Tofu and Winter Vegetable Lunchbox

by Linda on August 23, 2011

My partner’s favourite lunch is microwaved tofu and vegetables with chili (he’s a chili fiend).  I’m not a huge fan of either tofu or microwaves, but hey, I’m not purist. It’s mostly garden vegetables, and I am a huge fan of them!

I’m not a huge fan of tofu because soy beans contain a number of compounds that can cause health problems,  it takes a fair amount of processing to get tofu from soy beans, and they are one of the most genetically modified and unsustainably farmed crops on the planet.   Nutrisoy and Soyco are a couple of brands that don’t use genetically modified soy beans.

I’m not much of a fan of microwaves either, mostly because they have such limited uses for so much consumer electronic junk.  But Lewie has a microwave at his work and it is an easy, no mess way to cook lunch, especially if you have an inactive office job.

The Recipe:

Part 1: The Dressing/Marinade

I make a jar of this because we use it for all sorts of dishes.

In a jar, shake together:

  • 1 part olive oil
  • 1 part lemon juice
  • 1 part soy sauce
  • 1 part sweet chili sauce or chili jam
  • a clove or two of garlic crushed
  • a similar amount of ginger crushed
  • a little sesame oil or tahini

This dressing or marinade will keep in the fridge for weeks.  Use a few dessertspoons over the vegetables in the lunchbox.  They will toss themselves on the way.

Part 2: Tofu

Fry some cubes of tofu in a little oil till browned.

Part 3: The Vegetables

This is just simply chopped garden vegetables in season.

  • Chinese cabbage
  • Silver Beet
  • Celery
  • Carrot
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Snow Peas
  • Red Onion

(I have a zucchini plant surviving in my garden, but really it shouldn’t be in season.)

Assembling and Cooking:

Vegies and cooked tofu in a microwavable lunch box with a lid, with a couple of spoonfuls of dressing.

At work at lunch time shake the lunchbox to cover everything in dressing and put the whole thing in the microwave for 4 to 5 minutes (more or less, depending on how crunchy you like your vegetables.)

Feel so glad you brought lunch rather than succumbed to a burger.

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Roots and Perennials Planting Days in Late Autumn

by Linda on May 21, 2011

This is the May-June carrots.  They were planted as seed back in January.  We had these for lunch in a tofu, noodles and Asian greens stir fry, and they were yum.

This is the June – July carrots.  They were planted as seed back in February.  They’re pretty well right for now.

This is the July – August carrots. I have a dozen tubes of them ready to be planted out today. They were planted as seed back in March, so it is actually two months now since sowing.  Carrots are slow to start but they’ll take off now.  I shall dig a little hole and plant the group as one in it, bottomless tube and all.  Any excess fertilizing would just make them go all to leaf and no root, so they get no compost and I  prefer spots where a heavy nitrogen feeder like a leafy green has come out.

This is the August – September carrots.  They were planted as seed a month ago, last roots and perennials planting days. I shall move them to a sunnier part of the shadehouse today, so they get a bit more light so they don’t go leggy, but otherwise, they’re right for another month.

And this is the September – October carrots, planted today, companion planted with spring onions using my standard method.  If I had to plant them out today, I don’t know where I’d put them – the garden is too full, the bigger plants will out-compete them, one day of harsh sun as they germinate will kill them.  Planted like this in the shadehouse, I can keep them watered and weed free till July, by which time a lot of lettuces and cabbages will have been harvested to make room for them.

There’s very little actual work involved – I grabbed a bucket of creek sand on my way home last night and mixed it with some old compost to make the planting mix. The sowing takes minutes and the planting out only half an hour or so.  Of course it’s not quite that simple – there’s always seeds that don’t germinate,  mice that get them in the shadehouse, bandicoots that break into a garden bed, floods that drown them,  frizzle days that scorch them, and times when I get so busy that planting days just speed past.  But if I can keep the routine going, I can harvest a dozen or so carrots pretty well most weeks of the year.

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