In-The-Fridge Smorgasbord

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A tantalizing trio of treats. Colleen always adds a gourmet flair to her meals, as evidenced today in a roasted-corn and black bean salad with tomato, avocado, and olives, an Asian-food-inspired stir fry with shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, homemade seitan, and tofu-based House Foods Tofu Shirataki noodles, and finally, she toasted rosemary focaccia with Dr. Cow cheese and basil. Yeah, Fridays are good eating-days around these parts.

The Goods: Tonight's the night we're going to make it happen, tonight we'll put all other things aside. All things other than karaoke, that is! As a sweet sendoff to our lovely Lisa, we're going out "singing" this evening. What does this have to do with lunch? Nothing. Do you fondly recall our past karaoke exploits? We certainly hope so. Happy long-weekend Friday!

Vietnamese Sandwiches!

The Chef: Baguette Express, and Aurelia

The Menu: Vietnamese sandwiches, as we might have already said. These fluffy, crunchy rolls came stuffed with shredded carrots, sliced cucumber, cilantro, jalapeños, and saucy rice noodles. Aurelia made a delicious and vibrant marinated-kale salad, with steamed squash, chopped bell peppers, tomatoes, and avocado, which was a perfectly light companion to our bready subs.

The Goods: Since not everyone will be in the office tomorrow—her last official day—we celebrated Lisa's time as our editorial assistant extraordinaire today. She'd never tried a Vietnamese sandwich, so deciding what to serve for lunch was a snap. She's also mentioned, maybe once or twice, that she's kind of got a thing for tiramisu. Well, mention and ye shall receive around here. Check our incredible dessert from the Living Lights Culinary Arts Institute, and our lovely Lisa:

And, since it's a special occasion, here's a bonus shot of Lisa with the rest of the VN gang:

Farewell (Tofu) Fingers

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: A trio of Lisa's signature dishes. First off, her timeless tofu fingers provided a deliciously crunchy main course, then her extra-garlicky mashed potatoes with basil were a scrumptious side, and finally her special blended garlic-mustard vinaigrette dressed a simple spinach salad.

The Goods: Today was Lisa's last day as a chef at VN! Her internship is coming to a close, and although she isn't officially leaving us until Friday, today was her farewell to the office kitchen. We were all thrilled that she chose to go out in high (read: garlicky!) style, and we'll certainly miss her trusty tofu fingers.

Hot (Not) Dogs

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: A lightning-fast preparation of veggie dogs, toasted buns, and plenty of fixin's. Lisa busted out a lovely mustard-garlic aioli, then we topped our dogs with two flavors of Gold Mine Sauerkraut, and helped ourselves to various pickled goodies, including giardiniera, cured olives, and dilly beans from McSweet Pickled Gourmet. A light spinach salad tossed in a vinaigrette completed the plate, and we're pretty sure that there was enough vinegar in the meal to preserve us all for years to come.

The Goods: We spent the majority of this morning hashing out the 2009 editorial calendar, which can be quite the involved process. There are now so many good ideas on the table, and it will be exciting to get started putting together a whole year's worth of new, fantastic issues. All this planning, however, didn't leave much time for lunch prep, so we were happy to have some nearly ready-to-go options.

Culture-Clash Chapatis

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: A whip-quick mix of black beans blended with garlic, onions and shiitake mushrooms sautéed with some of the sauce from yesterday, and chopped romaine spread over spinach-flavored chapatis. We're not sure if this meal counts as Indian, Mexican, or miscellaneous, but we are sure that it was tasty.

The Goods: Since Aurelia—who would have been today's chef—is en route to AR 2008, Lisa stepped up to make another meal. As we've probably mentioned before, we're big fans of the happy-accident style of cooking that involves throwing together whatever is on-hand in the kitchen and calling it lunch. Add a couple artistically placed drops of hot sauce, and it's cuisine!

Ready-Made Eats

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: A mélange of ready-to-go Indian items, including chana masala, vegetable curry, and dhal from Devya Indian Gourmet. Served over lovely, fluffy rice and alongside steamed lemon-and-herb-tossed green beans and swiss chard, these flavorful treats were both yummy and easy. Oh, and that slice of faux-meat hanging out at the top of the plate? That would be none other than the famous Tofurky roast, which was an unexpected treat.

