spring is here... or is it?

I woke up this morning minutes before dear hubby was to leave for work. I had planned on waking up early to prepare lunch for him, but oh well. Straight out of bed, I boiled some water, added some rolled oats, frozen corn kernels, frozen black beans and a little tomato paste. I let it simmer while dear hubby put his coat on and everything. A couple of minutes later, there it was: instant breakfast/lunch (or in between) that he took to work with a Thai Kitchen Hot & Sour rice noodle soup bowl- which is always there for days like this.

Well, dinner was a different story.
Susan of Fat Free Vegan recently posted a dish called Korean Tofu and Vegetable Stew on her blog. I had been thinking about it ever since, and decided to make it today.
Okay, so I made a store run, and yes with all 3 kids, to pick up daikon and then some. And since we had to go to swimming lesson right after, we decided to eat lunch at the store as well. That wasn't really the plan but we were there longer than anticipated and had to go around the store a few times to find Lyrica's socks which she managed to keep taking off and dropping when no one is looking. (I would have not bothered, but at 20 degrees, this one year old needed socks.) Oh, and we also met a nice lady who found one of the socks, when it was dropped the nth time, of which then I finally had the sense to put it and the other one in my purse.

I'm surprised that considering that this is the bigger Whole Foods (Minneapolis) that we went to, they had no vegan-friendly hot food at all! Interestingly, there's always something for us at the cramped St Paul location. I ended up getting the spicy tofu salad (cold, with bell peppers) and tabouli. Odd combination, but good.

Going back to Susan's Korean Tofu dish, I still didn't have some of the vegetables that it calls for, but I just substituted with what's on hand. I put extra daikon and red bell pepper, and instead of the baby bokchoy (which I refuse to buy from WFM), I thought it would be fun to use the chinese broccoli which we have an abundance of. And what else did I find in the fridge? You got it- some okra! I also didn't have the red miso, so I used white instead. (I've only used this kind but should really try the red miso next time.)

This dish is awesome! Even dear hub said so. He likes that the veggies look and taste very fresh. Oh, and was that Aliyah eating tofu? You bet! Susan, it's a success!
And what a plus that this was easy enough and super quick to make.

Okay, this picture has nothing to do with my post, but I haven't posted images of my own cooking for a while now, and hey, this is the best thing I could come up with- kids playing with cousins while moms are shopping. And yes, that snow is still there today. Happy spring, everyone!