31 Days off Your Duff {Day 2} - Kale Chips

Let's start easy today with a simple, quick snack that you can make all by yourself.

As I'm sure at least most of you know, "kale chips" seems to be the new hot thing blowing into town. One of my grocery stores even sells them now. But don't fall for that; you can make your own quite simply!

Discovering Kale

Ahhh, Kale. If I was the type of person to feel embarrassment, I would be ashamed to admit the following:

Until just a few months ago, I thought kale was an inedible piece of green, like a leftover after you chopped up the actual food part of a vegetable.

I blame my mother; whenever we went out to dinner and I asked her if I could eat that cute, curly leaf on the side of my plate (make note that I did not know it was called kale), she would say,

"No, that's just for decoration. You can't eat that."

But anyway, there I was in the grocery store, brimming with excitement over making these new "kale chips" my friend had told me about. I come to the poorly organized vegetable display, and underneath the kale sign I see two vegetables: one is light green and tube-like, and one is that inedible hunk of green. So I left the store with, what I later found out, was bok choy.

There's another vegetable I had never learned about. You gain new knowledge every day.

Luckily I realized my mistake before trying to make bok choy chips, and went back to the store for the kale. It felt wrong buying that decorative leaf, but I did it anyway. Good thing too, because it makes a delicious and healthy potato chip alternative!

The Making of the Kale Chip

Alright, now that the very crucial back story is out of the way, it's time to talk about making kale chips!

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. I've tried making them at 350, but they always came out with a slightly burnt taste.

Step 2. Tear you clean, dry kale into whatever size chips you want to end up with. They will shrink a little, so be sure to account for that.

Clean, dry, delicious purple kale

Step 3. Time for spicing. Sorry, here's the point where I never measure anything. That's okay though, because you can't really go TOO wrong with this step. First, grab a ziploc bag, and pour some oil in there...

Mmm, tons of cayenne pepper

...looks like maybe 1 or 2 teaspoons is what I use for 1 half of kale. Then, it's all up to you! You can spice it with salt, pepper, vinegar, cayenne, garlic, cheese, whatever you want.

This particular batch was cayenne/garlic.... do NOT put in much cayenne. It tastes very concentrated... again, don't put this much in. Very hot, very hot.

Anyway, after the flavour is ready, dump in your kale chips. Seal the bag, and start going to town on those bad boys! Shake 'em up, swish them around, massage the spice into them, turn them upside down, dance a little jig, just make sure they all get a taste of your mix.

Step 4. Alright after that fun step, take a moment to catch your breath, and then place your kale pieces on a baking sheet and stick them in the oven. I cook mine for 16 minutes, and they turn out perfectly; crispy, with no burnt taste.

16 minutes exactly!

The Eating of the Kale Chip

After that agonizing 16 minute wait, all your hard work is finally rewarded! Eat your kale chips now while they are warm, or stick 'em in a bag and eat them later, whatever you want. Just be sure to enjoy the "fruits" of your labour!

Shiny ones are deadly cayenne pepper. The nice ones are salt and vinegar.

If you come up with a delicious recipe of your own, let me know! Now, get off your duff and go make some kale chips!

Kale Chips
Preheat oven to 300 Tear dry kale into desired size Put flavour in ziploc bag Shake, shimmy, and squeeze your kale pieces in the mix Cook kale on baking sheet for 16 minutes