Spaghetti & Vegan Meatballs

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A molto bene Italian spread including whole-wheat spaghetti with vegan meatballs, toasted Daiya cheesy bread, and an arugula, spinach, and mushroom salad. Liz took the semi-homemade approach to pasta sauce by combining Lucini Tuscan Marinara with diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and roasted red peppers and crafted vegan meatballs by rolling dollops of Harmony Valley Vegetarian Hamburger Mix in bread crumbs. No, that's amore.

The Goods: This gluten-licious lunch was the perfect perk-up after a particularly chilly San Francisco morning. While dining on our Italian feast, we discussed a few of our favorite things: cake, Mad Men, and the 2010 Veggie Awards! The competition is fierce, and nominees and fans alike are launching world wide web campaigns to rally for their favorite vegan people, places, and products in our annual reader poll. We're thrilled to see all of the healthy competition spreading, and we're even more thrilled to tally up the winners when the polls close on August 31. Haven't weighed-in on your vegan top choices for 2010? Do it! Right now! Then tell all of your friends—in this election, every vote really counts!

Breakfast Plus Salad

The Chef: Brooke

The Menu: Rich, hearty vegan Ham & Cheese Breakfast Turnovers courtesy of Veggie Brothers served alongside with crispy, meat-free breakfast sausage a la Harmony Valley Foods. Brooke balanced our breakfast-for-lunch meal with a refreshing simple green salad of romaine and garbanzo beans.

The Goods: Today marked Ms. Brooke's first turn in the VN kitchen, and lets just say that our happy and sufficiently satiated staff isn't complaining about it. We're pretty big fans of breakfast foods no matter the time of day, and we were particularly enthralled by Veggie Brothers' vegan take on ham and cheese turnovers. These buttery bites are reminiscent of another popular turnover product famous for its microwavable breakfast and lunch pastries, except without all the animal products and terrible commercials.

Bean Burritos, Carrot Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Fully-loaded burritos stuffed with fluffy white rice, black beans, pinto beans, Harmony Valley Vegetarian Hamburger Mix and seasoned with cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, and oregano. We heaped a helping of this hearty filling onto slightly warmed sprouted grain tortillas and topped them off with green curry sauce. Elizabeth also whipped together a scrumptious salad with peeled carrots and raisins. 

The Goods: With today's lunch, Elizabeth has singlehandedly refined the concept of making something out of nothing. Of course, barren cupboards and almost no fresh produce didn't flummox Elizabeth for a second; hence our lovely Latin food inspired feast. The only thing that could have made this budget-friendly meal more resourceful would be rolled-from-scratch tortillas like the recipe perfected by VN's very own Savvy Abby. 

Vegan Beef Macaroni

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A new dish that Liz dubbed "Herbivore Helper." Yes, this hearty main course was reminiscent of a certain other "helper," but far more cruelty-free and delicious. Liz used our standby, stellar mac 'n' cheese recipe as a start for this yummy dish, and added a beefy bonus using Harmony Valley Vegetarian Hamburger Mix. With sides of ketchup and actual vegetables in the form of salad, our plates were complete.

The Goods: We'll cut right to the chase: the winner of a bran-spankin' new copy of Viva Vegan from yesterday's giveaway is Ashley! Congrats to one of our favorite gals from Fat Bottom Bakery; it's always nice when a random number generator selects someone who happens to be awesome for a prize! (Though, to be fair, we typically assume that anyone who comments on this blog is fantastic.) Ashley, send us an email, and we'll get your book shipped right out!

Vegan Sausage, Biscuits, and Gravy

The Chefs: Abby and Liz

The Menu: Um, hello. A delicious smorgasbord of breakfasty goodies. First of all Liz busted out an incredible batch of rich cashew gravy, which we slathered on breakfast sausages (Liz whipped these up from a mix) and biscuits alike. Yes, those would be Abby's famous biscuits, of which we wish we had a permanent supply. Abby also made a lovely salad. You know, because vegetarians supposedly enjoy eating vegetables. Whatever. Oh, and the very bright cauliflower behind the salad? That would be Frankie's latest foray into pickling. Let's just say that she brought a few jars of various pickled goodies for us to try, and they are now empty.

The Goods: Today we shared lunch with VegWebmistress Laura Beck, whom, as you might know, we adore. We also enjoyed the company of Zac Taylor, our local Honest Tea rep. Zac was kind enough to bring us over a ton of tea, some of which he kept cool for us in this nifty container. Yes, we were thrilled. Thanks to Zac and all of today's chefs!

Better than Burgers

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: Delicious meatless burgers! Lyndsay toasted up bread slices, mixed up some patties with Harmony Valley Foods Vegetarian Hamburger Mix, mashed avocado, and served We Can't Say It's Cheese on top. These tasty burgers were just about as satisfying as can be, but Lyndsay didn't stop there. Oh no. A side serving of Amy's new vegan Rice Macaroni and Cheeze and a beautiful green salad made excellent sides.

The Goods: We are thoroughly enjoying the bright, warm sunshine we've been having this week. If we could dine al fresco every day, like we did today, we're pretty sure the world (at least the part that's in close proximity to our staffers) would be a better place.