The Vegan Italian Meal Dreams Are Made Of

 The Chefs: Jennifer and Louie Castoria

The Menu: Big, delicious, glorious vegan meatballs covered in an authentic Italian sauce over Mama Sue's Gourmet Pasta and stuffed in a baguette from Bread Workshop with Galaxy mozzarella cheese, and a side salad.

The Goods: When I was a kid, I wanted to marry an Italian guy because I love Italian food. I didn't end up marrying an Italian, but I can live my dreams through Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria's dad's cooking. I kid you not when I say that these vegan meatballs are the best on the planet. I fact checked it. Also, that sauce. I would write a sonnet about that sauce, if Shakespeare hasn't already. If my day couldn't get any better, Luna & Larry, the makers of Coconut Bliss, sent over ice cream bars and pints for our July+August Taste Test! I must be dreaming. Or full of deliciousness.

Really Good Rice and Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Some truly fantastic saffron rice and a huge salad of kale, grated beets, sliced cucumbers, grated carrots, sliced Field Roast Sausages, and Annie's Goddess Dressing.

The Goods: You know what's rad? Eating for free. Maybe it's not totally true, since obviously you have to purchase groceries, but when it's easy as can be to breeze out the office door for lunch and wind up with a $12 salad before you know what's hit you, eating at home can feel like you're eating for free. I was lucky enough to have some leftovers from dinner last night (the fancy pants rice and salad) to which I added the sausage and dressing. A delicious meal in fewer than five minutes flat? Yes, please! Upon returning to the office, I found the four new Coconut Bliss flavors awaiting trial. If there is a better mid-week treat, I don't even want to know about it.

Crunchy Cakes, Packed Peppers

The Chef: Barry Jones Horton

The Menu: An amazing spread of savory comfort foods freshly prepared by our superstar guest chef. Barry delighted us with perfectly cooked red bell peppers stuffed with sunflower seed risotto accompanied by crunchy, pan-fried white bean rosemary cakes. Our lovely gourmet lunch was rounded out with a spicy carrot purée, which made the perfect dipping sauce for, well, everything—including our spoons.

The Goods: We absolutely love it when Barry joins us for lunch; not only because of his phenomenal food, but because he is such delightful company. Also, he brought dessert. That's right, Barry not only prepared us a fantastically satisfying main course, he also served us the best bananas foster we've ever had. The bowls pictured below were emptied almost immediately, and maybe some of the staff members licked theirs clean—okay, so it was actually all of us. If endless bowls of bananas foster sound like something you need in your life (and trust us, you do), give Barry's catering company Local Love a call and set up a dinner party asap.

Vegan Chicken Parmigiana

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Freaking vegan chicken parmigiana. Um, yes, maybe it seems initially unnecessary to say that what we ate was vegan because, as we're pretty sure you already know, we're a totally vegan office. But! Really, how often do we get to enjoy vegan chicken parm? We'll tell you how often: NEVER! Today's main dish was made with Gardein, which pretty freaking perfectly replicates chicken without that whole dead-animal thing, and Daiya, which melts. And stretches. And knocks our socks off and holy crap why isn't there more of this to eat? Oh yeah, and we had a salad, which, you know, was nice and all, but pretty much just took up room on the plate next to the main course.

The Goods: You want to know the world's worst-kept secret? Things are freaking great. There has literally never been a better, more delicious time to be vegan than right now, unless you count about four hours ago when we actually had this meal in front of us. Oh! And in case you're concerned about what to have for dessert after such a yummy lunch, we've got you covered. As many fistfulls of Dandies as you can possibly take, and the new Coconut Bliss Bars, which are highly delicious.