Stacked Veggie Salad

The Chef: Liz and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: A fully-stacked salad of mixed greens, peas, shredded carrot, sauteed veggies, cucumber, and chickpeas topped with a dollop of garlicky hummus.

The Goods: As a rule, I don't like eating meals served buffet-style, but all bets are off if there is a well-stocked salad bar in sight. Whether overpaying for a crisp kale salad at my neighborhood Whole Foods or making due with the cheaper but less awesome selection at my local Safeway, I love that salad bars let me do the deciding—like choose-your-own-adventure novels, except with vegan food. At Valencia Whole Foods the offerings adhere to the Goldilocks Principle: they are just right. From fresh salad bar basics to a vegan-friendly, build-your-own falafel bar, it never fails to satisfy. Additionally, VWF have a great selection of vegan desserts, which I unfortunately forgot to peruse. Lucky for me, we call baking an Apple Pecan Flip in the middle of the workday "recipe testing" here at the VNHQ.

Veggie Stir-Fry

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: Veggies galore! Abby whipped up a vegetable-filled trifecta, starting with a main dish of stir-fried veggies and tofu, including broccoli, carrots, peas, green and red peppers, and mushrooms, served over brown rice. Garlicky homemade hummus dressed up raw carrots and broccoli, and a huge salad rounded out the plate. Complete with spinach, kale, cucumber, red pepper, and a sweet vinaigrette, our daily leafy-greens requisite added balance to its richer, savory counterparts.

The Goods: Sometimes going back to the basics of plant-based cooking can be delicious—like today. A filling, vitamin-packed meal was just what the VNHQ ordered, especially with a bout of the sniffles making its rounds again. Fighting off your own flu-like demons? Check out our top foods for feasting to keep you healthy and happy this February!

Couldn't-Be-Easier Curry

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A delicious duo of curries! Ms. Lyndsay prepared a totally terrific two-part curry lunch for us today using a new line of organic curries from Curry Love. Lyndsay simmered corn, green beans, peas, carrots, onions, and tofu in both the Blissful Banana Ginger and Passion Red Thai flavors, and served each over hearty helpings of basmati rice. Lunch couldn't have been easier or tastier!

The Goods: Today we're a skeleton crew here at the VNHQ, but are thrilled to announce the arrival of one of our new editorial assistants, Ms. Kailey! We tend to let new staffers have the first week off from cooking duty so they can get up to speed around the office, but we're definitely looking forward to Kailey's kitchen debut!

Perfect Parsnip Pie

The Chef: Melissa

The Menu: A healthy, hearty helping of root-vegetable-inspired vegan Shepherd's Pie. Eager to tame the elusive parsnip, Melissa whipped out her own version of this traditional casserole, complete with a mashed-parsnip crust. Short a couple of said carrot-relatives, which were later discovered deep within the cavernous VN fridge, she added a couple good ol' potatoes to the mix. Underneath, she combined caramelized onions, peas, zucchini, and textured vegetable protein in a savory blend of spices, which had us going back for more until, well, sadly, there wasn't any more. A spinach side-salad adorned with carrots, zucchini, and walnuts made a perfect complement to the main dish.

The Goods: One of our favorite topics of conversation managed to find its way into today's lunch: food. We discussed edible delights from every corner of the globe, from Djibouti to Ethiopia to Haight Street. As inspired as we were to jump on the next flight to South India, we were pretty darn pleased with the plates right in front of our faces. But just to take the edge off of our international appetites, we savored the sweet taste of vegan Soy Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles for dessert, compliments of our one and only neighbor to the north.

Welcome Back Curry

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: In another installment of her signature dish, Ms. Lyndsay concocted a crazy-good green curry, which she served over brown basmati rice. The savory, coconut-milk-flavored dish featured both sweet and russet potatoes, broccoli, peas, onions, garlic, and big, toothsome chunks of tofu. With the slightly spicy green curry sauce, all the other ingredients came together in perfect one-bowl-meal harmony, to which we say woot.

