The Joy Frittatable

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: As always, a big salad of romaine, tomato, and avocado, plus a heaping helping of frittata made with leftover pasta, kalamata olives, capers, fresh basil, and tons of garlic.

The Goods: You know what is really amazing? Tofu. Last night after a long workout, I got home wanting something hearty for dinner, but the leftover pasta in my fridge was just not super appealing. The solution? Whirring half a block of tofu in a food processor with a little olive oil, veggie broth, and nutritional yeast until it was totally smooth, then putting the whole works under the broiler for a few minutes. So simple, so yummy. The workout-frittata combo was good, but the evening I really can't wait for this week is Friday, when we party with the lovely gals from Spork Foods. Champagne, delicious appetizers, and two of the cutest cookbook authors on the planet? That's heaven. See you there!

Frittata, Sausage, and Biscuits

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: Um, perhaps the most amazing smorgasbord of brunchy treats this side of Sunday. Ms. Abby whipped up her signature fresh biscuits, breakfast sausage patties, mini herbed frittatas, and a huge, gorgeous kale, quinoa, lettuce, kidney bean, and tomato salad. Oooof. We are pretty well slain with delight over here.

The Goods: It's possible that we made a few major announcements today in the form of the July VegNewsletter. Foremost among them are our second VegNews Great Adventure to India, the fast and furious discussion taking place in our brand new Book Club, and the VN Publisher's Circle. Yes indeed, there's plenty going on over here at the VNHQ, so it's a good thing we had this awesome lunch to help us power through!

Egg-Free Frittata, Romaine Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: An egg-free frittata chockfull of tangy green chiles that Elizabeth prepared with one part Lucini Italia's line of Cinque e' Cinque Traditional Frittata mix, and one part, well, green chiles. Elizabeth paired this perfect brunch main with a crunchy salad comprised of chopped romaine, cucumbers, halved cherry tomatoes, and pinto beans.

The Goods: You may have noticed that we're sort of obsessed with Lucini's frittata mixes, as evidenced by the fact that we are constantly eating them. We're not sure why these mixes—free of dairy, soy, and gluten—taste so so fantastic, but from their spicy, punchy flavor to their fluffy, satisfying texture, we fear our beloved tofu scramble has officially been replaced. Oh, and if you were wondering, each serving—42 grams per VN staffer, give or take—packs a whopping nine grams of protein, officially trumping its animal-product counterpart.

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.

Fantastic Frittata

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: Just about the best Friday spread we've ever seen. Abby busted out a lovely rosemary frittata, a very colorful salad, steamed broccoli, and sautéed greens with tomatoes and spices. Yes, everything was just as tasty as it looks!

The Goods: With a meal this colorful to kick off the weekend, we're pretty sure that good things are in store.

Fast, Vegan Frittata

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: Remember the frittata mix we got in yesterday on This Just In? Well, in case you need clarification about how things work around here, when food comes in, we eat it. Today Abby whipped up a yummy frittata, with broccoli, bell peppers, and carrots, which she topped with salsa. What also goes with salsa? Chips, especially the Lime flavor Food Should Taste Good chips. Abby also made her signature biscuits, and a lovely salad with broccoli, chickpeas, chips, and salsa. Yes, chips and salsa are great salad ingredients, thanks for asking.

The Goods: Today we eagerly await the beginning of the weekend. We're travel weary just from looking at all the awesome photos of our publishers' trip to NYC (where they'll be next week too, more photo fun to come!), tuckered out from the excitement of our editorial schedule (May+June should be here early next week and July+August is going gangbusters!), and tired from the constant excitement of our upcoming event! Didn't hear that we're having one? Well, guess what? We are! Don't miss the humane-meat debate of a lifetime: Fourth-generation cattle rancher-turned-vegan Howard Lyman versus Niman Ranch co-founder, Nicolette Niman, in a provocative and and lively conversation you won't want to miss. Tickets will sell out quickly, so reserve your spot today! With so much going on, we're looking forward to a little R&R this weekend before it all starts up again next week!

Cookbook Week: Roasted Vegetable Frittata

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A bevvy of breakfast goodies from 1,000 Vegan Recipes! Liz busted out a delicious frittata with potatoes, mushrooms, red bell pepper, and onions, and accompanied the hearty main with hash browns and Match Meats Breakfast Sausage. Savory and filling, breakfast for lunch might just be one of our all-time favorites.

The Goods: The comments from yesterday told us that overwhelmingly Vegan Planet is your go-to cookbook from Robin Robertson. Thanks to our trusty random number generator that picked the winning comment, we'd like to wish congratulations to Olivia! Olivia, send us an email with your full name and mailing address, and we'll send your copy of 1,000 Vegan Recipes right out. For today's copy, let's talk holidays. Tell us in the comments: What's your favorite holiday dish?

Frittata Florentine

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: An Italian-leftovers-inspired meal! Today's frittata combined some leftover pasta, a blend of tofu and garbanzo beans, and sautéed cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spinach. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, about a ton of Parma got mixed in there, too. To help colorize the plate, Elizabeth made a big kale salad with red cabbage, apple, carrot, avocado, and pumpkin seeds. What topped this multicolor creation? You guessed it: more Parma. (And a little flax-seed oil and apple cider vinegar, you know, so that we could call it a "dressing.")

The Goods: Everything sounds better in Italian, no? Leftover pasta tossed with stuff suddenly becomes "frittata" and since we happened to have spinach on hand, "florentine" made today's dish sound extra fancy. In case anyone is wondering, if you're trying to flip your frittata in one fell swoop, it's likely best not to create one solid piece that's bigger than your own head. Was Elizabeth thankful that there weren't any cameras around while she was trying to flip hers today, with two undersized spatulas? Yes, yes she was.

A Lotta Frittata

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Frittata. It's fun to say, it's fun to eat, it's pretty much the most fun you can have at lunchtime. Today's mixed-up main contained some leftover spaghettini, tons of organic broccoli, and a super-secret tofu mixture. Okay, okay, we give—you strong-armed us. The mystery tofu is a blend of silken and extra firm 'fu combined with olive oil, nutritional yeast, curry powder, and a little bit of salt. The same old everyday-style salad was graced with bits of delicious mango—courtesy of Ms. Frankie—and the Skinny Bitch in the Kitch homemade herbed croutons that have become a gripping addiction in the office ever since we sampled them last Friday.

The Goods: As is probably already apparent, we don't tend to make totally traditional dishes around here. That said, the Italian custom of throwing everything that happens to be in the fridge into a frittata that comes out of the oven all warm and homey is certainly a cooking style we can appreciate. While this frittata might not have been the most intricate creation ever to grace Café VegNews, it certainly did warm us up on another dreary winter day here in SF. What's the perfect addition to any fake-eggy dish? Bacon Salt. Curious? Don't miss the a full review in the March+April issue of VegNews!