Spinach & Kale Pesto Pasta

The Chef: Jennifer Chen

The Menu: Spinach and kale pesto with Jovial whole grain Einkorn pasta, topped with Parma.

The Goods: This is a meal I love making because it's a recipe from a dear friend and it's the perfect meal to make a big batch to have for lunches during the week. Since I make this pesto a lot, I have stopped looking at the recipe, but here's the general breakdown. In a large pan, I sauté one head of spinach and one head of kale (you can sub-in a bag of frozen of each green) until cooked. In a sauté pan, I warm a few tablespoons of olive oil and add chopped garlic, and cook until the garlic browns. I add the spinach and kale to the olive oil and garlic mixture and toss until coated. My final step is using my immersion blender to create the pesto. Of course, I also cook pasta and then combine the pesto and pasta. After a fantastic weekend in Los Angeles with VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria attending the 25th Genesis Awards, this warming meal was a perfect way to feel like I was back at home.

Raw Week: Pesto Fettuccine and Caesar Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Pasta without noodles? No problem. If you've got a vegetable peeler, some patience, and a big pile of zucchini, you can make a perfect pesto-transportation medium. Ribbons of zucchini stood in for cooked pasta, and stood up to the task of supporting the thick sauce. The pesto itself was a blend of fresh basil, spinach, garlic, cashews, and pistachios. A couple dashes of nutritional yeast and salt rounded out the sweetness of the basil nicely. What to do with the seed-laden middles of the zucchini? Elizabeth stuck them in the food processor with some capers, lemon juice, olive oil, and cashews, and made caesar dressing, which got generously poured over a salad of romaine, spinach, tomatoes, and avocado.

The Goods: Fettuccine pesto with caesar salad: aren't those the first two menu items that come to mind when you think of raw food? Perhaps they should be, since this meal was easy to whip up and satisfied the Italian-food afficionados in the office. We just don't recommend trying this menu for Valentine's day, what with the effects of heavy doses of raw garlic on breath quality. Suffice to say, we are glad to be guest-free today!

Pesto Pasta

The Chefs: Jennifer and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: Savvy Savories Vegan Pesto Pasta with sun-dried tomatoes

The Goods: I blame Editorial Assistant Hilary Pollack for my addiction to this pesto pasta. She bought it all the time, and she made me try it to understand her obsession. Now, I'm hooked. The roasted cashews add a nice cheese-like taste to this pesto. I could eat it every day. Stop me. Immediately after eating this savory dish, all I really want is something sweet. So it's a good thing I'm baking up the Chocolate Sugar Cookies Iced with Crushed Candy Cane Topping recipe from our Holiday Cookie Contest. I'm not the world's best baker so I'm glad I'm chatting with some of the best vegan bakers tonight at 6pm PT during our VegNews Twitter Chat to get some help.

Pesto Pasta and a Leafy Green Salad

The Chef: Joni and Valencia Whole Foods 

The Dish: A healthy green salad and pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes 

The Goods: See that pesto pasta? I’m obsessed—as my go-to lunch, it costs less than $4 and really showcases the earthy flavor of basil. After yesterday’s amazing feast, I wanted a light lunch so that I’ll have plenty of room for feasting this weekend! If you still don’t have Thanksgiving plans, check out this handy guide for event ideas across the country, and don’t forget to save some time to come up with the perfect recipe for our first annual Holiday Cookie Contest! Have a great weekend (also, isn't it great to be able to say that on a Wednesday?)!

Avocado Pesto Pasta

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: Tangy, buttery Avocado Pesto Pasta a la vegan Chef Chloe Coscarelli. Liz marinated perfectly cooked macaroni and rigatoni pasta in a zesty pesto sauce replete with garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. The recipe calls for one bunch of fresh basil, but with none on hand, Liz improvised with dry basil and fresh spinach leaves. She paired this rich, savory dish with two varieties of rosemary-seasoned roasted potatoes and a veggie-filled side salad including spinach, cabbage, onion, halved cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, grated carrot, and two types of mushrooms.

