Meal: teriyaki tofu, udon noodles, stir-fried green peppers and zuchini
Cooking time: about an hour, partially hands-off
Cost per person: about $1.50, with enough tofu leftover for one lunch (it helped that the tofu was on sale for 99 cents a package)
Local ingredients: green pepper, honey
Organic ingredients: zuchini, flour, tofu

For our Tuesday night movie night, we made teriyaki tofu, stir-fried vegetables, and homemade udon noodles.

The only modification I made to the noodles was that it took a whole cup of water, rather than a half, to get a ball of dough going (I did haul out the food processor for this, and I’m glad I did; the dough was stiff.) Also, the recipe calls for “high gluten white flour”, so I did what I do when my bread recipes call for high gluten flour - added gluten, at one teaspoon per cup plus an extra teaspoon. This is great for sandwich bread, but made for a very stiff noodle dough - so I think next time I’ll back off on gluten and see what that does for the dough. Otherwise, these were great - thick and chewy (a little too thick; next time, I’ll roll them thinner.) They were utterly unlike store brought udon noodles, and I suspect, much closer to the real thing than what we can purchase at the store. It took me about half an hour to roll out and cut noodles for 4 people, and there were no leftovers.

The tofu used our normal teriyaki sauce. It went into the sauce about three hours prior to dinner to marinate. I made 28 ounces of tofu - almost 2 pounds - and there was just enough tofu for a lunch salad for me the next day. Wowsers. When it was time for the tofu to cook, it went in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350.

The zuchini and green pepper I just sliced and tossed in a wok with a little seasame oil until they were done. I like my vegetables just barely cooked, so this didn’t take long.

And that was it. Everyone piled their food into our big soup bowls, poured a little extra sauce on top, and feasted. We neglected pictures, as we were distracted by how good dinner was. :)