The Chef: Jennifer

The Menu: A salad with cherry tomatoes, broccoli slaw, and spinach in a tahini-miso dressing and a tofu veggie burger on brown rice topped with broccoli slaw

The Goods: I am a sugar addict. I love anything sweet and vegan ice cream is my downfall. So in anticipation of Halloween (candy), Thanksgiving (pumpkin pie), and all of December (everything), I decided to go on Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse and give my body a break from sugar and gluten for 21 whole days. Today is day two and it's going well so far, considering I work in an office overflowing with vegan goodies like the boatload of bread we got in yesterday (you've got to see it to believe it).  And even though alcohol is off limits during the cleanse, I'm still heading to our monthly SF Vegan Drinks tonight because I always love chatting with the wonderful folks there. 

Huge Green Salad

The Chef: Anna and the Noe Valley Whole Foods Market

The Menu: A huge salad of romaine, mixed greens, and spinach, topped with cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, red cabbage, water chestnuts, green peas, marinated tomatoes, spaghetti squash, beets, my homemade baked tofu, homemade hummus, and balsamic vinaigrette.

The Goods: If I'm not getting my essential nutrients with this bad boy, I'm giving up and eating vegan cupcakes for the rest of my days. All of the fresh, crunchy veggies, combined with my favorite tofu and hummus-dressing combo, made for the best last lunch of Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse ever. Tomorrow, I'll most likely be eating VegNews Mac 'n' Cheese topped with Paxti's vegan deep-dish pizza and a side of defrosted birthday cake. For breakfast.

DIY Falafel and Green Juice

The Chef: Jennifer

The Menu: Sunshine falafel burger, Annie's Natural Goddess dressing, and spinach in a whole-wheat pita. A glass of green juice with spinach, romaine, kale, celery, lemon, and apple.

The Goods: Last night, I had the meal of my life. Millennium's Southern Comfort dinner, which is a food feast of fried pickles, buttermilk fried "chicken" sandwiches, jalapeño cornbread, and wait for it—an ice cream sandwich bar. For all the pics and full menu, check out VN Office Manager's Lyndsay Orwig's detailed account on Press Pass of the debauchery and ensuing food coma. So today, I juiced. Carrot juice for breakfast and green juice for lunch. I'm hoping this evens out the ice cream sandwich I made topped with caramel, Rice Mellow, and brownies. It totally evens out, right? Good. I recently bought a Breville juicer so I'm tossing all my fresh fruits and veggies in there to see what I come up with. Can you believe I used to shy away from green juice? Now it's my best friend. Thanks, Kris Carr!

Vegetable Curry and Birthday Cake

The Chef: Anna and Colleen

The Menu: Thai coconut curry with potatoes, carrots, red pepper, spinach, and fresh basil over Jasmine rice, followed by a vanilla bean cake filled with fresh strawberries and vanilla buttercream.

The Dish: We had a lot to celebrate today at VNHQ; both Office Manager Lyndsay and Editor-at-Large Laura turned one year older this week. For their birthday lunch, Associate Publisher Colleen made a seriously delicious green curry. It had the perfect amount of heat (spicy but didn't burn my mouth) and the fresh vegetables complemented the curry deliciously. And the cake? Well, I didn't have any, as both Managing Editor Elizabeth and I are currently on Kris Carr's 21-day cleanse (I know I know, I'm doing it again, but it's much better this time I swear!). Luckily, Elizabeth and I had the good sense to put our slices in the fridge for safekeeping. All cleanses have to end at some point.

Brunch for Lunch!

The Chefs: Elizabeth and Herbivore

The Menu: Brunch! A savory tofu scramble with spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms, accompanied by a heaping helping of potatoes and a big green juice.

The Goods: On cold, rainy days like today, the allure of my favorite salad goes way down. I just need something warm and filling to combat the inclement weather. Of course, since I'm now in the second week of Kris Carr's 21-day cleanse (notice: none of the delicious toast that typically comes with this scramble!), I paired the cooked goodies with a green juice and big side salad. The weather is supposed to stay just as cruddy as it is now for the next couple of days, so to facilitate the illusion of warmth, I'll be fantasizing about our current travel feature on VegNews.com: honeymoon destinations. With wedding or without, these spots sound much more inviting than the gray skies above SF.

