Kale Chips

One of the best things we can do for our health is to eat more dark, green leafy vegetables. But how do you get kids to eat them, let alone most adults?  Try making kale chips and see how fun it can be to eat your leafy green vegetables.

Kale is a powerhouse of nutrition. It is very high in vitamins K, A, and C, as well as significant amounts of various B-vitamins. It’s a good source of manganese, copper, calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium, too. Kale is loaded with antioxidants, which help to reduce inflammation and cellular damage. It’s also a cruciferous vegetable, which means that, like other cruciferous vegetables, it contains compounds like indole-3-carbinol that help the liver break down toxic chemicals, giving it cancer-preventing properties.

Making raw kale chips preserves all of these great nutritional properties and turns the kale into a healthy snack that can replace potato and corn chips.

The first kale chips I made were quite simple. I mixed olive oil with lemon juice and some spices (like garlic, salt, black pepper, and chili flakes) using the blender, and then tossed the leaves in the mixture as if you were tossing a salad. I then baked them in the oven on cookie sheets. You have to be really careful doing this, however, as there is a fine line between crisping up the kale chips and burning them.

I now make them in the food dehydrator, which means they are being crisped at lower temperatures. This preserves nutrients and prevents them from burning. People I share them with rave about how good they are, too. Here is the base recipe for kale chips that I like to make.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cashews (soaked)
• 1 cup Cultured whey (optional)
• 2 medium bunches of kale (preferably organic)
• 1/2 to 1 medium onion (optional)
• 1/2 to 1 medium bell pepper (optional)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1 teaspoon natural salt
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup raw apple cider vinegar
• Spices (see below for suggestions)

Directions

Start by putting 2 cups of cashews into a container and cover them with water or whey.  Put the container into the refrigerator for at least two hours to soak. (I often do this overnight.)

Cut the central stems from 2 bunches of kale leaves. Then cut or tear large leaves into smaller pieces (2 to 4 inches in size is good). Wash kale thoroughly and let the leaves dry a little. After drying place the leaves in a large bowl.

Even though I use organic kale, I still wash it in water with a couple of drops of Dr. Bronner's Supermild soap or a similar product, then rinse it. If they are a little wilted, I let them soak for 15-20 minutes to plump up, too.

Dump the soaked nuts and the liquid they were soaked in into a blender, along with the onion, bell pepper, and nutritional yeast. You can omit any of these ingredients if you don’t like them. One medium onion gives a strong onion flavor, so if you want less onion flavor, use only half an onion. The nutritional yeast adds a lot of B-vitamins and a cheesy flavor.

Finally, I add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, and some spices. Here are some options:

• 1/2  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (gives chips an orange color, which makes them look more cheesy)
• 1-2 chopped garlic cloves
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes or 1/2 teaspoon capsicum or 1 small hot chili pepper (for heat)

After blending the nuts, vegetables, olive oil, vinegar, and spices together until smooth, I pour this mixture over the kale pieces and stir until all the leaves are coated, as shown in the picture.

I then spray the trays for my food dehydrator with non-stick spray and place the coated kale pieces on the trays. I pack the leaves on so there aren’t many spaces between them, since they'll shrink as they dry. I set the trays on the dehydrator and dehydrate them at the highest temperature (135 degrees on my dehydrator) for 4-8 hours, until they are completely dry and crispy. I find that drying them at a higher temperature makes them taste better than drying them at lower temperatures. It gives them less of a “raw” taste (something that doesn't appeal to me), but you don't risk burning them (as you do when you cook them in the oven). Also, the temperature is low enough to preserve most of the nutrients.

Many variations can be made. A great website for more kale chip recipes is http://nouveauraw.com. There are some amazing kale chip recipes on that website that can give you more ideas.

Enjoy.