The Goods: Since weekends around these parts can be a little on the intense side, it's always nice to start the workweek off with a warm, comforting meal—just like the one we thoroughly enjoyed today. We also got to share the meal with one Paul Saccone—a longtime friend of VN—and Ms. Tara Failey, a sometime VN contributor. We only wish we'd had more time to enjoy their company, as today's also our editorial deadline and we're swamped! Gung hay fat choy!

Coconut Roasted Vegetable Stew

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A wintery blend of roasted sweet and russet potatoes, butternut squash, and fresh peas atop a mound of brown rice perfected with a pinch of Parma. Lyndsay was kind enough to incorporate a hint of sweet coconut and savory spice on this drizzly day, which satiated our stomachs and minds with warm tropical flavors and accompanied daydreams. An assortment of desserts salvaged from the pre-holiday surplus, including, but certainly not limited to, Sun Flour Baking Company's snickerdoodles and dark pecan Brooklyn Fudge took the edge off our mutual post-holiday sugar withdrawal.

The Goods: On our first official day back from the holiday break, we happily welcomed the arrival of 2009 and our new editorial assistant, Stacy Blondin, with this delightfully delicious menu. It was elegantly paired with a thought-provoking discussion of Stacy's only loathed legume, the lima bean, which we were all thankful Lyndsay omitted from the day's offerings. One lingering question was where a desperate shopper might actually find this neglected ingredient, other than among Rainbow Grocery's infinite bulk-food selections. One standard ingredient we did miss, however, was Elizabeth. Unfortunately, she was unable to join the celebration due to an ill-fated morning bike ride to the VNHQ, which left her sprained, stitched, and sedated. (Get well soon, E!) With our tummies tamed, we made a beeline back to our respective work stations, anxious to embark on the New Year's tasks, among them the next issue of VegNews ...

Scrumptious Stir-Fry

The Chef: Aurelia

The Menu: An absolutely delicious stir-fry full of our favorite ingredients. Aurelia expertly combined broccoli, seitan, zucchini, peanuts, and a special blend of Asian spices, all of which she served over basmati rice with peas. De-freakin'-licious, like we said. Of course, the side salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, avocado, and a freshly made lemon dressing wasn't half bad either. And just in case that wasn't enough, she managed to turn tortillas into crispy, spiced wontons. Yes, it was magic but unfortunately it was a particularly tasty kind of magic, and all the evidence was eaten.

The Goods: If there's anything better than a midday stir-fry, we don't even want to know about it. Today's a crazy one here in the VNHQ, as we're gearing up for both the much-anticipated re-launch of vegnews.com, and maybe there's a little something going on tomorrow night. Maybe that little something is called the Vegan à Go-Go! Book Bash, and just maybe we couldn't be any more excited about it. Be sure to check Press Pass for the full post-party report!

Sublime Soup

The Chef: Jenny

The Menu: A delicious, rich tomato soup, pan-fried tempeh, and Indian-spiced rice with peas. Fresh bread from Mr. Mink made a perfect dipping implement. This meal hit the spot, and was a great way to start off the week to come.

The Goods: We're supposed to be getting a heat wave this week here in SF, though today's temps aren't exactly scorching. It remains to be seen whether the hot weather will come through or not, but one thing we're sure of is that we loved having some nice warm soup.

Picadillo Picante!

The Chef: Jenny

The Menu: ¡Un picadillo picante! Thanks to Jenny's secret, Cuban, kitchen maneuvers we got to taste a picadillo today—a dish traditionally made with ground beef. With a substitution of tofu, the amalgamation of black beans, tomatoes, peas, and potatoes was a delicious, and meatless, treat. The secret ingredient? Chipotle-brined green olives, which gave the dish a lovely spiciness. Served alongside a fluffy pile of delectable, mustard-seed-infused rice, the picadillo made a hearty meal.

The Goods: You know our policy about having people over for lunch: We love it! And it's even more fun when those people happen to have co-founded one of the nation's most well-known sanctuaries. Not to put too fine a point on it, but just for the sake of argument, let's say that was Farm Sanctuary, and the person who came for lunch was Gene Baur, whom we're always happy to see. Here's the proof, a little photo of us all smiling alongside Gene:

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.