MY kidlets?!?! Can you believe it?!
I can't. I couldn't. It STILL boggles my mind. I mean, I KNEW the green kale would give me an edge as green is one of each girls' favorite colors (they think they have to have the same number of favorite colors as their age) but when the first batch came out and they looked brown, I was a little nervous. Of course, brown is another one of the favorite colors for each girl, so I still thought I might have a win going on. But to have my kidlets (including the boy, he's 18 months old) each pull up a chair and continue to ask for more KALE chips, was BEYOND my wildest imagination!
Of course, if the kids were going to dive into these chips, I had to take the plunge myself. After all, making kale chips was my original intention in purchasing my first bunch of kale. And you know what? These Deliciously Amazing Kale Chips, true to their name, did NOT disappoint. Even the extra crispy-probably closer to burnt ones didn't disappoint; they reminded me of those popcorn kernels at the bottom of the bowl that are more crunch than butter.
It ALL (finally) started just a couple days ago when I decided to take the plunge. I was GOING to make Deliciously Amazing Kale Chips. I had seen the recipe over at Nom Nom Paleo and polled a fitness group, as well as doing a general internet search. When I saw the LIST of suggestions at Love and Primal, I KNEW I had the grasp on kale chips that I needed to push me into making (and trying) kale chips!
Deliciously Amazing (and Simple) Kale Chips
(First made 07 May 13)
What You Need:
Kale (I used one full bunch from Sprouts)
Oil (I used avocado)
Salt
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Cheese (I used a mix of fresh parmesan, asiago, and romano)
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| I ended up needing to grate more cheese. SCHUCKS! |
The first (and apparently MOST important) step is to dry out your kale. I say apparently because I did NOT end up with ANY soggy pieces and the point of COMPLETELY drying out the kale is to ensure you don't get any. So either I have super powers in making kale chips or I just did a really good job of drying out my kale.
I hand washed and dried my kale. After washing a leaf in the sink, I moved it to a paper towel. After the entire paper towel was covered, I moved one piece at a time, upside down to dry off excess water and then moved the leaf to a fresh paper towel. Then I started over again until I had three paper towels covered in kale. (You could also be more environmentally smart than me and use towels; mine just happened to be in the wash.)
Then I left them on my counter. I was simultaneously making supper, which CONVENIENTLY meant my kale would be COMPLETELY dry by the time it came to actually putting the ingredients together.
(You could also use a salad spinner, but I don't have one.)
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| This is actually three (or four) stacks of paper towels with DRY kale. |
Break up your kales leaves into happy, chip size, flat pieces.
I did NOT use scissors, which resulted in not using the ENTIRE kale leaf, but I think it worked out in making nice flat pieces.
(Flat pieces are important to avoid having "mushy" parts of your chip. I'm WEIRD about my food, remember, so I made SURE I had as flat of pieces as possible; even if it meant stacking the pieces on top of one another to push flat pieces that didn't want to cooperate. The oil will help with this too, so if you don't have super flat pieces, fear not.)
When you are FINALLY ready to take the plunge, which I would hope by this step you are, arrange your kale pieces on parchment paper or a cookie mat. I actually happen to HAVE a cookie mat which I received as a gift and was STOKED because I did not have any parchment paper in the house. (It's not actually something I usually have on hand either.)
Drizzle on your oil. At this point you can take your none flat pieces and rub the oil on with your fingers and then "stick" it to your parchment paper or cookie mat. You can see I have a couple pieces that just did NOT want to lay completely flat. (Spoiler alert: they still turned out okay, WITHOUT the mush! :)
Sprinkle your kale with salt and pepper.
Then sprinkle on your cheese!
Then plop your tray into the oven. (Carefully plop though.)
Fifteen minutes later:
I won't lie, I was excited and disappointed ALL at the same time when my first batch came out of the oven. I had to ask a savvy friend if they even LOOKED right coming out of the oven. After being assured that they were fine, I asked the kidlets, "Who wants a green chip?!"
"ME!" yelled my oldest.
"Me!" yelled my youngest daughter (third in line).
"NOT ME!" yelled my second daughter.
"WOW", I thought. My eldest (the pickiest) wants a chip and the one who usually eats/tries EVERYTHING doesn't want a bite. And yes, I ignored the fact that I was pawning my kale chips off on my kidlets before trying them myself. (Something I NEVER do.)
Don't worry, it didn't last long; although the kids DID have the first (few) bites. After hearing, "Mommy, may I have some more chips please?" I knew I HAD to take the plunge (finally). (Come ON already!)
My first bite was one of the more crispy/burnt ones. And you know what? It tasted like popcorn! You know the kernals at the very bottom of the bag that are all crunch more than anything else? JUST like that. Except it evaporated in my mouth in mere nanoseconds!
I decided to try another one. After all, my kids weren't complaining, were asking for more, the second born decided she did in fact want some and proceeded to ask for more, AND the 18 month old pushed a chair into the kitchen after his sisters so he could have some too.
Due to the sprinkling of oil and my lack of "sprinkling oil" skills, I took the chips immediately off the pan and onto a paper towel to help soak up any extra oil that decided to drip off the chips. Or cheese.
"ME!" yelled my oldest.
"Me!" yelled my youngest daughter (third in line).
"NOT ME!" yelled my second daughter.
"WOW", I thought. My eldest (the pickiest) wants a chip and the one who usually eats/tries EVERYTHING doesn't want a bite. And yes, I ignored the fact that I was pawning my kale chips off on my kidlets before trying them myself. (Something I NEVER do.)
Don't worry, it didn't last long; although the kids DID have the first (few) bites. After hearing, "Mommy, may I have some more chips please?" I knew I HAD to take the plunge (finally). (Come ON already!)
My first bite was one of the more crispy/burnt ones. And you know what? It tasted like popcorn! You know the kernals at the very bottom of the bag that are all crunch more than anything else? JUST like that. Except it evaporated in my mouth in mere nanoseconds!
I decided to try another one. After all, my kids weren't complaining, were asking for more, the second born decided she did in fact want some and proceeded to ask for more, AND the 18 month old pushed a chair into the kitchen after his sisters so he could have some too.
Due to the sprinkling of oil and my lack of "sprinkling oil" skills, I took the chips immediately off the pan and onto a paper towel to help soak up any extra oil that decided to drip off the chips. Or cheese.
My first batch:
They lasted all of two minutes. Tops.
Total I had approximately 4 batches put into the oven and this is ALL that remained (even though the kidlets were STILL asking for more, while they sat so patiently in the chairs they pulled up to the kitchen island).
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| I know they look "wet" but these are DRIED out kale chips! |
Since I read in a couple places that kale chips don't last long, I KNEW we'd be eating (and subsequently FINISHING) what remained the following day. Let me just say, that kale chips added to your salad equals DELICIOUSNESS!!! And even though the girls were hesitant at first to eat their side of chips with lunch (yes, HESITANT despite DEVOURING them the night before after supper), they ate them all up. They even said they didn't want to eat the cheese; only the chip!
WIN-WIN!