The Goods: Really, is there anything better than a delicious lunch that takes minutes to throw together? We didn't think so. On days when you'd really rather spend your lunch hour enjoying a satisfying meal while sitting in the sun—instead of spending 45 minutes chopping in the kitchen and 10 scarfing something down—it's always nice to know that prefab sauces, curries, and mains can help get you out into the sunshine. Wait, did we mention that it was sunny today? The last few weeks have been one big foggy, drippy mess, so we were all a little extra excited to get our vitamin D today.

Cookbook Week: Veganomicon

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: A three-fold citrusy feast. Lisa busted out the Chickpea Cutlets from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Veganomicon, which she'd enjoyed in the past but never made for herself. She smothered the toothsome main in an original lemon-curry gravy, and paired it with some recycled lime-infused rice from yesterday, and freshly steamed green beans with lemon.

The Goods: Today's meal was totally filling, but the high lemon content made everything taste light and fresh. Though the delicious flavors were certainly the highlight of the meal, it's nice to know that if by some strange twist of fate the entire VN crew was set adrift today that we'd be safe from scurvy. In somewhat more realistic and decidedly more exciting news, make sure to look for Terry Hope Romero's VN debut in our September+October Food Issue!

Extra-Special Friday Surprise

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: You'll never guess. Oh wait—if you've been reading Café VegNews at all this month, you've likely already caught a glimpse of our amazing main course: the Veganize It! Mac 'n' Cheese. Yes, it really is good enough to make as often as we have recently. Ms. Lisa added a little extra crunch to her bread-crumb topping with the addition of panko, and whipped up an extremely garlicky Caesar salad to go alongside.

The Goods: It's not that we're obsessed with this mac 'n' cheese per se, it just so happens that we've made it a grand total of three times this month, which is probably the most we've ever made one dish in that amount of time. What can we say? It's super-freakin' good, and doesn't rely on vegan mac 'n' cheese standbys like faux cheese or nutritional yeast. You know what else is really great? Getting to visit with Lisa's man-friend over lunch, who's just as charming and Canadian as we expected he would be. Also, since we had a guest, we busted out the fancy dessert: Divine Chocolate After Dinner Mints. Um, yum. You may recognize them from our current issue's Best of Show Awards.

The VN Obsession: Mac 'n' Cheese

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: Oh, is that mac 'n' cheese you see again? Why yes, indeed it is. Okay, we admit it: we're obsessed. Seriously, make it. Find yourself a copy of the January+February issue, and then you'll know exactly what we're dealing with here. Seriously, this is the best mac 'n' cheese on the planet—and, of course, it's vegan. Today, Lisa even made it gluten-free by using rice pasta and corn-flake crumbs. Since the recipe consists mostly of blended vegetables, there isn't even enough fat in here to make us feel bad about ingesting six pounds of it this week. Lisa also whipped up a lovely salad of crisp romaine lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes, and shredded zucchini.

The Goods: Really. There just aren't enough adjectives to adequately describe this dish. Just to make it even better, we had the pleasurable company of Steve Bossio, whose family was featured on Dateline NBC for their green lifestyle. It was a great meal made all the moreso by great company! Oh, and it was a good excuse to fuel our all-encompassing mac 'n' cheese habit.

Sausage Patty Party!

The Chefs: Lisa & Frankie

The Menu: Some seriously scrumptious sausage patties! Ms. Frankie decided to take on the world of faux meat, having already completely conquered the dessert realm, and the results were today's savory main dish. Perfectly Cajun-spiced, these patties knocked our socks off, and they were even better paired with fresh heirloom tomato slices, slabs of French bread, and an amazing garlicky avocado spread which Ms. Lisa made. Lightly steamed green beans took the place of our usual salad, much to our delight.

The Goods: We know it's been said before, but Frankie spoils us rotten. Who else gets homemade faux-meat delivered right to their office? Nobody, that's who. (Well, okay, let us know if you do, and then we'll have ourselves a taste test!) What we know for sure is that getting through a busy week is always easier when Frankie's around.

