly membership, they’ll share some of their sweet treats with you!
Perfect Combinations
Ever since we changed our cookie and brownie recipes to use oat flour instead of wheat, Allison has been a little bit obsessed with her own cookies. For a long time it was the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies that were her almost daily habit, but recently, her preference has leaned towards Double Chocolate Chunk. 
Last week I found her enjoying this little snack and we decided that the Double Chocolate Chunk Cookie with a glass of So Delicious Coconut Milk was such a perfect combination we just had to document it! (Allison prefers the Unsweetened flavor, but I usually go for the Original or the Vanilla.)
That little snap shot got me thinking about other perfect dessert combinations and here are some of my favorites (more photos to come, I promise):
• Peppermint Hot Cocoa with a Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie to dip in it.
• Decaf Vanilla Nut organic coffee with So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Creamer and a Pecan Brownie on the side.
• Soft Peanut Butter Cookies warmed in a toaster oven with chocolate chips melted on top.
• Rooibos Earl Grey fair-trade tea made with 4-5 drops of stevia and a splash of rice milk and… never mind… that drink is so delicious it’s its own perfect combination.
What are your ideal dessert combos? We’d love to hear your ideas and see your photos.
Thai Iced Tea Recipe
A delicious meal at our favorite Thai restaurant recently inspired me to create my own recipe for Thai Iced Tea, which I absolutely adore, but haven’t had in years because it’s usually made with condensed milk (yuck!). So, this week I had tons of fun in the kitchen creating this vegan version using So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer and our own fair-trade tea.
As promised, I’m sharing the recipe with you here, but first, let me warn you that this is by no means a “healthy” drink. In fact, I would classify it as more of a dessert than a beverage; it’s rich and sweet, everything a great dessert should be. Have fun, be bold, indulge!
What to use…
4 teaspoons Rooibos Earl Grey
8 ounces boiling water
2 tablespoons sugar (you may try using stevia here instead, however, the amount of stevia required to equal the sweetness of sugar might be too much and turn bitter—not good!)
4-5 ice cubes
1/4 cup So Delicious Original Coconut Milk Creamer
And how…
1. Place a brewing basket in a medium-sized mug and add loose tea. Pour boiling water over tea and let steep for 7 minutes, then remove brewing basket.
2. Add sugar to hot tea and stir until completely dissolved.
3. Place tea in the refrigerator and let cool completely.
4. Add cool tea and ice to a 12-ounce glass then pour creamer on top. Do not stir, serve immediately.
For a fruity caffeine kick try this same recipe with our Mango Ceylon tea. Since ceylon is more bitter than rooibos, I recommend steeping for only 3 minutes and adding more sugar to taste. Enjoy!
If you make this at home we’d love to see pictures! Post photos on our Facebook or Twitter pages along with any changes you made to the recipe.
Warm Weather Treats
I had a sweet treat revelation a few days ago when Allison handed me a frozen Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie to try. Oh my gawd! 
It had been out of the freezer for maybe five or ten minutes, so it was still hard, but not rock solid, and it was absolute cookie perfection. Cold, crunchy and minty, this is the ideal way to enjoy a cookie on a hot day. And, it’s also a perfect way to turn our normally chewy cookies into crunchy ones for those crunchy cookie people out there. 
I think I’m going to start freezing our other cookie flavors and maybe Peppermint Creme Patties too!
Since it’s hot out and I’m on the topic of summer treats already, here are few more recipe ideas for you to try:
Chocolate Milkshakes using your favorite non-dairy milk and/or ice cream, our classic or peppermint drinking chocolate, and optional frozen fruit combined to taste and blended completely smooth.
Iced organic coffee with non-dairy creamer (we like So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer) and sugar (or stevia) to taste.
Your favorite fair-trade tea brewed strong, iced and sweetened with stevia. (Add stevia one drop at a time to avoid over-sweetening.)
If you make any of these recipes we’d love to see photos and get your comments either here or on our Facebook or Twitter pages. Come back next week for my Mango Ceylon Thai Iced Tea recipe inspired by a recent jaunt to our favorite Thai restaurant.
Healthy Dad!
It’s June 1st and there are only two weeks left to order for Father’s Day! Do you know a special Dad who deserves a treat but is trying to stay healthy or get fit? You can support healthy Dad and show him that healthy eating does not have to mean complete deprivation. 
Our vegan baked goods, confections and chocolate gifts contain zero cholesterol and use all organic, superior-quality, real-food ingredients; no animal products, preservatives or artificial anything. Tickle his taste buds with decadent organic brownies, a perfectly picante Spice Lover’s Gift Set, or elegant chocolate caramels. Treats should, of course, be consumed in moderation and a healthy lifestyle should also include several servings a day of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as regular exercise. 
For a little of everything, treat Dad to a complete vegan gift basket with plenty of goodies share!
If Dad’s really not eating treats at all, there’s always our elegant fair-trade coffee or tea samplers that ensure guilt-free gift giving for every lifestyle.
Elegant and Sustainable Straws: Review and Giveaway!
If there is one thing I try hard to avoid, it’s waste of the “disposable” variety. If there are two things I strongly dislike, they’re landfill filling and plastic. If there are three things I shudder at, they’re once-and-done debris, anything poly and also ethylene, and dirty things in my kitchen. If there’re four things I have an aversion to, they’re temp-use refuse, organic polymers that can be molded into shapes when soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form, filth near food, and plastic straws.
Olivia drinking green juice with her shorty decorative dots straw from GlassDharma
All that said, when one has a four-year-old, straws add convenience and fun. This is why eschewing plastic straws sent me on an ecstatic journey to find sustainable straws. A while back, I purchased a set made from stainless steel for my daughter. It was definitely a step in the right direction, but after a few uses, Olivia mentioned a funny taste. I was horrified to find that no amount of my obsessive cleaning could scrub the inside of those opaque straws. That’s when the clouds parted, the angels began to sing, and I found GlassDharma.
GlassDharma makes straws out of (almost) unbreakable glass (really, there’s a guarantee!). And that’s just the beginning! There are so many other great things about these straws. First, they are completely clear, so I can see that they’re clean and we get the satisfaction of watching our suction power beat gravity when we drink green juice, smoothies, and even fair-trade tea. Second, GlassDharma offers cleaning brushes specifically designed to fit inside the straw! Have I mentioned that I love attention to detail? Oh, and I’m obsessive about cleanliness, so this is a big one for me. Third, dots! These colorful, decorative dots add to the straws’ elegance and keep them from rolling off the counter. What a brilliant and beautiful design!
There’s something so fun about drinking through a straw, and Olivia says that GlassDharma’s are extra fun to blow through. 
These would also be a great addition to your To Go Kit, helping the mission of Take Out Without to reduce restaurant waste (and your own ingestion of plastics).
As a special treat for AG’s Sweet Talk readers, GlassDharma is giving away a $25 gift certificate to the commenter with the most straw-worthy beverage! Just leave a comment, here on our blog in the form of a description/recipe for your most enticing elixir! We’ll pick a winner Monday, so stay tuned.
