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.

Vegan Frittata Time

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A spicy, highly delicious Tuscan Fiery Chili Frittata whipped together from a super simple mix from Lucini Italia's line of Cinque e' Cinque Tuscan Chickpea Frittata line. Lyndsay paired this zesty main with a mixed greens side salad including kale, spinach, grated carrot, avocado, and cucumber, and rounded the meal out with slices of crunchy bread topped with We Can't Say It's Sour Cream.

The Goods: We were already big fans of Lucini's frittata mixes, but this new, spicy variety was especially tasty; perfectly capturing the flavor of scrambled eggs with 100-percent vegan ingredients. Additionally, we love having breakfast for lunch whenever possible. Yep, this lunch has sufficiently crushed any case-of-the-Mondays that we might have been feeling.