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!
Weekly Wrap Up: Earth Balance & Pre-Lunch Desserts
This is an exciting post for me as it’s my first here at Allison’s Gourmet. I’m a big fan and have followed Allison’s recipes in VegNews for some time, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when she asked me to join the Sweet Talk blog team. 
I’ve been a vegan since I was a teenager and love watching the vegan diet become more popular, thanks to efforts by folks like Allison. So here I am, aptly submitting my very first post on some of the great buzz going on around the internet about Allison’s Gourmet!
Allison’s tasty and healthy Grilled Tempeh Rueben Sandwiches were featured on Earth Balance’s Made Just Right website. We are huge fans of Earth Balance and we’re honored that they chose to feature Allison’s recipe. We’re also super excited about their brand new and oh-so-yummy Coconut Spread. You’ve got to check it out!
In the Twittersphere, we love this Tweet from jchenwriter:
“Love it! Best recipe ever! @craft publishes @VegNews Mac ‘n’ Cheese. Recipe by @AllisonsGourmet, photo by @bittersweet_ http://t.co/D6KcHCE.“
Our friends at Raven + Crow Studio — “a ‘lil Brooklyn-based graphic design studio that specializes in not being jerks” — tweeted that they were,
“Enjoying a pre-lunch dessert of Double Chocolate Chunk cookies from @AllisonsGourmet.”
We love that, and you’ll love them. We can’t take all the credit, but surely vegan cookies have something to do with their coolness. 
And big Congrats to Carrie, the winner of our Dad of the Day Giveaway! She has won a $30 gift certificate to give to a special Dad of her choice. Although her answer was chosen randomly, we really liked what she had to say:
“My father is no longer with us, so on Father’s Day I like to celebrate all the other awesome Dads in my life! My husband will surely get spoiled with breakfast in bed, lunch, dinner and dessert! He also gets to choose whatever activity we will do as a family for that day!”
We’re cooking up some fun surprises for you this summer, so stay tuned for more information on that very soon. Have you seen any Allison’s Gourmet products mentioned on a blog or website? Send us the link and we’ll include it in our weekly round up—and if you Tweet @AllisonsGourmet, we might include that too, especially if you’ve got your own reviews and photos to share. Please upload to our Facebook or Twitter pages and spread the love!
Dad of the Day Giveaway!
Looked at a calendar lately? It’s almost Fathers Day! We love the Day O’ Dads over here at Allison’s and this year we’re looking for the Dad of the Day. Comment here on our blog telling us how you are going to celebrate your dad and what makes him so fantastic and June 19th might get a little sweeter! We’ll pick a winner next week, Monday the 13th, and if you win, we’ll send you or your pops a $30 gift certificate.
This Giveaway is now closed.
If you don’t win, don’t worry, we’ve still got you covered. Here’s a curated selection of products any dad (vegan or otherwise) is sure to love:
The Spice Lover’s Gift Set
For adventurous dads with a (slightly) daring palate! Spiced Peanut Brittle and Chipotle Caramels.
Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
Sweet and salty peanut butter hugged by delectable dark chocolate. Chocolate-loving Dad’s dream come true.
Chocolate Caramels
Buttery caramel. Smooth chocolate. Tootsies just rolled over.
Sweet Desires Gift Basket
For the dad who deserves it all! Peanut butter cups, vegan cookies, two flavors of brownies, four flavors of organic coffee, chocolate peanut brittle, vegan toffee and perfect gift packaging!
Salted Chocolate Brittle
If there was an edible Dad metaphor, this would be it. Classic buttery peanut brittle, rich dark chocolate topped with pink Himalayan salt.
Pecan Brownies
Sumptuous organic brownies fit for a king! Crowned with buttery toasted pecans.
Dad doesn’t have a sweet tooth? Here’s a variety of impeccable organic and fair-trade coffee. Excellent black, iced or otherwise.
Feel great about spoiling the ones you love. All Allison’s products are totally organic, use only the highest quality ingredients, and are cruelty free. And if Daddy loves you, he might share!
Tea and Cookies
How do you take care of yourself? What are the things you do nurture and love yourself? I’m asking because those are questions I’ve been asking myself lately, too. 
The gray, cold winter has been making me feel glum, so to counteract that I’ve been focusing on doing nice things for myself. Self-care, I’ve found, is so important and something that all too often gets lost in the craziness of my busy life. So, I’ve been taking baths, and nurturing myself with vegan cookies and warm cups of fair-trade tea. It feels good (and tastes good too)!
The hardest part for me about making time to care of myself is not feeling guilty about it. But, I’m making en effort to stop feeling guilty. 
I deserve a night off from making dinner. I deserve that extra piece of dessert. I deserve a weekend getaway by myself. It’s a hard step, but feeling deserving of the good things in life makes them so much more enjoyable! So, fight the winter blues by pampering yourself. Whether it’s tea and cookies or a day at the spa, you deserve it!
Monthly Clubs Shipped
It’s that time again, when all our happy monthly club members start expecting their delicious deliveries of fudge, brownies, and cookies of the month! Yesterday we shipped scrumptious Butterscotch Pecan Cookies, heavenly Original Brownies, and divine Vanilla Chai Fudge to everyone on our list. 
Now, I love chocolate as much as the next woman, but I have to say, Allison’s white vegan fudge is quite heavenly, especially the Vanilla Chai flavor. It’s fragrant, sweet, and perfectly spiced with our own proprietary spice blend: warming but not spicy, just right for chilly winter days. And, if you love this month’s Butterscotch Pecan cookies, you may also be interested in our Butterscotch Pecan Fudge, which is similarly flavored and truly spectacular. Hungry yet? You too could become a Monthly Club Member. Learn all about it here.
