Happy 2012!
There’s nothing quite like a new year, full of promise and unlimited possibilities to make me feel like winter isn’t so bad. I love anticipating all the exciting and tantalizing things I’m going to experience in the coming twelve months. 
A vacation on the horizon or a new flavor of gourmet cookies, organic brownies or vegan fudge to look forward to each month, can be great motivators to propel you through the stressful or challenging times that will almost certainly accompany the good times. Plus the 15% monthly club member discount will help take the stress out of gift giving for as long as you’re a monthly club member, since it’s automatically applied to every order you place!
In this new year, as we strive to live healthier, happier and more conscientious lives I have great hope that the positive forces working for compassionate and humane treatment of animals in this country and worldwide will increase and grow. 
Let’s strengthen the already expanding vegan revolution, one sweet bite at a time. Introduce your friends, colleagues, and loved ones to just how excellent (both in flavor and in health) animal-free eating can be. One step at a time, one person at a time, one meal at a time. It’s so easy to eat vegan, especially when the options include outrageously awesome vegan recipes and cookie of the month flavors like Vanilla Almond and Double Chocolate Chunk.
From Allison’s kitchen of heavenly delights: Happy New Year!
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!
Holiday Meals: Dinner and Dessert
In search of the perfect centerpiece for a holiday meal? In years past we’ve done both Vegetable Pot Pie and Lentil Shepherd’s Pie for Thanksgiving at our house, each with great success. Other staples of our holiday tables each year include David’s outrageous cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, garlic brussel sprouts, greens, mashed potatoes with rich brown gravy and stuffing. 
For a complete gourmet holiday menu all in one place and with plenty of options, look no further than the VegNews Holiday eCookbook with everything from pumpkin soup to crispy latkes and my own special Roasted Vegetable Pastries. You’ll find delicious and festive recipes here to feed the whole family in scrumptious style. Planning holiday meals for the people you love can be stressful, but with so many decadent and delicious compassionate choices, it doesn’t have to be.
Finish off a big family meal with your favorite decadent dessert whether it’s a tray of organic brownies, a platter of gourmet cookies, or something more involved like a coconut ice cream and double chocolate chunk brownie Sundae topped with caramel sauce and vegan toffee. 
Complement your dessert with a perfect cup of organic fair-trade tea or fair-trade organic coffee. For holiday-inspired sipping, we like Peppermint Drinking Chocolate or Coconut Nog.
Now, for the other nights of the holiday week, or if you have kids who won’t eat anything green, these “VeganizeIt!” versions of classic pasta favorites (like amazing Mac ‘n’ Cheese) 
are cholesterol-free and even include some hidden veggies, but still have the rich and creamy flavors that everybody loves. For Italian-style family meals try Baked Ziti or Lasagna (available in the current issue of VegNews). Or, for an easy meal for kids or kids at heart, whip up some Alfredo sauce, pour over your favorite pasta and serve with a side of steamed veggies.
For those loved one too far distant to share a holiday meal, consider our many elegant and delectable holiday gifts for the season. Happy Compassionate Thanksgiving!
Holiday Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Having family over for the holidays can be one of those wonderful and also challenging experiences. A house full of loved ones should be a fun and happy time, but it can be crowded and stressful, especially feeding all of those people. We don’t have a plan to make your house bigger, but if you’re wondering what to feed your omnivorous loved ones, we’ve got some answers.
Photo by Snarky Vegan Julia Moran Martz
Take some of the stress off by planning delicious vegan meals in advance. Knowing what you’re making, shopping before hand and doing preparation steps ahead of time can all make your holiday meals go over smoothly and calmly. For great time-saving tips even for more complicated recipes check out Snarky Vegan’s Vegan MoFo series EZ Comfort Food for Tired Wenches. Here are some suggestions from Allison’s award-winning “VeganizeIt!” column from VegNews Magazine:
Photo by Heather Blackmon of Better with Veggies
If you’re having family staying with you for the holidays chances are you’ll want to plan more than just dinners. But a meal planned doesn’t have to be a big, sit-down affair. For a sweet and simple breakfast treat try warm and buttery scones. Our bloggers have created several versions for you to try: Pumpkin Cranberry, Orange Chocolate Chip, and the latest Better with Veggies version Currant-Raisin Orange, which are all spin-offs of Allison’s original Orange Currant recipe. Scones make great casual breakfast fare as they can be kept warm or re-heated for everyone to eat in their own time.