21-Day Cleanse Starting Salad

The Chefs: Elizabeth and Herbivore

The Menu: A fantastically enormous salad of mixed greens, romaine, shredded carrots and beets, cherry tomatoes, roasted beets, grilled tofu, and avocado, all topped with my absolute favorite dressing, the Dijon vinaigrette.

The Goods: After a recent long weekend in NYC (read all about it later this week on Press Pass), I have been in desperate need of greens. To make sure that I'm really getting all the good, green stuff possible, I'm starting Kris Carr's 21-day cleanse today! I'm really excited to juice, meditate, and generally get myself into tip-top shape. To celebrate the start of this little adventure, I grabbed the biggest salad on the block, which happens to be my favorite. Tonight, to continue the healthy theme, a group from the VNHQ will attend a screening of Forks Over Knives, which I absolutely can't wait to see! Have you tried the cleanse or seen the movie? Tell me your thoughts on either in the comments!

Vegan Breakfast Casserole

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A delicious breakfasty bread-pudding casserole, with cubed bread, winter squash, a tofu cream sauce, spinach, and leeks.

The Goods: First, I apologize for the quality of this photo. Sometimes a cell phone really is actually more of a phone than a camera, especially in the case of my flip phone. Yes, I said flip phone because they do still exist and I do still have one. Internets, schminternets. Though today's photo isn't terribly exciting, we have a bunch of super-snazzy news to perk up your reading experience. First, tonight is our very first ever Twitter Chat, featuring our gorgeous cover gal Kris Carr. Could we be more excited? No. We're also starting to see responses to our Vegan Bucket List feature in the brand-spankin' new March+April issue, which is highly exciting. And, if all that wasn't enough, this week we'll be hosting SF Vegan Drinks with Vegansaurus! Do we love an excuse to drink on a weeknight? Mayhaps!

Vegan Indian Soup

The Chefs: Jennifer and Amy's Kitchen

The Menu: Indian Golden Lentil Soup and a banana

The Goods: After reading Crazy Sexy Diet, I actually found myself reading my food labels more carefully. If I can't identify what the heck is in my food (hello, red dye #40!) then I put the food down. When Amy's Kitchen stopped by our office to debut some new products, I was eager to try one of their new soups, the Indian Golden Lentil. All I have to say is yum. With 13 identifiable ingredients and Indian spices, this soup warmed up the chilly day we're having in San Francisco. The banana was a nice sweet snack to replace my craving for actual sugar. While I haven't tackled the 21-day cleanse like superstar VN Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino who just finished it, Kris' book does make me think about how we treat our bodies. Speaking of Kris, if you want to chat with her live, VegNews is hosting our very first Twitter chat on Tuesday, February 22, at 6pm PST/9pm EST with @Kris_Carr as a our special guest. We'll be chatting under the Twitter hashtag #VegNewsChat. Join us!

Salad and Spring Rolls

The Chef: Anna and Valenica Whole Foods

The Menu: A spinach salad with sweet potato, black beans, tomatoes, zucchini, red peppers, and balsamic vinaigrette with veggie spring rolls courtesy of Valencia Whole Foods.

The Goods: Maybe it's just me (and it is), but I want to drop-kick my salad into veggie oblivion. While I am in the homestretch of Kris Carr's 21-day cleanse, and have felt and seen the benefits of green juice, I've eaten more salads than I care to think about. With 66 hours left (but who's counting?), it's a comfort to know that soon I will be able to ingest sugar, gluten, and alcohol again. (I'm looking at you, chocolate cake and whiskey). I'm excited for my next Café VegNews post, where I will most likely be scarfing down vegan candy bars from the VegNews Store, VN office favorite Herbivore's chicken sandwich, and some Neapolitan bars (this week's What's Cooking?) all at the same time. I might have to recruit someone in the office to be my extra set of hands—two is not going to be enough.

Salad and Spaghetti Squash

The Chef: Anna

The Menu: Spaghetti squash with tomatoes, onions, and garbanzo beans and a spinach salad with broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and balsamic vinaigrette

The Goods: It's day 10 for me on Kris Carr's 21-day cleanse, and I've never been happier to eat a plate full of veggies. Why, you ask? It's mainly because I got to talk to the lovely, charismatic, and beautiful Kris herself about my cleanse at lunch yesterday. No big deal. Actually, it's a big deal. It's a hugely awesome deal. It's also a hugely awesome week for us at VN—Kris Carr is only the beginning. With our March+April issue at the printer and May+June in the works, not to mention the Book Club, our upcoming trip to India with VegNews Vacations, and tons of delicious goodies to taste test, our plates are full (and not just with vegetables).

