Homemade Bath Salts and Some really amazing soap with flower petals

Spices, Stuffing and Tea

Ginger Slices

Dr. Bronner's

Fruit bars and Lara bars

Measuring spoons, rosemary, mini-colander and CVL little frame

Chocolate PB, Chocolate Mint "Chips" and Chocolate Tea

Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and Homemade Salsa- BOTH SO GOOD

I want to thank Kaycee for all the wonderful goodies and if you ever have the opportunity to try her salsa do so it is amazing!

Some of the items from Neil's 2009 Care Package

- Name
- Location
- Blog URL
- Where you are willing to ship (USA, USA & Canada or International)
- Type of items you would like receive only vegan, vegetarian or do you have no preference (including non-veg items)

Please do not send me your address. I will match people together, give each other your e-mail addresses and then you can go on to exchange mailing addresses.

Please expect to spend around $25 on goods, if you would like to spend more if you would like, you can discuss this more with your partner. FYI you do not have to be vegan to participate in this swap however you do need to have a blog. People will be paired based on the shipping and dietary preferences.

*Sign Up Closed* Please enter to participate by September 8, 2011 at 1:30PM EST. I will match people up and let them know their pairs by September 10, 2011. You will have one month to gather your items and mail them out- so all packages should be mailed by October 12, 2011. Once you receive your package please photograph the contents and make a post to your blog detailing what is in your package, link to your partners blog and a link to this posting.

*Disclaimer: Please remember that this swap is based on trust and only for those who are serious about participating and will follow through.
My Past Care Package:
- Care Package 2010
- Care Package 2009

In my package there was this great mug from the famous Cafe du Monde and some chicory coffee.  I tried these right away and loved the chicory coffee. I did it au lait as suggested on the side of the bag and it was delicious.  I also have to say that this mug is my new favorite.

Annie Chun’s roasted seaweed snacks which were super yummy

Zapp’s sweet potato chips which were light and yummy-my new favorite chip.

Two Justin’s Almond Butter squeeze packets which I have been using in my morning cereal; this morning was Uncle Sam’s oats cereal, apple, hemp milk and almond butter.

Lastly a few other great treats that I haven’t yet tried- Etouffee mix which I plan on making this weekend, Hot Sauce, Creole seasoning, lara bars and a tote.

Thank You Tanya!

And, Thank You to all of you who participated!

So, if you are a blogger and are interested please comment here and send me a note  to Lindsay (at) cookingforaveganlover dot com with the e-mail address that you would like to be contacted at as well as the following information:

• Name
• Location
• blog URL
• whether you will ship internationally or not
• Would you like to receive only vegan, vegetarian or do you have no preference (including non-veg items)

Please do not send me your address. I will match people together, give each other your e-mail addresses and then you can go on to exchange mailing addresses.

Please expect to spend around $25 on  goods, if you would like to spend more than do so, however, do not be disappointed if your partner does not do the same.  Also you do not have to be vegan to participate in this swap however you do need to have a blog and unless paired with another non-vegan you will be expected to only include vegan items in your care package.

Please enter to participate by August 22, 2010. I will match people up and let them know their pairs by August 24, 2010. You will have one month to gather your items and mail them out- so all packages should be mailed by September 24, 2010. Once you receive your package please photograph the contents and make a post to your blog detailing what is in your package, link to your partners blog and a link to this posting.

*Disclaimer: Please remember that this swap is based on trust and only for those who are serious about participating and will follow through.

The Care Package Hubz received - 2009

The Care Package I received 2009

I love that the Hubz is a coffee drinker now and that we can make a french press of coffee for the two of us in the mornings and share it while waking up and getting ready for the day.  I however have been trying to be good and cut back on my coffee intake because it isn’t great to have too much of it but I have a cup or 2 a day and tons of water. My favorite Bodum french press (above) is in my OpenSky shop and is such a good deal too.