Photo by Snarky Vegan Julia Moran Martz
For a fancy sit-down breakfast or brunch nothing beats a golden-brown Frittata complete with seasonal veggies and topped with your favorite shredded vegan cheese. For extra decadence and tastebud delight, serve slices of Frittata with a fruit salad and strips of Smoky Fried Tofu Bacon on the side (or crumbled and baked in). YUM!
Amidst all the holiday eating, lunch can be a satisfyingly simple and healthy affair. Turn a plain-jane soup and salad combo into light lunch extraordinaire with French Onion Soup (available in the September/October edition of VegNews), Clam-Free Chowder, or Cream of Broccoli Soup and a very green kale salad.
Of course, we’ve got you covered in the sweets department. Let us do the baking, and make dessert one less thing for you to worry about.
Gourmet cookies in seasonal flavors and trays of decadent vegan fudge make perfect holiday snacks and desserts. They’re also great as gifts for friends near or far. Check out the Holiday Gifts and Gifts By Price sections of our website for seasonal gift ideas to fit any budget.
Come back next week for a super exciting chocolate announcement on Monday, and then holiday dinner suggestions and even a new recipe or two later in the week…
Providing the “How” in Living Vegan
You may have noticed that we stay mostly on the positive side of veganism around here. You don’t hear much from us about the torture and abuse of farm animals or the horrors of the dairy, leather and fur industries. 
We’re not, however, trying to gloss-over or ignore these issues. We care very deeply about animal welfare and a compassionate lifestyle, which is why we put most of our time and energy into providing the “how” to being vegan.
There are many amazing resources out there providing the “why” of vegan living from VegNews and Mercy for Animals, to PETA, The Humane Society of the United States and Farm Animal Sanctuaries around the country. They give you the reasons and facts behind veganism, from ending factory farming to the health benefits of animal-free eating. Then, when you’ve decided that you want to live an animal-free lifestyle but don’t feel like baking, or think that veganism means complete deprivation from all the foods you love, that’s where we come in. 
We’re here to offer you solutions, the answers to all your cravings from vegan toffee and gourmet cookies to veganized comfort food recipes. We’re also a great gift-giving resource for vegans and non-vegans alike. Families and friends of vegan enjoy giving delicious, high-quality desserts to their plant-eating loved ones and vegans themselves give Allison’s Gourmet treats when they want delectable, compassionate and fair-trade gifts that even a carnivore will love.
We love providing vegan lifestyle answers to everyday dilemmas, and, although we’re all about the food, we’re happy to be able to connect our customers to other vegan choices too, like donating and volunteering at animal shelters, purchasing animal-friendly attire, and reading the latest vegan books and blogs. We’re here to help. Have a vegan lifestyle question? Looking for vegan inspiration in some area of your life? Ask your questions here and we’ll see if we can dig up the answers.
Salted Is the New Sweet
Kelly’s salted Margarita Biscotti recipe from last week’s Friday with Friends got me thinking about how much I love the salty/sweet flavor combination not just in gourmet cookies, but in vegan chocolates and confections too. I’ve always loved to contrast salty and sweet tastes; on late nights in college I would go back and forth, eating candy, then chips, then candy… But I was still skeptical when Allison first suggested that we try tests of salted caramels and brittle. I thought “I love salty, and I love sweet, but both at once?!” 
If you haven’t yet tried the salted confection phenomenon, maybe you’re thinking the same thing. Let me assure you, then, that these aren’t some super-salty, sickly sweet aberration. Just the right balance of salt added to a sweet confection enhances all the flavors therein, making salted chocolate caramels taste more chocolate-y as well as sweeter and saltier. But tasting is believing, and with hand-crafted vegan confections of the highest quality as ours are, you’re in for a real treat.
In the past year or so Allison has developed several salted confections and there are more in the works. 
Available right now are her unbelievably delicious salted chocolate and vanilla caramels as well as you-won’t-believe-’em-until-you-try-’em salted lavender caramels and salted chocolate brittle (my personal pick for best Father’s Day gift idea). Salted confections make wonderful treats for those with salty palates like mine or for people who love to try new things.
What are your favorite unorthodox flavor combinations?
