Leftover Lunch

The Chef: Anna and Herbivore

The Menu: Lots of leftovers, consisting of quinoa, some sort of eggplant-and-tomato sauté (this happens at my house a lot), and half of a meatball sub with grilled onions and Daiya mozzarella

The Dish: Welcome to my Tuesday. Between writing for our July+August issue, getting ready for Natural Products Expo West next week, and participating in design meetings for our May+June issue, it's amazing I found time to eat at all! Since I'm scarfing down this big plate of food while typing up these words, there's no room (literally or figuratively) for dessert, but if you have time for some sweets I highly suggest you whip up some veganized Girl Scout cookies that Annie and Dan Shannon of Meet the Shannons whipped up for us. Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs, oh my!

Eggplant and Sundried Tomato Sandwich

The Chef: Hilary and Herbivore

The Menu: A hearty eggplant sandwich with tangy sundried tomatoes, herbaceous pesto spread, and fresh side salad with avocado and mustard dressing. 

The Goods: After Publishers Joseph Connelly and Colleen Holland were generous enough to bring in a smorgasbord of bagels for the staff this morning (complemented by Office Manager Lyndsey Orwig's amazing butternut squash butter—like apple butter, but to reiterate, butternut squash!), I didn't foresee my appetite springing back into action for hours. However, due to a lively brainstorming session for the cover of the November+December issue, which will contain the eagerly awaited results of the 10th annual Veggie Awards, I needed something majorly nourishing by lunchtime. Sorry to brag, but having an all-vegan café right around the corner comes in really handy sometimes. Keep San Francisco in mind when you plan your next road trip, as we're launching our own Ultimate Vegan Road Trip on VegNews.com this month. Follow us as we cruise the country finding all of the best veg eats that America has to offer. 

Vegan Chinese New Year Luncheon

The Chef: Colleen and Wild Pepper

The Menu: A Chinese New Year vegan feast featuring steamed vegetable dumplings, black mushrooms with baby bok choy, Singaporean-style curried rice noodles, Hunan eggplant with tofu, string beans with faux chicken, and brown rice.

The Goods: Gong Xi Fa Cai (Cantonese) or Xin Nian Kuai Le (Mandarin)! Only a few of us speak either of these two primary Chinese languages, but we all want to wish you a very Happy Chinese New Year. To celebrate, we ordered in from local eatery Wild Pepper and enjoyed a veritable feast of sumptuous Chinese dishes. We made sure to have noodles on the menu (which symbolize long life) along with dumplings (good fortune) and green beans (parental longevity). We dined al fresco on our private deck right here in the heart of the Mission District (it's about 70 degrees today), and then Jenn surprised everyone with red envelopes filled with wads of cash (okay, $1, but we're thrilled!). Need more inspiration for your own Chinese New Year celebration? Check out our own Alexandra Chang's enlightening guide to the holiday on VegNews.com. And speaking of future world superpowers, Joseph Connelly and I leave tomorrow for the first VegNews Vacation of 2011—to India! We'll be traveling with 25 subscribers for two weeks and enjoying the incredible sights, sounds, and food of the Indian subcontinent. Cheers!

Garden Variety

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A heaping helping of roasted veggies including broccoli, sweet potatoes, green bell pepper, eggplant, onion, and garlic, marinated in vegetable broth, rosemary, and oregano made up our hearty, herbivorous main. Liz served these perfectly cooked veggies over a savory mixture of brown rice and brown basmati rice with a fresh green salad brimming with mushrooms, avocado, spinach, and kale on the side. Yep, this lunch couldn't have been more chock-full of whole foods goodness if it tried.

The Goods: Today's lunch was satisfying and tasty, but our favorite part may have been the inclusion of kale. Yes, everyone in our office is pretty much a die-hard kale fan, so we were equally excited to read about Savvy Abby's latest entry detailing the fine art of making homemade kale chips on the cheap. If your appetite for salty snacks is anything like ours, we're sure that this recipe will become a fast favorite. Need some new reading material to keep your brain busy during snack time? Be sure to check out our May newsletter between bites, jam packed with fabulous news, eats, and events.

