Kale Chips

Photo by Life as a Healthy Mom

Kale.....it seems this leafy vegetable is the new kid on the block. In my quest to find a kale recipe that my family would like, I started to look.......where else?  Pinterest.  If you have been on Pinterest, you can find dozens of kale chip recipes.  The majority of them advise you to drizzle olive oil on the leaves and sprinkle them with sea salt. I tried that way, and my family wouldn't eat them.  The crunch was good, but the bitter aftertaste was not.

Recently, a neighbor dropped off a bag of kale and a bag of lettuce harvested from a biodynamic, organic farm in our state. Her sister belongs to a CSA that provided the lettuce and gave it to my neighbor. My neighbor was preparing to go on vacation, so she gave it to me because she knew we would eat it. I love my neighbors!  I am determined to include this vegetable into our daily eating because this cruciferous vegetable packs a nutrition powerhouse.  What better way to introduce it to the family than using local, organic produce?

One cup of kale provides:
5 grams of fiber
15% RDA of calcium and vitamin B6
40% RDA of magnesium
200% RDA of vitamin C
180% RDA of vitamin A
and a whopping 1020% of vitamin K. 

So off to the kitchen I went.  My family loves spices and seasonings, so the sea salt wasn't going to cut it for our family.  So I decided to pump up the seasonings, and see what would happen.  Once the kale chips were out of the oven, I popped one in my mouth, and it like heaven. 

The taste reminded me of some fried escarole that I had tried at a local Italian restaurant  my husband and I went to on New Year's Eve.  Needless to say, after trying the escarole, I almost ordered it as a main course because it was so good. I'm telling you, these kale chips could compete with the fried escarole in my book. 

Enjoy!

Garlic Parmesan Kale Chips

1 pound kale, rinsed and dried
2 tbsp organic, virgin coconut oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix last four ingredients in a large bowl.  Add kale.  Toss to coat.  Spread kale evenly on a baking sheet (you may need 2) so that the leaves do not overlap.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Turn leaves over.  Bake another 5 or until the leaves begin to brown and are crunchy.