The Goods: While we'd take any excuse to whip up a batch of this super satisfying summer pasta, today's lunch was inspired by Chef Chloe's appearance on tonight's episode of Cupcake Wars, a new Food Network cooking competition. Chloe is the only vegan chef on tonight's episode, and we'll be rooting for her to claim the top prize: A chance to cater a star-studded magazine party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Last February, she catered a star-studded magazine party—which we like to call lunch— at the VNHQ. Her lovely, themed Valentine's Day feast completely blew us away. Also, Chloe just might be featured in VN's July+August Anniversary issue, which hits newsstands on July 1—okay, she most definitely is. Yes, we're pretty much obsessed with this rising star chef.

Summer Salad and Pesto Pasta

The Chef: Jennifer

The Menu: Spinach salad with fresh tomatoes and a brown rice pasta tossed with cilantro pesto and artichoke hearts

The Dish: It's 80 degrees, sunny, and Friday. Life is pretty grand, my friends. I whipped up the pasta dish with some cilantro pesto from Bolani, a local company that makes Afghan vegan sauces and dips. I swear by the spinach, pumpkin, or potato bolanis (a thin savory wraps filled with veggies). It's the first really hot day in San Francisco so I dined on the deck with my fellow VN staffers today. If you're in the Bay Area, be sure to stop by the SF Vegan Bake Sale on Sunday, April 22 from 12pm to 4pm, right here in front of the VNHQ headquarters. I'm baking a bundt cake for the occasion so come and get a slice!

Pesto and Peas

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A pasta salad of sorts with pesto, tempeh, garbanzo beans, peas, and bell peppers

The Goods: After an extremely fun weekend of scooting down to LA for the Humane Society's Genesis Awards on Saturday, my dinner when I got home last night was decidedly of the "throw together whatever's in the fridge" variety. So, with some on-hand cashews, garlic, frozen spinach, and one bunch of fresh basil, this impropmtu pesto came to be. Back at the VNHQ the excitement continues, as tomorrow we'll be talking veganism and manliness in our Twitter Chat, and Thursday we're headed out for SF Vegan Drinks! Whew!

Pesto Pasta and Salad

The Chef: Joni and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: Pesto pasta topped with sun-dried tomatoes with a side salad of tossed greens, chickpeas, black beans, carrots, corn, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

The Dish: At least one person (usually more) seems to chow down on Valencia Whole Foods' offerings of delicious vegan fare every single day. I'm addicted to this pesto pasta, introduced to me via Editorial Assistant Hilary, but I'm even more addicted to the beautiful sunshine gracing San Francisco today, enjoyed on our newly revamped VNHQ deck! Consider making an appointment to the Vaute Couture Pop-Up Show for this Friday or Saturday, so you can check out the VNHQ deck's facelift and pick up some new veg threads. Also, today marks the final opportunity to vote in the Veggie Awards, so voice your opinion before it's too late!

Spring Rolls and Vegan Pesto

 The Chefs: Elizabeth and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: Two ready-made dishes, fresh from the cold case. Spring rolls with carrots, romaine, cucumbers, avocado, and a ridiculously delicious dipping sauce, plus a side of Savvy Savories pesto pasta, topped with some of the company's Italian sausage.

The Goods: Sometimes you want to eat delicious things but a) don't have the time to whip something up yourself, b) need to also sneak in a quick run at lunch, in addition to procuring and devouring said delicious thing, and c) happen to have a really great grocery store right around the corner from your office. All three of these qualifications were true for me today, and thankfully Valencia Whole Foods totally came through. Do pesto and spring rolls usually go together? Maybe not, but I tell you what—they should! You know what else should go together? You and me! I'm thrilled to be going on VegNews Vegan Yoga Retreat to Mexico, and you could be too! Check out our VegNews Vacation lineup for 2012 here.

Pesto Pasta

The Chef: Anna and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: Cashew-pesto pasta with slow-roasted tomatoes on top of a bed of greens and carrots

The Dish: This pesto pasta is killer. It's tasty, filling, and comes in just the right amount (for three dollars, no less). I decided to health it up a little by adding the greens, and I must say, my experiment turned out nicely. Coworkers Colleen, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Hilary, and I all enjoyed our various lunches (three out of the five consisting of Valencia Whole Foods' offerings) on our sunny deck, happy to have the September+October issue at the presses. You know what that means—we're already hard at work on November+December! Make your own mark on the issue by voting in the 11th annual VegNews Veggie Awards (the highlight of the November+December issue, if we dare say so).

