Kale Chips

You're probably thinking "Kale?  Eewww!"... but before you diss it, you've got to try it.  Seriously.  It's good!  Even my 21-month-old loves it, and here's the proof:

Kale chips are nothing like what you know kale to traditionally taste like (in stews or as a bitter mushy side dish), or what you would imagine kale to taste like if you've never had it before.  Granted, they don't taste like potato chips because, well, they're not made from potatoes.  They're made from kale, silly.  But they're light and crispy, and in this case, taste like parmesan and seasoned salt.  Not a bad combo.  And it's a quick and easy way to get in that extra serving of veggies, the especially-good-for-you leafy green type of veggie.

We devour an entire batch in one sitting, every time without fail, and that 21-month-old I mentioned above, well, she eats her fair share.

Kale Chips
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• A giant bunch or two of green kale
• olive oil spray
• salt (your favorite seasoned brand, or, I use pink Himalayan)
• grated parmesan

Directions:

• Thoroughly wash the kale (they grow in the dirt so tend to be, well, dirty.  HA!).  Remove the thick stems and cut the kale leaves into bite-size pieces.  Dry them in a lettuce spinner or by spreading them onto a few paper towels on your kitchen counter.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Spray a baking sheet or two lightly with olive oil.
• Spread the kale out on the baking sheet(s) in a single layer.  Spray the tops lightly with olive oil.
• Sprinkle lightly with salt.
• Grate some parmesan over the whole thing, as much or as little as you like.
• Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until the kale is crispy (it may be lightly browned but should still be mostly dark green; if you get to mostly brown, or all brown, it's burned and will be very bitter). My oven has hot spots, so I like to rotate the pans halfway through the cooking time.

Be careful and watch it towards the end, there's only about a 2-minute window between crispy and burned.  After you do this the first time, you'll get a feel for how long it takes in your particular oven and won't have to hover so much towards the end.