Pasta Marinara

The Chef: Liz and Karine

The Menu: A lovely marinara with eggplant and lots of garlic that Liz served over rice pasta and topped with cheddar Daiya. Red-cabbage slaw courtesy of our guest, a green salad, and sliced fresh bread made this a mighty fine meal.

The Goods: Today we had the pleasure of dining with Karine Brighten, a local vegan event planner. Karine was responsible for the excellent grand opening of Nature's Express this past weekend, which you might have heard about on a little blog we like to call Press Pass. Lunch was lovely, despite the inclement weather and fact that we've been cooped up in the office this whole week! We can't wait for our next opportunity to dine al fresco!

Mighty-Good Moussaka

The Chef: Sara

The Menu: A truly yummy moussaka, which featured layers of eggplant, zucchini, and potato, all doused with a savory tomato sauce and tofu ricotta. Sara also make a spinach salad with broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and sliced mushrooms. Suffice to say, both were delicious.

The Goods: We are pretty stinking excited about getting close to putting the finishing touches on our cover for the January+February 2010 issue! Maybe it looks really good, and maybe we like that. Speaking of things that excite us, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Do you have questions? Maybe we have a chat all lined up on VegWeb with expert veg chef Jesse Miner, who'll be joining us for lunch tomorrow.

Roasted-Eggplant Puttanesca

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A perfectly seasoned puttanesca with roasted eggplant, tons of garlic, and salty capers, tossed with fresh spaghetti. Did Colleen also make some of the most amazing garlic bread on the planet, which featured tons of both garlic and Parma!? Yes, yes she did. Finally, a lovely green salad with big chunks of fresh avocado finished off the plates.

The Goods: After yesterday's slightly longer-than-usual, adventure-filled lunch, this meal was a comforting return to the VNHQ. We also had the pleasure of dining with Amy and Olga, friends of Joseph and Colleen, who were visiting this weekend from New Mexico. Not only were both ladies very nice, but they humored Elizabeth by talking about green chile sauce, with which she is obsessed. And so ends another week. Happy weekend to everyone!

Black-Bean Soup and Daiya Pizzas

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: An unbelievable spread of savory treats, starting off with a zesty black-bean soup filled with roasted eggplant, onions, and carrots. A healthy dose of garlic and cumin seed seasoned Colleen's signature roasted potatoes, and a little something we like to call individual Daiya pizzas made an appearance. Topped with the perfect Daiya blend—that's right, two kinds of melty, stretchy cheese—and Match Meats BBQ pork, these tasty pies didn't last long.

The Goods: Not only did we enjoy a stellar meal thanks to Colleen's culinary ingenuity, but we dined al fresco for the first time all week. Then there was this entire plate of goodies to be grateful for, including homemade chocolate fudge. Yes, fudge. And Dandies. And cookies, courtesy of Pattycake Bakery and our very own Joe Connelly. If you need us, we'll be bouncing off the walls thanks to a fantastic Friday sugar high. Happy weekend, everyone!

Coconut Curry

The Chef: Charlotte

The Menu: What is quickly becoming Charlotte's signature dish: a scrumptious curry swimming in coconut milk. This super-rich dish was bursting with veggies including bell peppers, garbanzo beans, eggplant, water chestnuts, and potatoes. Served over brown basmati rice with a lovely salad of romaine and sliced tomatoes, this lunch absolutely hit the spot.

The Goods: We're never entirely sure exactly how many servings to make for lunch here at the VNHQ. While we can count heads, there are always random factors to take into account, like someone doing a fast or someone (OK, more like everyone) going back for seconds. Thankfully, meals like today's curry can easily be expanded or shrunk depending on the number of diners. What's your favorite expandable meal?

Rustic Rotini

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A lovely, primavera-ish rotini with roasted eggplant, zucchini, green bell peppers, cannellini beans, red onion, and sun-dried tomatoes, all simmered in a savory tomato sauce. A mixed-greens salad in tangy lemon salad dressing completed the plate.

The Goods: Remember a couple days ago when we were griping about the hum-drum weather? Today we gripe no more! It's freaking gorgeous out, and some of us might have even gotten too much sun during lunch. Yes, you read that right, we said too much sun. Insanity. Along with the sparkling sunshine we very much enjoyed the company of Emma and Mike, friends of Elizabeth who are honeymooning their way along the California coast. Did they totally come on the most beautiful day we've had all year? Yes. Did they also bring cookies for us? Yes. Do we wish we had awesome guests every day? Yes!