Oh and here is breakfast:

I finally have got myself back in the yoga groove again and am loving how the balance between my running and hiking and gentle yoga that helps to stretch my tight body.  I have recently received a new yoga mat from Aurorae and I am really starting to like it.  For me and I assume most people it takes a little time to get used to a new yoga mat and work it in but I am really starting to enjoy this one.  I also love that each of the Aurorae mats are a different color which are meant to define your inner self; mine is pink which is Hope.

The qualities that the Hope (pink mat) define are intuitive, faithful, visionary, power of positive thought, energetic & healing.  Additionally I really like that this mat is longer and thicker than some of my other mats which is great when I want a gentle practice or meditation.  Lastly one of the great features of this mat is the focal point icon at the end of the mat to help with concentration.  I find myself drawn to focusing there and it helps me balance and focus. Since I really like this mat I’ve decided to add it to my OpenSky shop hope you check it out!

Lastly don’t forget to let me know if you are interested in participating in the vegan care package swap.  At this point there is no commitment I am just trying to get a feel for how many people are interested.  You do not have to be vegan to participate in this swap however you do need to have a blog and unless paired with another non-vegan you will be expected to only include vegan items in your care package.  These items can be store bought or homemade and can be anything from food to clothes to gadgets or basically anything you like and want to share with someone else. If you are interested please go here and leave a comment letting me know.  Oh and you can be international so long as I have participants who want to ship internationally! In the next day or 2 I will be posting more information about what the swap entails and how to sign up.

Disclaimer: Aurorae provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

French Press of Coffee and Oatmeal with Chia Seeds and PB

And then again over chocolate and wine last night:

I think it may be time to do another Vegan Care Package Swap- so if you would like to learn more about this and are blogger who is interested in participating please let me know.  Over the years more and more people have participated and I think that it is a great way to connect with people as well as try new and fun things. So if you are interested please e-mail me or leave a comment. If I receive enough interest I will make a formal post about the start of the event.

Also just a little update you can now subscribe to my newsletter by clicking SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER! on the right side between recent posts and blog roll.  Those who subscribe to my newsletter will receive updates, recipes, surprises and giveaways available to newsletter subscribers only!

Included in the Exchange was a variety of different teas, a Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Blueberry bar, Reed’s Ginger Snacks (which I hate a bunch of to help my upset tumtum the other day), chocolate cocoa nibs, sprinkles, an Honest Foods bar – choco peanut butter and Chocolada Almond oatmeal as well as the items featured below: 

Chreesy Mashed Potatoes with yummy (Vermont made) Road’s End Chreese. I love this stuff but never buy it so it’s a wonderful treat to have….makes me want to go buy some Road’s End Mac & Cheese yum.

How amazingly fun and I am so excited to eat it.  I haven’t had maple cotton candy in years so this will be a yummy treat.

Chocolate Peanutbutter from Whole Foods- my husbands eyes light up when he saw this.  

Chocolate Cream Wafters?  Holy can’t wait to eat these up! 

I love everything in this exchange it was wonderful.  The best part of this is that many of the items I have never tried or never buy which is a great part of these exchanges.  My husband and I loved the Chocolada Almond oatmeal and it was so good and I can’t wait to buy myself some more. I am really looking forward to seeing what other participants receive.  Now I must be off to try some of this yummy looking cotton candy.

Included in the package are the following:

Drew’s Smoked Tomato Dressing

Suzanne’s Ricemellow Creme

(I see fluffernutter sandwiches in our future)

Spicy Apple Ginger Chews

Rice Milk Bar

Pizza Sauce

Crispy Cat Bar

Vegan Strawberry Jello

Quinoa Spaghetti

2 Chocolove Bars &

Newman’s Own Cinnamon Mints 

It’s time to do another Vegan Care Package swap! Last year around this time I organized a swap and it went over really well.  I am hoping that this year will bring on an even better turn out.  

If you are a blogger and are interested please comment here and send me a note  to Lindsay (at) cookingforaveganlover dot com with an e-mail address that you would like to be contacted by.  Please in include the following in your note as well: Name, Location, blog URL, and whether you are will to ship internationally or not. 

