This is one of those intuitive dishes that really doesn't require much of a recipe—take what you have, throw it together with some tofu and some appropriate seasonings, and stir "fry" it. Here's the original recipe I have been working from (along with my original alterations). I tend to stick with the same general seasonings, and I always include the peanuts, the tofu, the sesame seeds, the sauce, and at least three vegetables. Sometimes I serve this over brown rice, other times over rice noodles. It's easy, it's quick (except for the chopping which, if you use bags of frozen veggies is nonexistent), it's vegetarian, and it's healthy.

Sesame Tofu Stir Fry

Ingredients:
  ● 1/4  cup finely chopped peanuts
  ● 1  tbsp. sesame seeds
  ● 1  tsp. grated fresh ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  ● 1  12- ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  ● 1  tbsp. sesame or peanut oil
  ● 1  16- oz. bag frozen stir-fry vegetables, thawed, or fresh veggies chopped (I often use fresh broccoli, carrots, peas, or whatever I have on hand)
  ● 2/3  cup bottled stir-fry sauce or something similar (or your own concoction)
  ● 2  green onions, thinly sliced (1/4 cup)
  ● 1 cup forest or shitake mushrooms

Directions:
1. In a bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the peanuts, the sesame seeds, and ginger. Add tofu; toss gently to coat.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu mixture to skillet. Cook, stirring gently, for 3 to 4 minutes until sesame seeds are toasted and tofu begins to brown.

3. Remove tofu mixture to a bowl (I usually just push it up to the sides of the wok). Add vegetables to skillet; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. Add stir-fry sauce; cook and stir gently until mixture is bubbly. Stir in tofu; heat through. Serve over rice. Sprinkle each serving with some of the remaining 3 tablespoons peanuts and the green onions.

Nutrition Facts (makes 4 servings)
    * Calories 386,
    * Total Fat (g) 14,
    * Saturated Fat (g) 2,
    * Fiber (g) 6,
    * Protein (g) 19

I always thought they needed special shaping machines to make a thing as specific as a fortune cookie but last week I stumbled across a tutorial that said otherwise and I tried it. Every time I think "oh no, that's definitely something I will always have to buy premade" the internet comes to my rescue and proves me wrong, and now here I am, maker of fortune cookies, with still more hope for a truly homemade life.

Fortune Cookies
For original recipe and full tutorial click here.
Yield: ~12 cookies

Ingredients:
  ● 2 egg whites
  ● 1/2 cup flour, sifted
  ● 1/2 cup sugar
  ● 2 tbsp water
  ● 1 tsp almond extract
  ● 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Set oven to 400F degrees.

1) Place egg whites in a bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed until very frothy, almost soft peaks. Add sifted flour, sugar, and extracts, and mix until combined. Add ~2 tbsp water to thin the batter (you'll get a feel for this as you go long).

2) Prepare your baking sheet: the original tutorial suggested using a Siilpat (which I don't have but now desperately want), parchment paper, or just the ungreased baking sheet. I tried the parchment paper, but found that it got too wet, which made it hard to remove the cookie while it was still hot. I also tried the ungreased sheet, but in the end used a very light coating of canola oil, and I had to reapply the oil between each "batch"

3) Working from the center in a circular motion, spread 1 tbsp of batter into a thin 5 inch circle. Bake only two cookies at a time (that's all you'll have time to shape before they cool).

8) Bake until edges are lightly browned, ~5 minutes, but watch carefully—it happens fast! Take out of oven and immediately remove the first cookie from the pan with a very thin spatula.

9) Work quickly to shape: flip the cookie over and place fortune paper (if you made one) on top. Bring sides up and pinch together—you now have a cookie that closely resembles an upright, hard taco shell, sealed at the top. Next bend the bottom middle of the "taco-cookie" over the edge of a cup. Transfer the newly shaped cookie to a muffin tin to help hold its shape while it cooks, then quickly move on to the second one. For the shaping to work it must be completely finished before the cookie really begins to cool, which is fast because they are thin. If you don't work fast enough they will break instead of bending. The original tutorial suggest 10 seconds from start to finish, and also warns that working with hot cookies can be hard on the fingers; this is not an activity for kids.

Tada! Obviously it was a learning process, and some turned out better than others, but Jon said they all tasted great, and he was just as incredulous as I that they came from our own oven.

This recipe came from our "authentic" Dutch cookbook (put that way because I'm skeptical fo anything claiming to be ethnically authentic when it has been written and published in the US), and I made minimal changes to it, believe it or not. Reading the ingredient list I wasn't entirely sure about it, but the final product was both pretty and tasty.

Huzarensalade

Origin: Classic Dutch Cooking
Yield: serves 6
Ethnicity: Dutch

Ingredients:
  ● 1 lettuce (I used green leaf)
  ● 6 oz. potatoes, boiled
  ● 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  ● 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
  ● 1 tsp mustard
  ● 1 tart apple
  ● 4 gherkins, chopped
  ● 4 tbsp cocktail onions, chopped
  ● 1 beetroot, cooked, peeled, and diced
  ● 2 hardboiled eggs, diced
  ● 1 cup mayonnaise, divided
  ● salt and pepper
  ● 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:
1. Wash lettuce leaves and tear into bite sized pieces. Divide between six bowls and set aside.

2. Dice the potatoes and peel and dice the apple. Mix with the oil, vinegar, and mustard in a bowl, and season with salt and pepper.

