Kale Chips

We had my parents over for dinner tonight to celebrate Easter (did Passover last week with my in-laws), and as we were all waiting for the star of the show (hint: she's 21 months old) to wake up, my mom mentioned that she wanted to try making kale chips "one day". She apparently watched Gwyneth Paltrow make them during a TV segment promoting her new cookbook. While I hadn't taken much interest in Gwyneth's new cookbook, I have been interested in kale for quite some time, and in particular, kale chips. Why? Because everyone's talking about it. Kale is an "in" vegetable right now, so I kind of wanted to know what all the buzz was about.

Much to my mom's surprise, I had half a bunch of kale sitting in the fridge, and it was likely going to go to waste if we didn't use it soon. So within 60 seconds of my mom's mention of kale chips, we were making them. And they were delicious!!

Kale is supposed to be very nutritious and full of antioxidants. I tried sauteing it about six months ago and it was, in a word, bitter. I didn't like it and didn't understand how it was such an "in" food with such a bitter taste. A few months later I tried it again, this time in a slow cooked beans and kale recipe.  In that dish, it was delicious. Almost sweet. But that recipe took a few hours to make and I haven't had time to recreate it yet. 

Clearly, I welcomed my mom's unknowing invitation to spontaneously bake kale chips while we waited for sleepy-mic-sleepy-head to arise from her 4 hour nap. The overwhelming consensus from the entire family was -- toddler included -- YUMMY! In my opinion, raw kale is thick, if that's the right word. It's substantial. But when you bake it, the leaves become crispy and delicate. It's almost like the chips melt in your mouth. My daughter's first try of the chips was not positive. I think the texture threw her off. But after dinner she felt more comfortable to try them again and ate about 10. The leftovers are definitely going in her lunchbox tomorrow.

Before and after pictures.

Kale ready for baking

Kale Chips (they taste better than they look), and sorry for the lopsided photo (toddler on hip)

Here is the "recipe," though there it's not very precise.

Ingredients:

Kale

Olive Oil

Salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and dry Kale.

Tear the leaves off of the stems and into bite size pieces (or a bit larger if you'd like).

Sprinkle with olive oil and salt.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until crispy.

Enjoy.