All Hail Kale!

I've heard about a billion and one good things about kale chips in the past year. Kale, being a leafy green veggie, is pretty much a nutrient filled rockstar in the veggie world.  I mean, check out some of what kale can offer you!  Vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), vitamin C, vitamin K, and manganese. It is a very good source of copper, tryptophan, calcium, vitamin B6, and potassium; and a good source of iron, magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin B2, protein, vitamin B1, folate, phosphorous, and vitamin B3. It's also said to be an anti-inflammatory! With alllll that good stuff, how could I not try it?  


I'll admit, I'm not all that huge on a lot of leafy greens.  Different lettuces and spinach is about as leafy green as I get.  But they're so so good for you, and I figured, hey, why not?  Kale isn't terribly expensive and all the recipes for kale chips I've seen were terribly easy. 


Oh, after you buy your kale, be sure to put it in the fridge.  I didn't know you had to if you wanted it to not get a little wilty.  Next time!


So to make kale chips....


Preheat your oven to 275F.


Wash and DRY your kale thoroughly.  It's really important you dry it!!  


Tear bite sized pieces off the big stem.  You don't want the big stem.  I mean, I guess you COULD eat it later, but I have a feeling it won't be all that great since pretty much every kale recipe I've ever seen says to just toss that sucker.


Line a baking pan with foil (or parchment paper.  Or nothing if you like to bareback it. Woot!)  My pan ended up looking like this:

Toss the leaves in olive oil.  I only used maybe a teaspoon of oil which MIGHT have been too little.  And then sprinkle with salt.  I have been using sea salt for cooking lately and I like it a lot.  I'd REALLY like to get some of that Himalayan pink salt but with it being like $7 for a little package, Morton's salt is going to have to do it for me.

Pop the kale in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, giving the chips a little toss maybe about halfway through.  WATCH THE CHIPS.  It's very easy to burn and you don't want burnt chips!!  You want them light and crispy.  

They will be a little smaller when they come out.  Kinda like Shrinky Dinks!

The verdict?

Well, surprisingly good!  They were definitely crispy.  They ARE very light but it's kind of like very thin cut potato chips.  But I won't lie.  After eating a couple, I thought, "This must be what eating leaves off the tree in autumn must be like."

I made another bowl of yesterday's rice salad for my dinner tonight and I ended up crumbling some kale chips in the bowl.  It was a great addition to the meal!

Next time, I think I'll toss them with a little more olive oil and perhaps use garlic salt on them.  One of my facebook friends was making sriracha salt (kosher salt mixed with a some sriracha sauce spread out on a cookie sheet to dry for a few days) and I think I may make a little batch to sprinkle some on some chips.  It's always great to find a new healthy snack!