fabulous kale chips that the kids love too.

 The first time I tried to make kale chips I tried to bake them in the counter top convection oven and did not leave them in long enough.  They also stuck to the pan even though it was a non stick pan.  blech. Other people bake them in their regular oven  on cookie sheets and they come out great so if you don't have a dehydrator use the oven on its lowest setting overnight and don't let my first try discourage you.  It was an experiment that I learned from!

   This time I roughly followed a modgepodge of recipes I found online and put them in the dehydrator over night.  They came out awesomesauce!!!  We do lots of Urban Gathering in the fall  and owning a dehydrator is a must.

 So here is the ingredients list and how I made my kale chips.  Three of my four spawn loved them by the way!!  The only one that didn't was picky Milo, who is 6, and I was hopeful but knew he wouldn't try them.  My tactics of "it tastes like regular chips or the veggie pasta with nooch (nutritional brewers yeast) that we eat and love"  did not work on him but was convincing for Archimedes my four year old. There is always one picky kid in the bunch.  My oldest son who is 12.5 and my 10 year old son with autism loved them too!!! Anyhoo....

Ingredients:

One bunch of Kale
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 tbsp garlic (I used garlic powder)
splash of apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp curry powder

Instructions:

1. Rinse kale in cold water.  Remove the stems and tear the kale leaves into chip size pieces. They will shrink so bigger is better. 
2. Mix the other  ingredients together in a bowl and stir with a fork making sure there are no lumps.  I have been upping my curry(turmeric in particular) garlic, and black pepper (for absorbtion of good stuff in turmeric and garlic) so this may come out spicy for you.  I winged it with this recipe so absolutely change it to suit your palette.  
3. Take each kale piece and rub a bit of the sauce mix on each piece with your fingers.   I found that I got a bit too much on my chips and they came out oilier than I wanted.  It tasted great but I will coat with less mixture for future batches. This step sounds like it takes a while but it went really quickly.  Some recipes said to put the kale in a large bowl, drizzle mixture over pieces, and then mix around and rub in with your hands. 
4. Lay the chips on the dehydrator trays.  Make a single layer for each try, otherwise just toss them on their.
5. Set dehydrator on the lowest setting.  Mine is 95 degrees and leave it overnight. When they are crispy, they are done!  It will be hard not to eat them early though as you check their progress. When they are finished, if you want to save some for later, seal them up in a glass jar. 

I don't have photos of the finished product since we ate them all within abut 15 minutes and I forgot to take pictures!   They look darker and crunchier than the above photo.  You will get the nutrients from the olive oil and nutritional yeast as well as the kale.  The nutrients in kale are needed to use vitamin D that you make or supplement.

Kale is also loaded with calcium, iron, and vitamins A, C, and bone-building vitamin K. It contains seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times as much lutein and zeazanthin, eye-protecting carotenoids known to help protect against macular degeneration. And 2 cups of the stuff contain about 4 g of protein and 3 g of fiber.
Source:The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why



Have you made kale chips?  How did you make them? Tips or tricks to share?  Any other ways you like to prepare kale?
Happy Kale Chip Making!
Cheers,
Angie Bee