Vegan Kale Chips

In my constant search for kale recipes I came across several recipes for kale chips.

Before starting our diet change roughly six weeks ago I was a chip fiend. Seriously, I've never met a chip I didn't like.

And, aside from the tortilla chips I have with some salsa when we made tacos, I haven't had chips in 6 weeks. I'm literally marveling at that idea right now.

So kale chips seemed like a no brainier!

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale
nutritional yeast
olive oil
sea salt

I gave the kale a thorough washing and left it out on the counter for 8 hours to try.

Then I painstakingly ripped the kale leaves, minus the steams, in to chip size pieces. I went a little overboard on this step because I wanted them to bake evenly. I won't spend nearly as much time on this next time I make these.

Then I tossed the kale pieces in enough olive oil to coat them.

Lots of recipes I saw called for parmesan. So, I figured I'd try it with nutritional yeast since I've been using it as a cheese replacement for the last 2 weeks. I coated the kale with about 1/2 a cup.

Finally I laid the chips out in a single layer on 3 baking pans and had them in the over on 200 degrees for about 90 minutes.

One bunch of kale made about 6 cups of kale chips.

The Carnivore said he'd like to try them with seasonings other than the nutritional yeast.

However, I liked them so much that I ate the whole batch in 2 days.

I stored them in air tight glass containers and they stayed crispy. Next time I'll add more nutritional yeast to really give them that cheesy flavor. Yes, they tasted like kale and were as crunchy as regular chips but they did have a sort of Cheeto-like taste.

I like them so much that two days later, I have another batch ready to go in the oven as I'm writing this post!

Perfect Summer Salad

We've been eating several variations of a spinach salad almost every day for three weeks.

It was time for a change.

Kale, Avocado, Strawberry Salad

Kale
Avocado
Strawberry
Sunflower seeds
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

I tossed the kale in the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to coat the greens before adding the other ingredients.

Also, it is very important to make sure you wash the greens really well. I soak them in a bowl for about 10 minutes while I cut the other ingredients up and then rinse each leaf.

Next time I'll probably also squeeze a lemon or lime over the greens as well.

This salad couldn't be easier or tastier!

I love the crunch of the kale mixed with the sweetness of the strawberries and the creaminess of the avocado.

I think it's going to replace our normal spinach salad for the next few weeks! Yum!

Grape Kale Juice

Breakfast this week is grape kale juice.

I was skeptical about this juice at first but it was love at first sip!

I love that I get the nutrients from both the kale and the grapes and when the two are combined it makes a very sweet juice.

8oz a day does the body good

I've always found grape juice too sweet by itself but fresh grape juice tastes VERY different than anything you can buy in a store. And I think the addition compliments the kale juice without over powering it.

I've played with the amount of kale to grapes all week. I've found that I prefer a mix of about 4 kale leaves to roughly 1 cup of grapes.