3. Set aside 1 tbsp each of the gherkins, onions, and beetroot for the garnish.

4. Carefully mix gherkins, onions, and eggs, with the potato, stirring until well combined.

5. Make a small mountain of this mixture over the lettuce leaves in each bowl.

6. Garnish with a sprinkling of parsley and a dollop of mayonnaise before serving.

What is October without Oktoberfest? There was an interesting recipe in our local newspaper a few weeks back, so we saved it for just the right time, and tonight we takled German cooking.  Well, sort of.  The recipe called for coarse ground mustard, so I settled for one that looked chunky and had a picture of a guy wearing lederhosen on it (hard to go wrong there, right?) It also called for sauerkraut "not from a can," which, because I know nothing about sauerkraut, made me laugh because we don't buy anything in a can. On the other hand, "fresh sauerkraut" is an oxymoron, isn't it?  I came home from the local organic market with sauerkraut in a glass jar shaped like a barrel, ha ha ha.  Also, the recipe called for two small local red apples.  We got large organic green apples in our delivery, so that's what I used. The dinner was fantastic. I think the caraway seeds added just the right touch. 

Oktoberfest sausages and applekraut

Ingredients:
  ● 1 tbsp butter or canola oil
  ● 1 large onion
  ● 1 tbsp brown sugar
  ● 1-2 large fresh (red) apples, washed, cored, thinly sliced
  ● 1/4 cup German or micro-brewed beer
  ● 4 cups sauerkraut (not canned)
  ● 2 tsp caraway seeds
  ● 6 freshly made German sausages, i.e. brats, knocks, or weiswurst
  ● course ground mustard

Directions:
1. Prepare grill to high heat or heat oven to 350. Oil rack and grill sausages, or cook in pan, 20-30 minutes, or until done, turning to cook evenly. Do not pierce sausages while cooking as that will cause them to lose their savory juices and become dry.

2. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan heat oil over medium-low.  Add onions to pan and saute with brown sugar and pinch of Kosher salt for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Raise heat to high, then deglaze pan with 1/4 cup beer.  Stir, let reduce a minute, then add sliced apples to the onion mixture. Simmer an additional 10 minutes. Stir in rinsed sauerkraut and caraway seeds and cook until heated.

4. Serve sausages over applekraut, passing mustard.

And just a side note, or tip: if you have trouble when trying to evenly and thinly slice an onion, fancy cooking catalogs, like Williams-Sonoma or Pampered Chef, sell fancy tools that will help you hold the onion in place while you are slicing.  Those tools always reminded me of fancy forks, so that's what I use.  I first trim the ends off the onion, then peel it, cut in half lengthwise and remove centers, then I stab one half right in its middle with a fork and use the fork to hold it in place while I make even, thin slices moving inwards from each outside edge.  Works like a charm (bad picture, though. That doesn't really look like a thin slice, does it).

Well, today is the 6th, but yesterday we celebrated Mexican heritage the best way we know how - with margaritas and fajitas! And chips, salsa, and guacamole, too. Here are some of the recipes we used:

Flour tortillas

• 3 cups unbleached flour
  2 tsp. baking powder
  1 tsp. salt
  4-6 tbsp vegetable shortening or lard, For a lower fat version use 4 Tbsp lowfat margarine
  ~1.25 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, then cut in the shortening/lard/margarine (I used a combination of half lard, half shortening). Next add the warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft but not sticky.
Knead the dough for a few minutes, then form 12 small dough balls and let them rest for at least 10 minutes.
Heat a cast iron pan (I used our griddle) over medium high heat - you'll want it evenly hot before you cook the tortillas. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (a pelote would be more authentic), adding flour when needed to keep it from sticking, and lifting and flipping every so often. Roll them out to very thin - that's the best way I can describe this - then lay them, one at a time, on the hot griddle, waiting only seconds before flipping, and again before removing. They are ready when flecks of brown begin to appear on the tops of bubbles. Wrap in a towel to keep warm and moist and serve warm. Reheat in oven if necessary. Yum!

To make tortilla chips I made a second batch of tortillas, then cut them into wedges and lay them out on a cookie sheet, sprinkled with salt and cumin, then baked at 350 for about 5 minutes per side (total 10 minutes per batch). Yum again!

Guacamole in our house is merely mashed avocados mixed with a dash of garlic, a pinch of salt, and the juice of about half a lime.

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

• 1.5 lbs. chicken breasts, rinsed and trimmed of fat
  3 Limes - juiced
  2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  1 tbsp. vinegar (white wine or apple cider)
  2 tbsp. olive oil
  1 tsp. oregano
  1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
  1/2 tsp. salt

Combine lime juice, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, oil, oregano, pepper and salt in a glass bowl. Add chicken and marinate, covered, for 2 hours, turning twice.
Remove from marinade and grill over hot coals, 4 inches from the heat for about 12-15 minutes, turning once and basting with marinade until chicken is cooked through. Do not over cook.
Remove chicken to a cutting board and allow to stand for ~5 minutes before slicing into strips.

In our house we top fajita with guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes, fresh cilantro and/or salsa, and a mixture of cheeses. Yum yum yum!

And last, but very definitely not least, Traditional Margaritas!

• 3 tbsp. tequila
• 1 1/2 tbsp. triple sec
• 1 1/2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
• dash of sugar
• Ice, lime wedge, and salt

This is pretty straight forward, but here are some tips:  to more efficiently extract juice from a lime, heat it for about 10 seconds in the microwave before cutting and squeezing.  To dissolve the sugar add it to the lime juice while it is still a tad warm - if it isn't a tad warm and the sugar won't dissolve, microwave it for a few second then stir.  Use a lime wedge to moisten the edge of the glass then tip it upside down in a plate of Kosher salt to coat the rim.  Coat the rim before filling the glass, of course - if you've mixed up those two steps you've probably had too many already!