In praise of kale chips

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I’ve had a few ideas but haven’t applied the butt to the chair to get them down and I’m now behind at least two posts according to my self-imposed schedule.

Things have been chugging along pretty well and I thought I’d bring folks up to date on the eating plan. I have a few sources of very tasty recipes. The food is satisfying and I’m having difficulty getting in all the different types of foods that are recommended in a day. I’m very glad I didn’t give away some of the pants that used to fit me because I can now get back into them.

I’m not really a person who needs a lot of snacks but unless I eat something between meals I can’t get all the food types in. I’m okay with fruit, veggies, and beans in general. The issue comes when I try to get 3 servings of beans, 1 serving of cruciferous vegetables, and 2 servings of greens each day. I can usually manage 2 out of 3 types of food. I like smoothies which are a good way to get the greens, although I don’t want a smoothie every day. In the last few days I’ve gone back to making kale chips. Although some people think kale is the worst vegetable ever, I don’t mind it in salads, soups, or pasta sauce. Still, kale comes in huge bunches and it’s hard to use it all up before it wilts.

Most of the recipes for kale chips use the oven. I’m not fond of anything that needs babysitting while it cooks and you have to watch kale chips closely so that they don’t burn when you do them in the oven. There is another option: the dehydrator. We have one which hasn’t had all that much use lately so when I found a recipe for kale chips that used it, I dragged a chair over to the cupboard so I could retrieve it from the very top shelf. I had to wash a bit of dust off the top before I could use the dehydrator but it works like a charm.

Wash the kale; take out the tough centre ribs; wash the leaves and break them into smaller pieces; drizzle a bit of olive oil on them; mix them around so they get coated and add spices. It takes very little oil to make the spices stick. I’m a huge fan of freshly ground black pepper and my favourite so far is a bit of salt and freshly ground pepper. I’ve also used chilli powder and smoked paprika. I liked the chilli but I was a bit too stingy with the smoked paprika and I can only taste the merest hint of it on some of the chips.

Once the leaves are all spiced up I put them on the trays and turn the dehydrator on for an hour and 15 minutes; set it and forget it. These chips are such a hit with me that I made a special trip to the grocery store yesterday for two bunches of kale. I made one batch of chips when I got home and another batch this morning. Extra salt and oil isn’t the best thing for this eating plan although I’m not using very much of either on the chips and, if it solves part of the problem of being able to get enough variety of veggies in a day, I think the compromise will be worth it.

Another idea I have is to make batches of roasted chickpeas. Fruit has been my go-to snack if I want something around 4 p.m. While there is nothing wrong with fruit, having a legume or a green snack will add variety. I will have to babysit the chickpeas in the oven though.

Another good find is popcorn. Of course it works as a snack and I’ve found that putting a bit of balsamic vinegar in a spray bottle and spritzing the popped kernels allows spices to stick to it. As with the kale chips, salt and pepper is my favourite. I’ve also found that popcorn works as a garnish for soups. It does go soggy but so do soda crackers and I don’t mind them in soup. In this application the popcorn gets no enhancements of any kind. Air pop it and toss it into the soup bowl. I know that sounds weird and it might not be to everyone’s taste. It works for me.

As I was reading this over prior to posting it, I finished my half of the latest batch of kale chips. Looks like I’m going to need to go back to the store either today or tomorrow. Stay tuned.