Kale Chips

I made these on Thanksgiving day, but they just didn't fit with my brie and pumpkin bread theme, and I was I pre-baking them for eating at another time. Anyone who loves the Brassica family of vegetables (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Rabe, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage) should love Kale too! Even if you don't like the ones I listed it's probably because of a bad experience with overcooked veggies in the past. Kale Chips are a wonderfully crispy snack and with an opportunity to be sodium free if you have a loved sodium-free mixed seasoning. I love them as a conveyance of sodium! The smell of cooking kale filled my whole house with that lovely browned Brussels Sprouts scent. 

Ingredients

1 bunch kale thoroughly washed and dried*
1 T olive oil (or canola oil)
1/2 t garlic salt or other seasoning to taste

Instructions

1. Cut the kale into smaller chip-like pieces if desired, and coat with oil. Spread onto a cookie sheet or other baking dish and shake seasoning onto the kale, flip over, and season again.
2. Bake on 350 F for approx 20 min, flipping to prevent burning occasionally (suggested every 5 min).
3. Remove from oven and let cool in the baking dish.

* I used curly Kale, and left it on the stems, but any variety will do. Smaller 'chips' can be cut from the stems, and the stems used otherwise if desired.

Nutrition

Servings: 6 Calories: 89 Fat: 6g Fiber: 2.6g Carbs: 7g Protein: 2g

This photo doesn't do the crispy wonderfulness of Kale Chips apparent. The first time I made Kale Chips, I cut them into tortilla shapes. This was a problem for serving because they were very delicate and broke up when I picked them up. An awesomely resourceful seller Bridgewater Barn Family Farm had suggested some time ago at our Ypsi Depot Town Farm Market that I bake them with the stem on. Her thought was something like "It's like a snack on a stick, and then you eat the stick!" which is way easier than cutting the leaves up anyway, and I thought this was genius, and leaving the stems on also made it much easier to flip them over while they were in the oven. However, it would've worked better with flat leaf variety of kale such as Tuscan, Dinosaur, or even Red Russian.

My chips didn't cook thoroughly in the middle because of the topological difference between the leaf edges and the stem. Since I saved them for enjoying later, this meant they got somewhat soggy in the plastic bag where I'd stored them. 30 seconds in the micro crisped them right up again!

The cats say: eat over the sink or we'll have lots of crumbs to play with!