Kale and Get it Ripe

I went about attempting to plan the week's meals. This is so unnatural to me, it almost pains me. It is my attempt to reduce waste while giving some of my cookbooks some love. I have quite a library. Fred has mentioned more than a few times lately that he feels I don't use them. I do, but I often "wing" it and create my own dishes. I pulled a few volumes that haven't seen my kitchen in a while and selected some dishes for the week.

I started of with Get it Ripe by Jae Steele. She focuses on healthy and fresh ingredients. For some reason this is not a go-to book for me. I've only made a couple of things from it. There is one dish I have made several times (a rarity for me): Sesame Kale Soba. This is a quick, satisfying, nutritious dish, packed full of anti-oxidants. Sesame seeds provide some protein and calcium. You can add baked tofu to up the protein content even further.

Fred has been really craving miso soup lately. He doesn't often request things, but he has this on his mind for a few weeks. Get it Ripe has a Mighty Miso Soup recipe, so I thought, "What the heck?". This version is more vegetable laden than the versions we often find out at restaurants. I loved the fact that it was chock full of kale, mushrooms, carrots, sea vegetables and tofu. 

We had two bunches of kale that were just about to go South on us, so this was a perfect way to warm up a rare cold and rainy day today.