Ups-kale snacking

I have a plethora of kale on hand (in addition to time to think up pun filled post titles), so expect mucho leafy greens in the near future. 

Kale chips?  Why not!  I’ve made them before (here), but (as you’d expect) Kyle’s parents don’t have nooch hanging around in their pantry, so I decided to make up a new recipe on the spot (and then crossed my fingers that it would turn out to be tasty)!  My previous batches of kale chips have all been “cheesy” ones, so this was my first non-nooch kale chip recipe.

First I washed and de-spined the leaves; then ripped them into chip sized pieces and added them all to a large tupperware. 

Then I added the following spices:

• salt & pepper
• paprika
• lemon juice
• NuNaturals stevia

After that I lidded the tupperware nice and tight…and…shake shake shake. 

It’s shake ‘n bake and I helped.  Ok, not really.  After everything was coated with the spices I spread the kale out on a cooking sheet sprayed with PAM. 

How deliciously luscious does this kale look? 

Next stop? The oven at 350 F for 10 minutes…after which I spatula-ed them around a bit to make sure they crisped up evenly.

Then I popped ‘em back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

And voila!   

Crispy and snack-a-licious!  How’s that for jazzing up your average snack food?  I know Kyle would still prefer Wheat Thins (they are his ultimate weakness). 

For storage (in case you don’t eat the entire batch at once), just grab that same tupperware.

To be honest, this recipe was only so-so.  They can’t all be winners right?  I definitely prefer my “cheesy” kale chips with nooch (see recipes tab).  The way the nooch coats the leaves makes it cook better too. 

In terms of texture, these didn’t hold the crisp very well.  They were fine straight out of the oven, but didn’t stay crunchy long after.  I’m pretty sure that has to do with the fact that there isn’t a layer of stuff on the kale to bake and thus hold it’s form.  So at least now I know, if I want kale chips that maintain their crisp, I have to add more than spices.  I know other recipes typically call for blended cashews, and/or some other kind of nut, so maybe that’s the route I’ll go next time (once I have a food processor/blender?).  Flavor-wise they were surprisingly good (considering how haphazardly I threw the recipe together).  The way the spicy layers dance on the tongue was quite complex, if I do say so myself.  And nutritionally speaking, it sure beats Wheat Thins.