Big Freakin' Bahn Mi

The Chefs: Elizabeth, Anna, Jenn, and Lyndsay

The Menu: Big, beautiful bahn mi sandwiches stuffed with marinated tofu and veggie duck, pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber, Vegenaise spreads, and Organicville's Sriracha. Sides of chips, both crinkle-cut and straight up, rounded out the meal.

The Goods: Today, friends, things are extra good at the VNHQ. The very brilliant Jennifer Chen decided that the best way to celebrate Friday would be to bring in the makings for these stellar sandwiches (the recipe for which you can find in our January+February issue!). Jenn marinated the tofu and veggie duck, and brought in fresh rolls, and Lyndsay made the pickles. Did the awesome staff stop there? No, these tasty main dishes were just the beginning. Jenn also treated us to homemade Hot Chocolate Ice Cream, complete with extra marshmallows. (The recipe comes from our summer issue from 2011.) And as if that wasn't enough, Anna brought in a package of Birthday Cake Oreos, which Jenn crumbled into a delicious ice cream topping. Oh, and did we mention that it was warm and gorgeous on our deck and we were fortunate enough to share today's splendor with Sam Hartman, the author of our VegEscape to Louisville, KY in our March+April Man Issue? Like I said, things are extra good. Hope everyone has an equally excellent weekend!

No-Chicken Noodle Soup

The Chefs: Rashida and Amy's Kitchen

The Menu: Savory vegan noodle soup with a splash of OrganicVille Foods Sriracha hot sauce

The Goods: A humble bowl of soup may not the most glamorous lunch, but the weather is crummy and the trek out into the land of delicious veg food (aka the Mission) seems completely unbearable. What better to warm me up than a delicious bowl of Amy’s soup? The No Chicken Noodle soup was soothing and filling—especially after devouring the raw veggie burrito Office Manager Lyndsay Orwig prepared using an upcoming recipe from our May+June issue, hitting newsstands in May. Sadly, the summer months feel a world away, but there are plenty of great things on the horizon this spring. For one thing, our March+April Man issue will be hitting newsstands March 1. Can’t wait that long? You can preorder an advance copy from the VegNews Store today! While you wait for it to arrive, take a cue from me and stay warm with one of Robin Robertson’s internationally inspired soups!

Coconut Noodle Soup

The Chefs: Elizabeth and Herbivore

The Menu: A delicious bowl of coconut noodle soup, with spinach, grated carrots, tofu, pineapple, and broccoli, all topped with Organicville's Sriracha Sauce.

The Goods: It's cold. Though I managed to escape to Los Angeles this weekend and dodge most of the torrential downpour that took place in the Bay Area, today's chill meant that there was only one option for lunch: soup. I pretty much love anything that involves rice noodles and Sriracha, so this bowl from Heribvore was perfect. Continuing the theme of perfection this week, we'll be editing the final proofs of our March+April issue on Thursday (so help me, they had better be flawless!), and directly after that we'll be heading out the door and down the street to Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem for the first SF Vegan Drinks of the year! I'm really stoked about the new location, and here's why: the owner, Mark, is super nice and awesome; the drinks specials (vegan White Russians!) rock; and these four life-changing little words: sweet potato tater tots. Yeah.

Vegan Chicken Caesar Salad

The Chefs: Jennifer and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: Organic kale, organic purple cabbage, Gardein Crispy Tenders, pumpkin seeds, dressed in Organicville Non-Dairy Organic Caesar, and an organic white peach for dessert.

The Goods: It's been a busy week at VNHQ and at home, so it's left me little time for grocery shopping. Luckily, Valencia Whole Foods, our local market, has just about everything a gal could need for lunch. I was originally going to go for the outstanding salad bar, but I saw that organic kale was on sale for $1.79 a bunch. I grabbed some purple cabbage and some pumpkin seeds for a lush salad. I had brought the Gardein faux chicken strips from home for the perfect Veggie Grill-inspired lunch. And I love fresh fruit so this white peach is a great end to a summer-fresh meal. In full journalistic disclosure, this healthy meal is a preemptive measure for tonight's SF Vegan Drinks when I'll be stuffing my face with 10 bowls of vegan popcorn. 

Seitan Sandwich and Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A delicious spinach salad with grated carrots, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds, roasted red peppers, and Organicville Vegan Caesar Dressing, plus a delectable sandwich of seitan, hummus, and avocado, all smushed between two pieces of fluffy rosemary foccacia.

The Goods: As is already well-established, I love Valencia Whole Foods' stellar salad bar. I pretty much go there every single day, sometimes more than once. Imagine, then, my surprise when I discovered that I could save time (and cash!) by hitting up the store once, buying a huge salad, and then eating it over the course of two days. I don't want to brag, but I definitely felt like a Savvy Vegan at this discovery (also like a bit of a dope for not realizing this sooner!).

Guess What? It's Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A big ol' salad! This one has mixed greens, Parma!, Organicville Non-Dairy Caesar dressing, sliced Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage sausages, and grilled vegetables including carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, and jalapeños.