Lunch on the Cheap

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: Baked potato with roasted red pepper hummus, Pesto Vegenaise, and ribbons of spinach

The Dish: Okay, I'll admit it. All I brought to eat at work today was a potato. My fridge at home is running on empty, and this morning on my way out, I discovered one lone Russet potato lurking amongst the root-growing garlic and onion in my pathetic produce basket. So thank the heavens for random condiments in the VegNews fridge! At 11:30am, I popped the potato into our convection oven, and one hour later I topped it off with Cedar's new fat-free roasted red pepper hummus, a dollop of Pesto Vegenaise, and some chiffonaded spinach leaves. It just goes to show that a healthy lunch doesn't need to be expensive or complex. That said, would I rather be on a food tour of one our five under-the-radar great vegan cities? Absolutely. Until then, I'll be eating potatoes in preparation for what I am sure would be excellent vegan eats.

Soup and Pasta Salad

The Chef: Sara

The Menu: A lovely, spicy tomato soup with a side of toasted tortilla triangles, and a big pesto pasta salad with fresh veggies. Sara chopped up zucchini, broccoli, red onions, carrots, and greens, and added a ready-made pesto by Maison Le Grand for our dining pleasure. Yum. We then proceeded to drown the memory of our healthy lunch in ice cream, which is just not a bad idea at all.

The Goods: We are thrilled to announce that for the first time ever, VegNews has our own, customized holiday cards on sale! They are pretty stinking cute, so you should probably go check them out. Unless you want us to be sad and drown our sorrows in Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, which we might be doing anyway.

Pesto Pasta, Perfect Potatoes

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A hearty helping of rich, silky, gluten-free Avocado Pesto Pasta paired with roasted potatoes perfectly seasoned with rosemary, garlic, and olive oil. Liz rounded out this lunch of champions with a bright green kale salad filled with diced tomatoes and sliced mushroom.

The Goods: It's a pretty exciting day here at the VNHQ. After a relaxing, long holiday weekend—happy belated birthday, America—we're thrilled to get back in the swing of things and welcome Brooke, our new editorial assistant, on her first day at the office! To celebrate Brooke's arrival, we prepared a lunch featuring our favorite food groups: kale and carbs. Okay, maybe that's playing a little fast and loose with the vegan food pyramid, but something about "greens and grains" just doesn't sound as mouthwatering.

Messy Pesto

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A late-summer pesto with broccolini, sautéed red bell peppers, and big, lovely bites of avocado. This meal took a turn for the lighter side with the substitution of rice noodles for the traditional wheat pasta, and the standard side salad brightened the plate a little bit too.

The Goods: One of the tell-tale signs of an Elizabeth lunch is the heavy-handed avocado. But really, why stop at adding it to one dish when you can just as easily add it to both? If you haven't yet tried sprucing up your pasta dishes with avocado, go for it. We're pretty certain you'll be glad you did. If you's just not an avocado fan, well, we're sorry to say, you probably have no soul. Er, um, we mean, uh, it's okay to not like something as intrinsically awesome as avocado. Sure.

Pesto Pizza

 The Chef: Sara

The Menu: A yummy pizza and tons of veggies! Sara topped a Clean Cravings Perfectly Pesto Pizza with some of our supply of Daiya, and we totally devoured it. She also roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, and whipped up a yummy tomato and avocado salad with pine nuts. 

The Goods: Um, things are pretty awesome. We've eaten pizza two days in a row, and we followed up today's meal with an impromptu cookie dough taste test. Our amazing guest chef from Monday will be returning tomorrow. Why the fancy food again tomorrow, you ask? Well, that would be because we're going to host one Jonathan Safran Foer for lunch. Yes, that Jonathan Safran Foer. Maybe we're excited. Maybe it would be nearly impossible for us to be more excited. We're just saying.

