Kale Chips
February 24, 2011 at 7:17 pm 6 comments
Last week, I bought some kale for 99 cents with the intention of making kale chips. Perhaps you’ve heard of kale chips? They are all the rage with those wacky, health conscious foodies! Basically, you take a bunch of fresh kale, remove the stems, tear the leaves into bite size pieces, “massage” with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, and spread them out on a baking sheet. You then roast them in a 350F oven for 15 minutes.
I made the mistake of storing my large bunch of kale at the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge. Unless the jar of almond butter has migrated back there, I never venture to that area. My mainstays (almond milk, nut butters, jam, vegetables) are kept at the front of the fridge. Rarely do I need to bend over (the horror!). So it was surprising to me today that when looking for something (probably almond butter), I saw my wilting bunch of poor, forgotten kale inching ever closer to a compost-bin demise!
Motivated, I decided right then and there to make some kale chips! Luckily, Henry was napping and a baked pasta was just about to go in the oven for dinner. 99 cent kale plus an already-heated oven makes this recipe FRUGAL and FIT.
Booyeah.
Kale, revitalized with a sense of purpose and a large drizzling of olive oil!
Roasted and ready to be consumed while watching Oprah
Of course these chips are not as tasty as potato chips. These have nothing on the splendor that is Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles! But these also have nothing on the calorie or fat content of Ruffles either. These are freaking tasty! I pretty much ate this entire bowl which means I pretty much ate two giant bunches of kale in one sitting flat. My blood is probably now a light shade of green. But green is good! Better than brown from too much chocolate or coffee, y’know?
You know when you get in a mood where you just want to snack? You want food that takes a long time to eat? (That must be a psychological/comfort food thing.) Well this is your food! Sure, it’s a bit of pain to get the kale ready, but it pays off in the end. You get a salty, crispy snack, but don’t get weighed down by 2500 calories of fried potato.
Win-win.
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: Snacks.
1.
Sarah | February 24, 2011 at 10:45 pm
this looks soooooooooooo bizzare. do they get crispy????? it just looks like a big bowl of salad….
2.
Frugal 'n' Fit! | February 25, 2011 at 8:08 am
Yes, they get crispy! Since my kale was wilted to begin with, they didn’t crisp up as much as they should. I could have baked them longer, too.
3.
Therese | February 25, 2011 at 7:56 am
I made kale chips once, at first I was a bit weirded out but then I found myself eating the entire batch…
4.
Frugal 'n' Fit! | February 25, 2011 at 8:09 am
Yeah, while they were roasting, I was a bit turned off by the smell emanating from my oven! However, they were tastier than I thought they would be. I’d like to try making them topped with nutritional yeast…
5.
Kim | February 25, 2011 at 8:00 am
I LOVE Kale chips! And I love that you can totally forget about the Kale in your fridge and let it get all wilty and yet it will still make awesome chips!! I always forget about my Kale
Good find though getting it at 99 cents! I’ve never seen it cheaper than 2.99 which is RIDIC.
6.
Frugal 'n' Fit! | February 25, 2011 at 8:09 am
Yeah, I was impressed by the price, too! Not too often you’ll find it that cheap!