Raw Lunch with Kris Carr

The Chef: Alexandra, Colleen Holland, and Kris Carr

The Menu: An entirely raw menu of green juice galore, marinated raw kale salad with avocados and mushrooms, almond paté to use in a veggie wrap with lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, and sprouts, and decadent coconut truffles.

The Goods: The entire VN staff has been looking forward to this glorious Tuesday, because today, we were graced with the lovely Kris Carr's presence. Yes, the New York Times bestselling vegan author of Crazy Sexy Diet, Kris Carr. And yes, she is as glowing, funny, and knowledgable as you'd imagine! We celebrated her visit with a massive raw feast—Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria made a giant jug of green juice, enough to get the Crazy Sexy flowing through our pH-balanced bodies. There was also plenty of marinated kale salad and almond-based paté in lettuce wraps to go around, all courtesy of our amazing in-house chef for the day, Associate Publisher Colleen Holland. Finally, the coconut truffles for dessert had our God pods glowing, as Kris would say. I could seriously go raw for this lunch (see photos here)! Other reasons we're totally in love with today: VN is giving away boxes of Vegan Sugar Cookie Mix to a lucky winner, just in time for Valentine's Day; our Savvy Vegan blog is up with great couch potato tips; and last, but certainly not least, Oprah is airing an episode entirely dedicated to veganism, and we're partying! Watch out world—vegans are rising to the top.

Veggie Meatloaf & Potatoes

The Chef: Michelle from Amy's Kitchen

The Menu: The newly vegan Amy's Veggie Loaf with mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley of peas and carrots. This wonderful meal was finished off with their yummy Chocolate and Orange Cakes!

The Goods: We have been very fortunate to have Amy's Kitchen cater lunch for us a few times in the past, and we've never been let down! Today was a wonderful treat, especially since we vegans will be able to dine on the veggie loaf from now on (formerly, it contained honey). The loaf will be hitting shelves at the end of March, so be sure to keep an eye out for it. It's one busy week at the VNHQ starting with today. Tomorrow, we will be having another special lunch guest—Kris Carr of Crazy Sexy Diet! Also, if you haven't heard, there will be a special episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, in which she will be discussing her one week on "The Vegan Challenge." So yes, it's a very exciting week for vegans!

Green Juice and Green Pasta

The Chefs: Jennifer and Evolution

The Menu: Evolution's Essential Greens juice and green pasta—made up of spinach, kale, olive oil, and garlic—on top of spinach pasta.

The Goods: Last week I tried raw kale for the first time and this week it's green juice. I've sipped green juice before, but I avoided it because to be honest, I didn't love the taste. After reading a few chapters of Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, I decided that I needed to get over my hangup (I dare you to read her book and not try green juice). So I drank it and I actually liked it. The green pasta is a recipe from a cookbook my fabulous friend Diana made me as a gift. I secretly think she was tired of me bugging her to make the green pasta for me. The pesto is made up of blended spinach and kale, olive oil, and garlic. Greens are good and delicious (like seaweed snacks from the January 25th blog post on This Just In). Want your very own copy of Crazy Sexy Diet? We've got a great Crazy Sexy Life giveaway, which ends January 31st, so enter now. Free stuff is where it's at.

Atlas Café Salad

The Chefs: Elizabeth and Atlas Café

The Menu: Atlas' signature salad, which bursts with mixed greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onions, dried figs, green olives, and a yummy tahini-based dressing. Served with two huge slices of baguette, this was one satisfying salad.

The Goods: It's not like me to deviate from my standard Herbivore salad, but sometimes, you have to get a little wild and crazy. Since it's sunny here today, I took the opportunity to walk over to Altas Café with my awesome friend Joelle and her wonder dog, Lina. Does Atlas get major points for being close to our office and dog-friendly, and for offering a good variety of vegan options? Yes! Will my wild ways continue? Abso-friggin-lutely. Tonight is SF Vegan Drinks—aka always a good reason to go a little nuts—and this week has been a record-breaker. We won Best Website in the 2010 Eddie Awards, today we're finishing the final touches on our March+April issue, and we're gearing up for a visit from our gorgeous, best-selling covergal Kris Carr next week. I'd say pinch me, but this is a dream from which I have no interest in waking up!