All Green

The Chef: Joni and Valencia Whole Foods

The Menu: Pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, tofu and green beans glazed with ginger, and iced green tea

The Goods: Seriously, think twice before sampling this pesto pasta sold at Valencia Whole Foods—it’s so good that I have to it nearly every day. Why is something so delicious located just a block away? Speaking of delicious, check out this huge delivery of bread that arrived today, courtesy of Dave’s Killer Bread. After all this pasta and bread, you can certainly find me happily snoozing on our sunny deck. Thank you, post-lunch, starch-induced coma. For a more exciting event on the deck, come to the VegNews Book Bash with Spork Foods on October 21. Tickets are selling out fast!

Raw Week: Angelic Pesto

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A fitting finale to raw week! Colleen, who cleverly brought in her spiralizer, made incredible angel-hair pasta from white sweet potatoes, which she covered with a delicious, slightly spicy, pesto and chopped tomatoes. A huge salad and a couple Olive Flats—which are a very salty jerky treat made from olives—finished off the meal.

The Goods: Now that we've thoroughly detoxed from the craziness of Expo West with this whole week of great, raw lunches, we're feeling ready to tackle the weekend. What do our weekend plans include? Oh, maybe a trip to Ike's, maybe a scoop or two at MaggieMudd, or maybe a trip across the bay for a huge, hearty brunch at Fellini. Whatever we each end up doing, we guarantee there won't be a salad in sight!

Presto Pasta

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A ready-made meal of pasta with an alfredo pesto sauce, courtesy of Newleaf. Colleen busted out a simple cucumber salad that perfectly complemented the hearty pesto, and we topped the whole plate with tons of Parma!, as per usual.

The Goods: It's stunningly gorgeous outside today, so you can be we dined al fresco. This is going to be a busy weekend, and we hope the beautiful weather keeps coming. The Genesis Awards are happening down in LA, where Elizabeth will be for the festivities. Then Joseph and Colleen have to get packed since they set sail on Sunday for a week-long cruise with A Taste of Health! Bon voyage, all! We'll be back on Monday, provided we can tear ourselves away from the beach.

Pesto Fusilli

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A luscious, homemade pesto served with fresh tomato chunks over brown-rice fusilli. A hearty salad with garbanzo beans, romaine, cucumber, and green onion made a delicious side, and Liz also just happened to bust out a seitan piccata. Yes, we are spoiled. Yes, we covered everything in Parma!

The Goods: After Friday's phenomenal meal, we were too scared to come in to the office to make lunch yesterday. Yes, too scared, and also too much enjoying the holiday time off. Liz brought us back to the work-week reality with this yummy lunch, but just in case any of you was hoping for more from the realm of professional chefs, we have a little recap from one of Tal Ronnen's cooking classes over on Press Pass. Let's not, you know, hasten back to reality too quickly. Here's hoping everyone is enjoying the short week!

Cruzer's VegNews Pizza!

The Chef: Joseph, Frankie, and Cruzer Pizza & Pasta

The Menu: Mouthwatering slices of white pizza topped with artichoke hearts, basil, fresh tomatoes, roasted garlic, vegan pesto, and Daiya mozzarella cheese, courtesy of Cruzer Pizza & Pasta, comprised the bulk of this hearty lunch. Joseph prepared a lovely side salad with celery, avocado, and mixed greens to accompany our satisfying slices of pizza, and Frankie generously brought us homemade pickled papaya, lotus root, and sunchokes—oh yeah, we're spoiled.

The Goods: Here at the VNHQ we usually assume that every vegan pizza has our name on it, and now one actually does! Yes, our friends over at Cruzer Pizza & Pasta will soon be adding the VegNews Besto Pesto Pizza to its menu, so of course, it was only fitting that we all try a slice or two. We couldn't be more thrilled about having our own pizza, and believe us when we say that it is incredibly delicious. Even those of us who are red sauce loyalists couldn't get enough of this delicious white pizza. The consensus in the office is that we move the magazine to Los Feliz, Calif., to be closer to our pizza. That's what the pizza would want, right? It hasn't officially been added to the menu yet, but that shouldn't deter anyone from eating pizza at Cruzer's every day until it makes its debut.