Fun with Snow Days!
We can usually expect a few inches of snow once or twice a year here in our small foothill community in Northern California. It’s just enough to make it feel like winter, but little enough that many people in this area do not have 4-wheel-drive cars. This year, however, it has already snowed three times and last weekend it snowed over a foot! Now I know we’re not the only ones getting hit with more severe winter than usual this year, and if you’re reading this in the Midwest a foot of snow may not seem like a lot, but around here at least it’s enough to shut down the town. 
Most people were out of power and stuck at home all weekend long and school was canceled for most of last week. While being trapped at home can be a drag, especially if you have work deadlines or screaming kids with cabin fever I like to see it as an opportunity.
Snow days can be really fun and delicious, especially if you have some treats on hand. I know for a lot of people, no power means no heat, so curl up under a blanket (or by the fireplace or wood stove if you have one), light some candles for their warm glow, and indulge in a cup of hot cocoa and some scrumptious gourmet cookies. We spent our snowed-in weekend playing Monopoly for the first time in years and going sledding in our back yard. Then we made one of Allison’s amazing Veganize It! recipes: Shepherd’s Pie. Yum! (Stay tuned for photos coming on Monday).
How Do You Eat Cookies?
My dad sometimes jokes with me that I don’t make toast, I make warm bread, which is funny because it’s actually true. The dry crunch of dark toast is about as far from the sensuous experience I want in my breakfast as you could get. And I feel the same way about gourmet cookies. I want a soft and chewy cookie that’s perfectly flavored and easy to eat. Yep, I’m a chewy cookie girl, and luckily for me, so is Allison, so her cookies are always perfectly soft and delicious.
One of the things I love most about cookies (besides their taste) is their versatility. They’re a go-anywhere, eat anytime, kind of sweet snack. And, there are so many ways to eat them! How do you eat your cookies? Personally, I’m a dipper. I love to dip my cookies in non-dairy milk, Living Harvest’s Tempt Hemp Milk is my favorite one right now. Or, if it’s chilly outside, or maybe the cookies have been out for a few days, warm tea to dip them in is the best! But, I also like soggy cereal, so all you crunchy cereal people must have other ways to eat your gourmet cookies. Do you warm them up? Eat them with non-dairy ice cream? Eat them in non-dairy ice cream? Leave them sitting out for a few days until they get crunchy enough for you? Just kidding, but seriously, if chewy cookies aren’t your thing, try some crunchy peanut brittle and leave the cookies for me. 
December’s Monthly Clubs Arriving Soon
So, it’s December 1st, and for those of you eagerly awaiting your gourmet cookies, brownies and fudge, get your cookie jars ready! Monthly Clubs will be shipping as always, on the first Monday of the month, which is the 6th. You can expect delivery between the 8th and the 10th. Just to give you some idea of what you have to look forward to next week, December’s gourmet cookie of the month is (Wheat-Free) Gingerbread Spice (soft, chewy, and nicely spicy), our brownie of the month is (Wheat-Free) Classi
c Walnut (fudgy, nutty richness), and our fudge this month is perfect-for-the-holidays Pumpkin Pie (the most amazingly spiced, creamy white fudge you’ve ever tasted!).
Looking for holiday gifts online? Monthly Clubs make great gift ideas for your loved ones and yourself. And once you’re a Monthly Club member, you’ll automatically receive 15% off your Monthly Club and all other orders you place with us, even gifts. Let us make your holidays stress-free and delicious – you can place all your gift orders now and select Delayed Delivery Dates to get your shopping done early!
Next Month’s Wheat-Free Cookies: Oatmeal Raisin
Yesterday, we made test batches of September’s gourmet cookies: (Wheat-Free) Oatmeal Raisin. 
This is our fourth Wheat-Free cookie flavor, and they are amazing (I’m eating some right now)! Allison’s constant quest for more and more innovative and delicious gourmet cookies, brownies and confections is part of the reason we’ve been nominated for Favorite Vegan Bakery (Online), Favorite Vegan Cookie Company, and Favorite Vegan Chocolate in the 2010 VegNews Veggie Awards. Allison’s column “Veganize It!” is also nominated for Favorite Column. 
Vote today, and if you’d like to try all our new wheat-free cookie and brownie flavors, consider joining one of our monthly clubs.
