Mama Cooks: Gluten-free, vegan pasta primavera

Yesterday, I realized that I was out of both coconut milk and red chili paste (there is a sentence I never imagined I would write) but I had already diced peppers and zucchini and rinsed my tofu.  Since a curry was out and a plain old stir-fry didn't sound appealing, I decided to get a bit creative.  Henry helped "explore our options," picking boxes and bags out of the cabinet and tossing them onto the floor.  He found some flat rice noodles-- the kind typically used in pad thai or stir-fry noodle dishes.  Perfect!  Since his next big "find" was a huge, open bag of beans, I put him in his high chair and offered some snacks.  He wasn't thrilled with this idea and was sure to let me (and maybe our neighbors) know about it.  Still, I needed to cook dinner.  So, I hurried to make something up that would be tasty!

Here is what I came up with:

Gluten-free Vegan Pasta Primavera

three zucchinis, diced
three green chili peppers, chopped
five small green tomatoes, diced
one clove garlic, minced
one block extra firm tofu, sliced into cubes or rectangles
mixed veggies from freezer, one cup
coconut oil, roughly half cup
pesto,three tablespoons
garlic powder, some healthy shakes (I didn't measure this)
basil (fresh would be best, but I didn't have any on hand), 2 tsp
salt and pepper, a few healthy shakes as I stirred
olive oil, 2 tsp
one cup rice noodles, cooked

I wasn't sure how the coconut oil would work out as a buttery replacement, but I was very pleased!

Order isn't too important here, as long as the noodles make it in toward the end, so that you can just toss all of the ingredients together and serve!  Enjoy!