A few weeks ago, my friend Sallie was telling me about making kale chips (essentially baking pieces of kale in the oven to dry them out to be a crunchy snack). I was intrigued, asked some strategic (or meandering, who knows) questions on how it was done and decided to give it a whirl this past week.
I bought some kale from Trader Joe’s, and found a recipe for kale chips on the back of their bag. I made a few minor modifications to the recipe. I added garlic salt (because I clearly intend to give myself a salt intake issue down the road) and I rose the temperature of the oven by 50 degrees.
I thought the chips turned out very tasty. One tip that Sallie gave me is that in order to keep the chips crispy, don’t package them up (leave them out). If you package/wrap the chips up, it will cause them to absorb moisture and wilt. That being said, kale chips probably only have a shelf life of a day or so. But they are delicious!
Kale Chips c/o Trader Joe’s
Ingredients
Kale
1 TBSP olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1/2 TBSP vinegar
Dash of garlic salt
Preparation
Preheat oven to 250 degrees (TJ’s suggests 200). Mix kale and half of the olive oil together in a plastic bag (think shake ‘n’ bake). Add remainder of olive oil and the vinegar. Shake up until oil and vinegar is well distributed.
Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper (if you don’t have any on hand, lightly spray your sheet with a non-stick spray). Toss kale mix down and make sure it’s even distributed. Sprinkle garlic salt, salt and pepper over kale.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until kale is crispy. Pull cookie sheet out periodically to shake or flip kale over for even baking.
Allow to cool on cooling rack and enjoy.
I have some fresh spinach…I think I just might try that and because I’m over 50, I stick with roasted garlic powder ; ( .
Good idea on these. Chips without the guilt! I love lots of salt on my chips so I’m like you and would add garlic salt liberally.
I’ve actually choked on Ritz crackers more than once because when I’ve put the cracker in my mouth, it wasn’t salty side down…. and I thought I could flip the salty side over inside my mouth. In which it becomes stuck. I’m lucky I haven’t died by my own hand, let alone from salt overexposure.