Soup, Rice, and Salad

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: Fragrant, seasoned white basmati rice served with a perfectly cooked, crunchy veggie-filled salad complete with carrot, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and bell pepper. Colleen paired this balanced main with a lovely side of savory sweet potato soup.

The Goods: Today is an exciting day at the VNHQ, as it marks our first design meeting for VN's Sept+Oct issue. We always love design meetings—mostly because VN Art Director Sutton Long is sort of the best ever. Also, after working hard to put together VN's July+August Anniversary issue—our largest issue ever—putting together the next issue feels kind of like a cakewalk. Speaking of cake, as we so often do, we'll be noshing on some delicious, dairy-free treats courtesy of The Vegan Divas during our design meeting. As you might know, baskets of bite-size vegan baked goods don't stick around these here offices for very long.

Bean Burritos, Carrot Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Fully-loaded burritos stuffed with fluffy white rice, black beans, pinto beans, Harmony Valley Vegetarian Hamburger Mix and seasoned with cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, and oregano. We heaped a helping of this hearty filling onto slightly warmed sprouted grain tortillas and topped them off with green curry sauce. Elizabeth also whipped together a scrumptious salad with peeled carrots and raisins. 

The Goods: With today's lunch, Elizabeth has singlehandedly refined the concept of making something out of nothing. Of course, barren cupboards and almost no fresh produce didn't flummox Elizabeth for a second; hence our lovely Latin food inspired feast. The only thing that could have made this budget-friendly meal more resourceful would be rolled-from-scratch tortillas like the recipe perfected by VN's very own Savvy Abby.