Rockin' Ribs

The Chefs: Lisa and Frankie

The Menu: Homemade faux ribs drenched in scrumptious barbecue sauce. Oh yes, we are totally spoiled. Ms. Frankie, as we may have mentioned before, is a culinary genius, and she decided that we really needed some incredible ribs to power us through the day. Lisa complemented the faux-meaty main with lightly steamed broccoli in a light soy marinade and a simple spinach salad with red bell pepper and lots of avocado.

The Goods: You may remember a question in this month's VegNewsletter about your feelings on faux meat. As you can likely tell from the description, we're big fans. If you're looking to know more about from whence the idea of meatless meat came, be sure to check out our September+October Food Issue, which will feature a faux meat exposé. Things are getting more exciting by the minute around these parts, what with our amazing Music Issue Launch party drawing nigh. (It's tomorrow, and we can't stinking wait!) We've got lots to do between now and then, and, unfortunately, that also means that we won't be bringing you the regularly scheduled entry for tomorrow. We'll make it up on Press Pass with all the post-party details, we promise!

Sensational Sandwiches

The C hef: Lisa and Frankie

The Menu: Slammin' sandwiches, super sandwiches, and superb sandwiches would also be appropriate titles for today. Let's just say, these babies were good. Frankie made a very delicious faux turkey and fresh bread which she generously brought in for us. If that doesn't scream for sandwiches, we don't know what does. Lisa took the idea and ran with it, breading and pan-frying the not-turkey, slicing avocado and tomato, and putting it all together with fresh lettuce leaves and Vegenaise. Um, yum. Also, you may have noticed that there are a couple of salads. Go ahead and put any of those "s" adjectives in front of the word salad, because both of these were scrumptious. On the top we have an Israeli couscous with home-grown lemon and mint (also courtesy of Frankie) and lower on the plate you see a lovely pilaf with chopped tomato and scallions.

The Goods: Oh, goodness. Okay, first of all, there's all the goodness you see on the plate above, which was really fantastically good. Second, our issue launch party is sold out!! We are thrilled and absolutely can't wait to see you all there. If you don't already have tickets, don't despair: there are still a few volunteering opportunities available. One of them can be yours with a simple email.

Reader Recipe Testing! Day Three

The Chefs: Lisa and Frankie

The Menu: The upper half of the plate is off-limits for description, but guess what? The bottom half is filled with non-reader recipes, so we'll tell you all about them! First, in addtion to the testing recipes, Lisa made a fresh salad with spinach, various lettuces, and pinenuts with a light, citrus-based dressing. Frankie, who's ever the adventuresome chef, decided to try out a pickled lotus root recipe from The Millennium Cookbook, which added not only a lovely visual element but also added a delicious flavor to the meal.

The Goods: We've certainly gone from fasting to feasting over here! With so many great recipes to try it's even more tempting than normal to just eat to our little hearts' content. Let's just say that some of us are going to be doing a tad more excercise than we usually do. In addition to being healthy, active vegans, is there any kind of excercise that always makes you feel revitalized after a bit of overindulgence? (Or, in our cases, a week of overindulgence?)

Cleansing Week: Day Two

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: Yummy Yerba Prima psyllium husk powder and bentonite clay, and unfiltered apple juice!

The Goods: Ms. Lisa is enjoying a much more successful cleanse than Elizabeth did. Lisa's already on day four of her bentonite-clay-based cleanse, which is a plan that focuses on booting out any material that may be lingering in your colon—like undigested meat from years ago. We know, it isn't exactly polite dinner coversation, so it makes sense to not be eating dinner! Lisa took the basic plan for her cleanse from the Blessed Herbs website, though there are many other mixes on the market. Her combination of clay, psyllium husk, and juice, pictured above, proved more tasty than Lisa was expecting. She describes it as, "like drinking applesauce," and the plan also includes unlimited vegetable broth throughout the day. After four days without much of anything to munch (okay, she admits that she slipped up and absentmindedly ate an orange), she's still feeling energetic enough to take care of Cole, a lucky two-year-old pup whom she's fostering from Rocket Dog Rescue until a permanent home can be found for him. Here's to getting meat out of your system once and for all!

