Cooking Baking Eating

I’ve now started the journey to eating better and trying to eat homemade rather than store bought junk, because even if you make junk at home it’s still usually better for you than mass produced.

At least that’s my opinion.

One of those things is chips. I love crunchy and salty, and while I’ve found other root chips at the store before (sweet potato, carrot, beet, ect), they were still deep fried and greasy. Not to mention that I could polish off a whole bag in one sitting and then feel completely gross afterwards. Highly addicting.

I tried making my own baked chips at home after I got a mandolin. I ended up with soggy chips and a gnarly slice on my hand from the mandolin. Needless to say I decided the mandolin was for the professionals and took it back.

I rather like my hand where it is.

So I found this recipe on how to make your own baked chips out of kale. I was skeptical because I’ve never eaten kale before, plus it sounded like a bitter leafy green. I decided to take the plunge and try it anyways.

I got my giant bundle of kale and picked off all the lower leaves. They looked like crazy little trees after that.

I then needed to get the rest of the leaves off and discard the woody stems. I was lazy and didn’t feel like using a knife, so I just folded them in half and cut out the stem with scissors. It was quite effective. Then I just tore the remaining pieces into smaller bits.

I tossed the leaves with a very small amount of olive oil and sprinkled with salt. I spread roughly half of the leaves onto two cookie sheets lined with foil. Extra lazy there, no clean up when it’s done. I had to do it in two batches because I didn’t want to layer it too deep and not get them all equally crispy. Half way through the cooking it helped to toss them around a bit to get evenly done.

After they cooked I let them cool and dug in.

Not too shabby. A bit on the bitter side so I don’t want to just sit and eat them all in one go, so the next time I do these I might want to add some more flavors to the leaves and see what I come up with. I’m thinking garlic and parmesan would work well.

I think I would do them again, though the flavor is not for everyone. I really like the crunchy texture and the salty bite they have.

Roasted Kale Chips
Be warned, it makes a LOT

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of fresh kale (I used curly, don’t be afraid to try flat leaf)
• 2-3 tsp olive oil
• 1-2 tsp salt (I didn’t measure, just sprinkled it on)

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash and dry your kale (use a salad spinner if you have it).
2. Remove the leaves from the stem by cutting or tearing, and make into bite size pieces.
3. Toss the leaves and salt (plus any other flavorings you want to add) until everything is covered as evenly as possible.
4. Spread the leaves onto foil lined pans, in multiple batches (I split it up onto 4 pans)
5. Bake at 350F for a total of 10-15 minutes, tossing half way through.
6. Let cool and enjoy. Store in an air tight container.