Organic Salad Lunch

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: My favorite lunchtime salad, consisting of organic greens with carrots, olives, sprouts, cilantro, avocado, cucumber, and marinated tofu—all tossed in an orange-balsamic vinaigrette.

The Goods: Although I love all of the neighborhood veggie eateries, nothing beats a fresh, large salad brought in from home. My local market makes the best fresh-squeezed orange juice, so I toss a few tablespoons with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and sea salt—and voila, a healthy, delicious salad. In some not-as-healthy-news, have you checked out This Week's Must Have on VegNews.com? Justin's Nut Butters is coming out with dark chocolate peanut butter cups, something we're very excited about. If you want to stay on the healthy side, enter our weekly giveaway, featuring Kris Carr's best-selling new book, Crazy Sexy Diet, along with a copy of the current edition of VegNews (with Kris as our cover model). Something for everyone!

Almond Butter and Jelly

The Chef: Alexandra

The Menu: Almond butter and strawberry jam sandwich on cinnamon raisin bread.

The Goods: Last week I opted out of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich for some delicious pizza, but this week it seems that the simple sandwich is on every VN staffers mind (we're working on our upcoming March+April issue, so keep an eye out for a PB&J appearance!). I made a slight change using almond butter instead, and swapped out plain bread for some cinnamon raisin slices. Yes, I do like my sweet meals extra sweet. As my mom always informs me, "You aren't that healthy with all the sugar you eat!" So I have a little sugar problem, but with the help of Kris Carr's 21-Day Cleanse I'll hopefully be cutting back soon. You could also start delving into this lovely lady's book by entering this week's giveaway, where one lucky winner will receive a copy of Carr's new book and the January+February issue of VegNews where she is featured on the cover. Just remember to start cleansing after all the awesome vegan parties. I'm thinking after this Thursday's SF Vegan Drinks (where you will find me sipping on some tasty Bloody Mary's).

Raw Kale Marinated Salad

The Chef: Jennifer and Herbivore

The Menu: Raw kale marinated with lemon olive oil dressing, topped with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, diced onions, avocado, and soy chicken

The Goods: When this morning's Recipe Club popped up in my inbox for a Raw Marinated Kale Salad, I thought, yes, please. I'm new to the San Francisco area and Herbivore came highly recommended by VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria so it seemed like the perfect place to get a raw kale salad. While I love kale as a sautéed green, I've never eaten it raw. With all the health benefits of kale I've learned about while working at VegNews (full of fiber and keeps glaucoma at bay, to name just two), I thought it was time to try it fresh. The salad from Herbivore did not disappoint. Marinated with a lemon olive oil dressing, it was yummy, and true to the facts, I felt fuller after eating it than I do with just regular salads. The soy chicken was dynamite and slices of fresh avocado are one of the major benefits of living in California.

Kale is a major component of green juices (like Kris Carr's Make Juice Not War Green Drink) and while I've always been a fan of greens like spinach, kale, and collard, I've been a little hesitant to try green juices. But now that I've tried raw kale, I think it's time to step it up and get myself a tall green juice. After all, #3 on Kris Carr's recent Top 15 Crazy Sexy Diet Tips is to make juice, not war. Who am I to argue with Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet?

Marvelous Mac 'n' Cheese

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: Mac 'n' cheese. Um, hell yes. It's been way too long. We missed the incredibly cheesy, bread-crumb-topped, perfectly garnished, ultra-rich fabulousness that is this dish. Oh, and Colleen made a salad. Whatever.

The Goods: We had the goods trifecta today: amazing food, excellent company, and outstanding weather. We thoroughly enjoyed the mac 'n' cheese, of course, but Colleen also treated us to a special dessert: Neapolitan bars. Make these. Now. And with whom did we share these fine foods? None other than the very wonderful Kris Carr and her husband, Brian Fassett, who are just about as cute as two awesome vegan activists can be. Want proof? See below. Also, it was a gorgeous, sunny day. Yeah, things are pretty stinking good.