Nummy (No-)Quesadillas

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: Some of the best darned cheese-free quesadillas we've ever had. The tortillas were perfectly pan-fried to delicious crispiness, and inside was a very lime-y mixture of black beans, tomatoes, and corn. Lisa even whipped up her own guacamole, replete with more fresh lime juice, cilantro, and punches of jalapeño. A salad of mixed greens and cherry tomatoes provided some relief from the spicier dishes on the menu.

The Goods: Um, yum. Let's just get it out of the way that this was one of the more impressive meals that's been created in our VNHQ kitchens. You already know how we like to share our lunchtime goodness with guests, and today we were delighted to have Kit and Melissa of Good Asian Drivers join us. They've been on a nationwide music and performance-art tour for six weeks and had just enough time to stop in for lunch before heading down to LA later tonight. Here is the highly entertaining pair with the VN team:

Teaing Off

The "Chef": Lisa

The Menu: A big, steamy cup of Earl Grey tea, salted pretzels, and chunky peanut butter, all courtesty of a Mr. Trader Joe.

The Goods: With Joe and Colleen at the New York Farm Sanctuary Gala, Elizabeth at the Chicago Green Fest, Aurelia working from home across town, and Lisa hosting Canadian visitors, all of the VN editors will be out of the office this afternoon, and so will not be here for lunch. We promise we'll have our fabulous, regularly-scheduled lunch-programming back in full effect next week, but, for now, we hope you are somewhat sated with our mid-morning snack. Bon weekend!

Spicy Stir-Fry

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: Some lovely, saucy, stir-fried veggies (broccoli, grape tomatoes, and collard greens) tossed over rice noodles made up our delicious main. Sides of spinach salad with fresh chunks of avocado and our favorite Chinese-style mushroom buns made this quite the full meal.

The Goods: Considering our propensity for travel in Southeast Asia, it should come as no surprise that we'd want to recreate the flavors found in the cuisine there. Since we don't actually have all day to simmer spicy sauces to perfection, Lisa decided to take a little help from World Foods' line of ready-made stir-fry sauces. Today we tried the Thai Basil Chilli and Vietnamese Five Spice varities. While we would have rather actually been in Thailand or Vietnam, these flavors definitely added some kick to our stateside lunch.

Irish Potato Party

The Chef: Lisa y Jenny

The Menu: Double decker potato-pea casserole, laced with a rice-cheese and soy-cream based rosemary sauce, and spooned next to a generous fan of baked tofu steaks.

The Goods: As has become Friday-standard, there were only a handful of us here today to dine on this abundant, Irish-colored dish. Lisa and Jenny had fun using up the odds and ends of this week’s market-booty, and turned out this sinfully creamy, melt-in-your mouth casserole, offset by a heap of perfectly toasted tofu. While the Irish Potato Famine was a very serious and devastating period in human history, we may not complain if we never again see another potato this side of the Greenwich Meridian.

Delish Drumsticks

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: De-freakin'-licious "chicken" drumsticks procured from our local Asian market, an incredible salad with warm Balsamic-leek dressing, vibrant steamed broccoli, and little bites of Tu-Nut Pinwheels leftover from yesterday. Does that sound like a heavenly combination? Because it totally was.

The Goods: We swear, there's no way the Average Joe would have been able to tell that today's faux-meaty main didn't contain actual, slaughtered chickens. With so many unbelieveable vegan options around these days, remind us again why everyone isn't veg already? Speaking of things you'd never know otherwise, we also enjoyed a Triple-Layer Chocolate Torte from Roxanne's that was not your typical raw dessert. Check out the decadence below:
If you need us, we'll be in "chicken"-and-chocolate-induced comas. VN out.

Hot Lunch in the City

Chef: Lisa & Jenny

Menu: Perfectly fluffy, perfectly Cuban "Arroz Amarillo Con Frijoles Negros", with a healthy dose of stewed tomatoes, organic carrots, fresh parsley, and Lisa's utterly elaborate "Seaside Collards" (collards boiled in heavily-salted water).

The Goods: While the song-inspired title of today’s meal is fun, it is slightly misleading; the VNHQ is officially located in San Francisco, but our desks are a mere hundred feet from the ocean. So today, on the hottest day of ‘08 to date, a few of us chowed down this delicious, colorful spread and then took a leisurely stroll on the beach before commencing our afternoon’s work. Do any of you have an awesome workday locale like this?