Please do not send me your address. I will match people together, give each other your e-mail addresses and then you can go on to exchange mailing addresses. 

Please expect to spend around $20-25 on  VEGAN goods, if you would like to spend more than do so, however, do not be disappointed if your partner does not do the same. 

Please enter to participate by October 29th, 2009  Closed.  I will match people up and let them know their pairs by October 30th, 2009.  You will have one month to gather your items and mail them out- so all packages should be mailed by November 31st, 2009.  Once you receive your package please photograph the contents and make a post to your blog detailing what is in your package, link to your partners blog and a link to this posting. 

I am excited to see how many of you are interested out there.  Like I said this went very well last year and it’s a great way to meet people and try new products.

 My husband’s Vegan Care Package 

from the care package swap of 2008

*Please note that this exchange is based on trust that whoever is participating will follow through, so if you don’t feel like you can participate to the full extent then please do not respond to this. 

Please check your spam to see if you have messages from me. Keep an eye out for an e-mail on the 30th from Lindsay[at]cookingforaveganlover.com – i have heard that e-mails from me are going to some peoples spam for some reason.  You may want to just add me to your contact list so it doesn’t go to spam. thanks!

Anyways I would just like to briefly note that I have received my Vegan Care Package from Bianca and will be posting a photo and more details tonight or tomorrow.

I also will be posting some photos of the Almond Toffee and Smokey Cheeze Ball I made for my work pot luck holiday party tomorrow. By the way the toffee (my first attempt ever) was fun to make however surprisingly dangerous however considering I almost set the kitchen on fire not once, not twice, but three times as bits of sugar fell to my burner causing a small fire (scary). Luckily my wonderful husband was there to help me juggle the hot sugary mixture and put the fire out with only a small fatality (the toffee burned a little but not all of it.)

When I had arrived home from a long day of Christmas shopping I was excited to see what I had been anxiously awaiting, my care package from Ricki. I rushed inside to open my package. Inside was a great selection of vegan, Canadian produced products (all but one!).

Inside was:

• Organic wild rice pasta
• Hemp seed nuts
• rice snacks (love these!)
• roasted fava beans (these were really good)
• oatmeal goldies (these cookies were soooooo good, they were the first thing lindsay and i tried)
• Canadian glacial clay (love the pure clean smell it has)
• Chakra bar
• the simply bar (coffee/chocolate. one of my favourite combinations)
• How Sweet bar (with a kamut puffs, this was really good too!)
• White chocolate chips (excited to try these, Lindsay was actually going to order these off the vegan essentials website so I was really excited to get them!)
• Fruit to go (I love these, can’t get this brand in Vermont and I used to get them all the time in NB)
• Theobroma (really interesting sounding chocolate with chunks of pineapple)
• Macadamia/Cashew nut butter (can’t wait to try this!)
• a HUGE bar of President’s Choice dark chocolate with almonds which I’m ashamed to admit has a pretty substantial chunk out of it already!
• cute reusable grocery bag from Planet Organic (an organic food grocery chain in canada)

Thanks so much Ricki for all of the great food and all of the thoughtful choices!

Neil

p.s. Let me know where you are loacted!

Please just send me a note with an e-mail address that you would like to be contacted by and whether you are willing to exchange internationally or not. Please do not send me your address I will then match you up with someone and give each of you each others e-mail contacts and it is up to you to exchange mailing addresses. As well please expect to spend around $20 on goods, if you would like to spend more than do so however do not be disappointed if your partner does not do the same. As well this is all based on trust that whoever is participating in this exchange will actually follow through on the exchange, BE AWARE that someone may default and that there is nothing that I can do regulate whether your partner will follow through or not you have to trust that both of you really want to participate. If you don’t feel like you will be able to participate to the full extent please do not respond to this.

I look forward to seeing how many people are interested in participating. Please encourage other vegan bloggers to participate as well.

So now is where I propose an exchange with someone. I have no idea how many people acutally read this blog but I would really like to put the idea of an exchange out there. I am willing to send anywhere.

So comment below if you are interested and we can get this started.