I Bought Kale at Whole Foods

Yes cheezeheads you read that right! Your friendly neighborhood carbivore bought kale. At Whole Foods. I mean, could I be any more of a walking, breathing stereotype. I felt like a lost a chunk of my soul that day. I justified the whole thing because it was for a recipe in the cookbook that actually makes you want to cook, Thug Kitchen. I can’t recommend this book enough, even for just sheer entertainment value. I got one for Little Miss Sunshine for Christmas and after she read us a few pages, I decided I had to have a copy for myself as well.

I normally don’t go in for health sauce like kale. I eat enough things I don’t love in the name of “health”, but kale. Just gross. But this recipe looked pretty good and had other redeeming qualities, like peanut sauce, so I decided to just go in for the kale, because they specifically instruct you not to substitute ingredients. Plus, the editor-in-chief likes kale, so I figured if nothing else, she can eat it. (Yes, my dog likes kale, back to the stereotype).

Another reason I went for the recipe is it also called for tempeh. For the uninitiated, tempeh is another item you can purchase at Whole Foods, if you swing that way. It’s a soy-based meat substitute that’s more interesting than tofu. But I think tempeh is funny because at this hippie restaurant in Tahoe, my dad, not knowing what it was, ordered a tempeh burger. My dad is so not a tempeh person. Seriously. Not. A. Tempeh. Person. By the time anyone realized what happened, it was too late. So we just didn’t say anything and hoped for the best. He was pretty hungry, so he ate it, but yeah, he’ll never live that one down.

Anyhoo…back to my kale. Here was tonight’s kitchen adventure. Tempeh Peanut Noodles with Blanched Kale.

The kale:

The tempeh:

The peanut sauce:

In the pan:

(look mom, my fancy cookware in use!)

The finished product:

Like my 70s plates I got in a thrift store in college for $5? I like them because the whole set is made for reasonable portion sizes.

All in all, it turned out OK. I grabbed the wrong jar from the fridge and used extra garlic instead of ginger so I’m sure that has something to do with it. Next time I’ll make more peanut sauce, it seemed a little dry. If you want the recipe, let me know. Or buy the book.