Kale Chips -a tasty alternative

I'm always trying to find new healthy foods to swap out for junk food that I love.  One junk food favorite is potato chips.  I could eat them all day long and be happy (or at least, I'd be happy until my pants stopped fitting!).

Then a friend of mine told me about kale chips.  I'm not going to try to convince you they taste just like potato chips, because they don't.  They taste nothing like them, actually.  But, they're crunchy, salty, help fill the void after cleaning out our junk food cupboard, and are very, very low-calorie!  They have a roasted flavor that somehow reminds me of roasted pumpkin seeds.

And, I think they're cheaper than regular chips.  Score!

So, for anyone interested in trying them out, here's how I make them:

Ingredients:

• Fresh Kale
• Sea Salt
• Non-stick spray (I think it would taste really good with the olive oil spray, though I don't use it because it also contains soy oils).

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the kale, making sure that it's completely dried (if it's at all damp when you bake it, it will just steam itself into a soggy mess!).  I usually take a paper towel and pat it all dry.

Spray a large baking sheet (I usually use a jelly roll pan - something with a small lip on it will be easier to use).  Then, just start tearing up the kale into chip-size pieces and pile it on the pan.

I usually do one bunch of kale per pan - your pan will be piled high!  Spray the leaves with Pam, then sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Bake 8-12 minutes, stirring once.  You'll know when it's done when it's crisp - when you shake the pan gently, they should slide easily across the pan and make a dry noise.  They'll probably be green, with areas that have toasted to a brown color.

They cool pretty fast, so you can eat them almost instantly!  I like them plain, but you can also eat them with ketchup.

I love these!  However, I want to be clear that they're still a vegetable, and taste like vegetables!  They're a good crunchy, salty option, but they still taste healthy (because they are!).  But, if you try them with those expectations, you just might find yourself hooked!

Next recipe coming up:  HEALTHY brownies.  Yes.  I said healthy.   I fed them to Dave, and he couldn't tell they were healthy!  As soon as I finish tweaking the recipe, I'll be sure to post it!