The Goods: Whenever I eat a big salad for lunch (which is pretty much every day that I don't either go crazy with pizza or have Bachelor Soup), I feel like a very stereotypical vegan. Yes, I'm vegan and I like to eat vegetables—that's just how it is! I'm not saying that I'd turn down a platter of fish-free crab cakes—because that would make me an idiot—but during a hectic workday, a big colorful salad really hits the spot.

Cauliflower Tagine and Salad

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: Cauliflower Tagine and a salad with green leaf lettuce, red radish, green sweet pepper, heirloom tomato, and non-dairy Caesar dressing from Organicville.

The Goods: I was ultra-satisfied with my lunch today, which was made up of leftovers from last week. The Cauliflower Tagine is from The Urban Vegan cookbook by Dynise Balcavage, and hit all of the right notes with its Moroccan-inspired ingredients. The salad is made up of vegetables from my Farm Fresh To You produce box, which has been a lifesaver this past month. To make my lunch even better, I relaxed with a great book, The Book Thief, in which I totally recommend to anyone and everyone. For another great read, check out this week's discussion of Fear of the Animal Planet over at the VegNews Book Club!

Spaghetti & Salad

The Chef: Brooke

The Menu: A molto bene batch of spicy spaghetti made with whole-wheat spaghetti, olive oil, Daiya, and Organicville's Portabella Pasta Sauce. Brooke complemented this pleasing pasta dish with a crunchy, simple side salad of romaine, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and chickpeas.

The Goods: In addition to enjoying a fabulous meal, today's lunch hour at the VNHQ was made extra special by a visit from the adorably awesome Jenny and Heather Goldberg of Spork Foods. We're pretty much obsessed with these ladies and everything they do—from tasty, themed cooking classes to professional vegan catering, Spork Foods does stylish, compassionate cuisine like no one else. These gals have a ton of new stuff happening this fall, and we can't wait to share all the juicy details—but for now, if you need us, we'll just be begging them to relocate to San Francisco.

Pasta e Fagioli

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A hearty, delicious, welcome-back-to-work meal. Lyndsay, it was unanimously decided, makes the best gluten-free pasta of anyone in the office—she always gets the texture just right. On top of her righteous rotini, we enjoyed a lovely tomato sauce (conveniently made by Organicville), to which Lyndsay added red bell pepper and white beans. OK, so maybe this is more pasta than fagioli, but nevertheless it was delectable. Lyndsay also busted out a lovely salad of mixed greens, kale, and avocado. Did we dress it with dressings that were also from Organicville? Indeed we did.

The Goods: Though the weekend here was gorgeous, today's skies were drippy and gray. The warm, satisfying meal Lyndsay made was the perfect antidote. It was great having a full office again, with the return of Joseph and Colleen from their Caribbean adventure on A Taste of Health. We wish they'd brought us some Caribbean sun, but their sunny dispositions will have to suffice this week.

Tempeh Curry

The Chef: Joseph

The Menu: A lovely Thai curry with sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, onions, garlic, and locally made tempeh. What's that you say? We live in the Bay Area and tempeh is a Thai tradition? Well, you're right on both counts, but this particular tempeh was made right here in the Bay Area by Philip Gelb, who's just about to launch a tempeh company, Dragon Lines. Joseph served the curry over rice with a lovely side salad. While the salad was great on its own, we couldn't help but try the Organicville Non-Dairy Ranch Dressing that just happened to be delivered right as we were sitting down to eat.

The Goods: Really? You want more good than local tempeh and vegan ranch? Demanding! Well, fine, in other good news, it's Friday! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Rockin' Rice and Beans

The Chef: Aurelia

The Menu: A totally rockin' array of Mexican-food-inspired goodies. Aurelia spiced up the rice and black beans with diced green chiles, which made both dishes extra delicious. Alongside she served fresh guacamole and a lovely spinach salad with red onions, red bell pepper, and French dressing. We used two different kinds of chips for scooping up the main courses, a lime flavor from Food Should Taste good and organic tortilla chips from Salba Smart. We also tasted a trio of salsas, all from Organicville. You really can't go wrong with a base of rice and beans, but it's always nice to have a variety of toppings like we did today.

The Goods: Yeah, if anyone needs us, we'll be at our desks, rubbing our incredibly full bellies this afternoon. Oh, and in case anybody out there needs a little piece of good news, we've got something for you: VegNews just won Best Digital Design in the 2009 Nichee Awards! This may certainly go down in VN history as the most award-filled week ever.

Stellar Stir-Fry

The Chef: Aurelia

The Menu: An absolutely stellar stir-fry served atop perfectly fluffy basmati rice. Aurelia made the most of the veggies in the fridge, including bok choy, red bell pepper, ginger, garlic, green onions, and walnuts in her savory main dish. We also got a taste of veggie shrimp, procured from our local Asian grocery, which added an, um, unexpected element to the meal that some of us really enjoyed, others not so much. Aurelia also made a delicious spinach salad with cucumber and grated carrot, which we doused with organic French dressing from Organicville. Yum!

The Goods: Fittingly, we followed up this fab feast by brainstorming our upcoming September+October Food Issue, about which we're all pretty stinking excited. Since pretty much everything on the plate today was of a savory persuation, we'd like to remind everyone to satisfy your sweet tooth!