Match Meat Monday

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: Myriad Match meats, a line of new, plant-based meat alternatives. Lyndsay took advantage of a recent shipment of products for us to try, and served up a trio of Match Foods' latest offerings. Starting at six o'clock on the plate, you see a lovely Italian-sausage infused marinara, tossed with a brown-rice ziti. Moving clockwise, we had a savory, stuffed chicken-style entrée, then a fish-free crab-cake, and finally a gorgeous green salad.

The Goods: To balance out the savory with some sweets, we had the pleasure of dining with Yvonne Smith, aka The Traveling Vegetarian, and Michelle Taylor, creator of Vegan Break. These two lovely ladies were sweet enough themselves, but they decided to go way beyond the call of duty and spoil us with dessert, which included chocolate cupcakes from Whole Foods, cookies from Peet's, and two pints of Maggie Mudd's Mudslingers Freestyle. Yeah. About that. We might be in sugar-induced comas under our desks right now, and totally happy about it. Check out the sweet splendor below, and feel free to remind us to eat vegetables!

Stupendous Celebration Brunch

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: An absolutely stellar brunch! It's difficult to decide where to begin when describing the awesomeness that is the plate you see before you, since everything was outrageously delicious. Up at the top there, we had an out-of-this-world tofu scramble, with cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, spinach, and a special blend of spices. Moving clockwise, we gobbled up garlic-roasted white and purple potatoes, which were crisp on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. Even today's salad boasted something special, with slices of strawberries drizzled in a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Finally, oven-fresh blueberry scones finished off our heaving plates. Oh, and was there sparkling white wine and orange juice for mimosas and toasting? Yes, yes there was.

The Goods: So, as we're sure you all know already because you follow us on Twitter, VegNews is officially the recipient of not only Best Lifestyle Magazine in the 2009 Maggie Awards, but also of Best Website!! Yes, we're utterly freaking thrilled. To help us celebrate, Aimee and Allison of Vertebrae, the design firm that did our major website redesign in October last year, joined us for today's special lunch. And, just because she happened to be in town on this celebratory day, Yvonne Smith, aka The Traveling Vegetarian, also shared in the fun. And by fun we mean food and booze. And yes, we could totally deal with every Monday going exactly like this. Want to help us keep the celebration going? Then don't miss SF Vegan Drinks this Thursday!