Friday's Fixin's: Kale Chips

 

Kale has always been a family favorite in our home.  You wouldn’t believe how much our daughter (a/k/a Finally Five eats)!  It’s obscene, really. In a good way.

I prepare it one of two ways:  sauteed  or baked. It is so easy breezy and delish prepared either way.

Ironically, just this week, two people have sent me the exact same recipe that we use for our Kale Chips.  So, I figured that I should continue to share the goodness.

You won’t believe how easy and delicious they are!  What I especially love about this recipe is not only the fact that Finally Five loves them so much, but that she can make them with me…which makes it extra fun (and somehow extra yummy).

Baked Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of organic kale
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Clean the kale and spin it in a salad spinner.  The key is to make sure that it is extra dry before baking.
• Put the kale in a bowl and drizzle with 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Then mix (with your hands is especially fun with kids).
• Place the kale leaves on a baking sheet (doesn’t need to be in one layer because it will shrink when it is cooked).
• Bake for anywhere from 10-20 minutes (depends on the oven, altitude, and anything else weird that can happen in an oven).  The key is that the leaves are crackly.  If they are still soft, then they should stay in the oven for a few more minutes.
• After they are done, season with salt.

In addition to being extraordinarily and obsessively delish, I’ve heard many times that Kale is the yardstick by which all other foods are measured. Heavy duty.  Some of the health benefits of eating Kale include:

• Risk-lowering benefits for cancer. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from glucosinolates in kale play a primary role in achieving these risk-lowering benefits. (Even though I already have cancer, you better believe that I have amp’d up my intake and will continue to do so long after FBC is gone.)
• Detoxification. Kale contains a powerful phytochemical sulforaphane which helps boost the body’s detoxification enzymes, thus helping to clear potentially carcinogenic substances more quickly. Sulforaphane is formed when cruciferous vegetables like kale are chopped or chewed.
• High in fiber which helps create the bulk you need to fill you up and to keep your plumbing working (which also helps fight fat, by the way).
• A source of well-absorbed calcium, a mineral that is important to prevent osteoporosis.
• Over 45 different flavonoids. With kaempferol and quercetin heading the list, kale’s flavonoids combine both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits in way that gives kale a leading dietary role with respect to avoidance of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.
• Contains seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli. Carotenoids keep UV rays from damaging the eyes causing cataracts.
• Rich source of folate and vitamin B6.

Hope you enjoy this Silver Lined yummy recipe!

 

Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.

– Julia Child