Green Curry Noodles

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A delicious blend of brown-rice rotini, roasted eggplant, and sautéed zucchini, kale, and bell peppers, all simmered in a savory, slightly spicy green-curry sauce. Alongside, Colleen dazzled us with a marinated-greens salad with fresh tomatoes, Swiss chard, and a homemade vinaigrette. Yes, it was yummy. And yes, we might have had to temper our enthusiasm about this awesome meal in order to leave room for dessert.

The Goods: Today we had the pleasure of dining with Lyndsay's parents! The adorable duo—aka Bev and Randy—drove out from St. Louis as a 30-year anniversary trip, and has been exploring San Francisco and Northern California for the last week. Of course, no such trip would be complete without a lunch at the VNHQ, and we were thrilled to have them here.

Roasted-Eggplant Marinara

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A yummy pasta lunch, pulled together from what we had on-hand! Maybe roasted-eggplant makes the whole thing sound fancy, but in reality, Ms. Elizabeth spent about five seconds chopping eggplant, garlic, and onions, and tossing them with olive oil and salt before shoving the mixture in the oven for about 40 minutes. Elizabeth sautéed more garlic and onions, and added them to a ready-made marinara. The rest was pretty much as easy as boiling water for the whole-wheat pasta, and grating some carrots and zucchini for the salad, which also featured cubed Follow Your Heart Mozzarella. Voilà, lunch!

The Goods: It's another busy day here at the VNHQ. Thankfully, the sun's starting to peep out from behind the blanket of fog in which we've been enveloped all morning, which is always a good sign.

One-Pot Wonderful

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A sensationally savory one-pot meal. Colleen prepared a Mediterranean-inspired tomato soup with cumin and other spices, garbanzo beans, coconut milk, and eggplant, then added rice and simmered it all together into a totally tasty lunch. Alongside, a salad of mixed greens and grated carrots and beets finished off the plate.

The Goods: It's a bittersweet day here at the VNHQ, as it's the last day for our two stellar editorial assistants, Melissa and Stacy. These ladies have been phenomenal during their time here, and while we're so happy that we had the opportunity to work with both of them, it's definitely sad that they're leaving. We wish them the very best in the future, and if anyone needs us, we'll be drowning our sorrows in leftover ice-cream cake and saké.

Birthday Bliss

The Chef: Vanida and MaggieMudd

The Menu: A beautiful birthday bash of Thai food and ice-cream cake! Yeah, today is basically the best lunch day ever, just in case you were wondering. From our favorite local Thai place, Vanida, we served up some deliciously garlicky eggplant and tofu, a spicy yellow curry with zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and red bell pepper, and a lovely, light papaya salad with tomatoes and ground peanuts. Oh, and maybe there was a cake. Maybe it was an ice-cream cake that featured Toasted Coconut and Mint Chocolate Chip ice creams, set atop a brownie crust and covered in whipped-cream frosting. Oh, did we mention (or did we even really have to?) that this whole B-Day smorgasbord was vegan? Yeah, it was.

The Goods: We had not one but two birthdays in the office this week, those of Ms. Colleen and Ms. Stacy. If there was ever a time to order up a big, beautiful birthday cake, today was the day. A very happy birthday to both lovely ladies, one of whom you can see below with the sweet treat. Continuing the tradition of studly adornments, this year's cake featured one of our favorite vegans. Can you tell who it is?

Instant Indian

The Chef: Lyndsay and Joseph

The Menu: A totally satisfying meal of Indian-inspired dishes. While he was in the office briefly this morning for a meeting, Joseph decided to lend a helping hand to today's chef by cooking up a cumin-spiced blend of basmati rice and red quinoa, which was absolutely delicious. Lyndsay topped our day's grains with ready-made Punjab Eggplant, made a huge side salad with lettuce and carrots, and sliced up some naan from Gourmet India—another find from Expo West. Since so many store-bought naans contain dairy, it was thrilling to find this totally vegan version, complete with all the fluffiness and authentic taste we could ever want.

