Recipes: Kale Chips

Remember that game in grade school where you had to introduce yourself by stating your name and a favorite fruit or vegetable that started with the same letter?  Well, "Hello my name is Kristin and I love KALE!"

While it is true that Kale probably didn't enter my vocabulary let alone my dinner plate until many years later today is can be considered one of my favorite vegetables and the fact that it starts with the same letter as my name is simply a novelty.

The first time that Kale and I met was during a soup, salad, and breadstick lunch during a leisurely meal at the Olive Garden.  At the time I only knew it as this leafy green stuff that was hanging out in my Zuppa Tuscana with the sausage and potatoes, it complimented the tastes well and made for a pretty soup.

After several trips to the Olive Garden I decided to try and find out how this glorious soup was made.  Lucky for me, something called the internet was now available and we had it at home!  Into the search bar went "Zuppa Tuscana" and next thing I knew I had a recipe that would stick with me for years and years.  I love that same recipe so much that I still to this day use it to make this delicious soup at least once a month.

This past weekend I made Zuppa Tuscana and was left with a little over half a bunch of Kale so I decided it was time to get creative.

Let's pause to take a good look at Kale:

Kale belongs to the same plant family as the sulphur-containing vegetables broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and collard greens.

Kale is great for protecting your health, providing you with a rich source of vitamins and minerals, and preventing cancer.

Kale also ranks really high up there for its large amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, B6, manganese, calcium, copper, and potassium!

While one cup of kale only has 36 calories, it provides 192% of the daily value of vitamin A, and since this is a plant source of vitamin A, you cannot overdose on it.

That same cup of kale also provides almost 90% of your daily value of vitamin C.  

Impressive right?

Ready for a super easy super healthy recipe?

Kale Chips: A great alternative to other higher fat TV watching snacks

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Start with raw Kale, remove the leaves from the stalk, tear into "chip" size pieces and spread on a baking sheet.   

Next mist with Olive Oil, I used my Misto but you can also just drizzle from the bottle, and then sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Into the oven for 10 minutes until crisp and crunchy.  I realised halfway through that I probably should of put parchment paper down but it didn't end up mattering, the chips didn't stick at all!

Eat warm or let cool, either way you have have a delicious, highly nutrititous way to feed your crunchy snackfood cravings!