The Goods: Mondays always seem to find us short on time and long on tasks here at the VNHQ, so taking a little help in the kitchen—whether from considerate co-workers or the convenience store—is always a good thing at the beginning of the week. Oh, and did we mention that we totally love Indian food? It's true, we do.

Excellent Eggplant

The Chef: Jenny

The Menu: Absolutely delicious cornflake-crusted eggplant served alongside a rice rotini. For pasta sauce, Jenny used one of Amy's Tomato Basil Organic Pasta Sauce, which she doctored up with her own spice blend. As if the first two dishes weren't yummy enough, Jenny also busted out a simple side salad and some perfectly toasted bread with herbs.

The Goods: We were treated to another day of brilliant sunshine during today's all-too-short lunch hour. Once someone figures out how to make computer screens readable outdoors, we might move from our current beach-front offices directly to the beach. You know, it's important to get enough vitamin D. Yeah, that's it, sitting happily in the sun is important for our health. That's our story and we're sticking to it.

Fog City Eggplant

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Here's a huge shock: Elizabeth made a marinara. She officially swears this is the last time she'll make the same old sauce—at least for this month. But! Today, underneath the sauce was an unfamiliar and delicious oven-roasted, cornflake-crusted eggplant, which added a new element. A filling salad of baby greens, white beans, cherry tomatoes, and avocado went really well with toasted focaccia. You know what else goes really well with focaccia? Dr. Cow cashew and macadamia nut cheeses. Holy heck, we just can't get enough of these yummy, tangy cheeses!

The Goods: Today we thoroughly enjoyed the company of Ellen Anderson, aka the Fog City Vegan. We got to chat all about her upcoming vegan wedding, and how a certain other notable Ellen scooped some of her wedding plans! Thankfully, the city cast off its foggy shroud today, and we enjoyed some real, actual sunshine for once. Just having Ellen here would have been treat enough, but combined with the stellar weather, today's lunch was one for the record books.

Rad Ratatouille

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A quick ratatouille tossed together from what we had on hand. More specifically, tomato sauce, eggplant, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and herbs made a lovely medley for our sauce, and the savory main was served over an amaranth polenta. Today's simple salad was made extra garlicky with garlic-rubbed croutons and a lemon-garlic dressing.

The Goods: Sometimes we can all use a new grain in our lives. While Elizabeth is a committed pasta lover, the amaranth called to her today. Though she had imagined more of a fluffy, rice-like consistency, the more-porridgy dish that she ended up with was a pleasant surprise. Moral of the story? Don't forget the lesser-loved grains: amaranth, teff, and quinoa!

Ridiculously Good Roasted Vegetables

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: An incredibly yummy open-face roasted-vegetable sandwich featuring mashed avocado, toasted bread, and herbed bell peppers, eggplant, onions, and shiitake mushrooms. A fresh salad of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber perfectly complemented the homey goodness of the sandwiches.

The Goods: We were very happy that Ms. Colleen busted out an all-vegetable lunch today since reading over the entries in our monthly giveaway might have turned us off fake meat—at least for the day. In a nearly unanimous decision, Patricia was the clear winner for her response:

I was a 4th grader in 1971 and I don't know what was worse—the 10 cans of WHAM I had just spent a month of allowance on & made my mother drive all over Buffalo, NY hunting it down only to gag at it OR the "mock loaf" my Polish grandma made me out of kasha, nuts and some grey gravy shaped into little chicken-like legs that made me cry.

Patricia, send us an email and we'll send out your very own can of vegetarian haggis pronto. Congratulations!

International Testing!

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A sumptuous smorgasbord of savory dishes from our upcoming September+October Food Issue! What you see above is an interesting Argentinian carbonada with seitan, sweet potatoes, and pears, some crispy baked eggplant planks, a garlicky Greek skordalia, and, finally, half-hidden by the bowl of carbonada, we had an all-American meatloaf—without the meat, naturally.

The Goods: We love bringing our readers the best of the best when it comes to food (okay, and everything else, you're right) so testing is an important factor for us. We totally don't do it just because it means we get to eat yummy food at lunchtime. That definitely has nothing to do with it. Journalistic integrity and all that. Of course.