Kale isn't just for Green Smoothies!

I've had this recipe forever it seems and I just decided to try it the other day!  I used the flat kale (lacinato) variety.  They turned out yummy......and oh so spicy so if you don't like spice you can tone down the chili powder a bit.  I love kale chips and here are some of my favorite recipes I have found!

Spicy Chili Lime Kale Chips : A Recipe from Michelle Pfennighaus

Related Tags: chili lime kale chips, how to make kale chips, michelle pfennighaus,Raw Food Recipes, raw vegan recipes

Michelle Pfennighaus’ recipe for Chili-Lime Kale Chips, from her blog findyourbalancehealth.com.

Chili-Lime Kale Chips – A Recipe from Michelle Pfennighaus

Do you have a small love affair going on with kale? If so, I’m not surprised. I got my hands on some kale this week and turned it into a new version of kale chips that I couldn’t stop bragging about for days. You know how it is when you really nail a recipe and it turns out amazing and you do a little happy dance and proceed to eat all of it immediately? It was like that…

Serves: 2 to 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

1 head of green curly kale
Juice of 2 limes
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup cashews, ground to a powder
2 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Rinse kale leaves and shake dry. Tear leaves into chip-sized pieces. Reserve the stems for another use, like vegetable stock.

2. In a large bowl, combine kale with all other ingredients. Mix with your hands until kale looks wet and seasoning is evenly distributed.

3. On two large cookie sheets, spread out kale leaves the best you can so they are flat and not overlapping.

4. Bake for about 8 minutes. Flip and move chips around to cook evenly. Bake another 8 minutes or so. When they are done they should be absolutely crispy. Once crisp they tend to burn quickly so check on them every minute or so towards the end!

This one is from the Green Smoothie Girl and it is a winner for sure!  Just don't breathe on anyone after you eat them because you will have dragon breath for a while.....but it's so worth it! 

DILL PICKLE KALE CHIPS

¼ cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Original Crystal Himalayan Salt
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. dried dill
1 C cashews
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

16 kale leaves

Blend first 8 ingredients in high-speed blender, adding a minimum of water to make it blend.  Pour into a shallow bowl and dip one side of kale leaves into mixture. Dehydrate kale chips, dipped side up, until dry and crispy, below 115 degrees in dehydrator. Do not seal in Ziploc bags or Tupperware, or they lose their crispiness. I leave them in the dehydrator racks or put them on a plate until they’re gone.

This one I haven't tried yet but they look yummy.  It is a recipe created by my friend Stacy Stowers, a wonderful traveling raw food chef!  Check out her blog here.

This was my favorite picture of Stacy's Cheesy Kale Chips!  A reformed cheeto addict!

CHEESY KALE CHIPS 

3 bun. curly leaf kale 
1 C raw cashews, soaked OR 1 C Tahini 
1 Yellow Bell Pepper 
juice of 1 lg lemon 
1/3 C nutritional yeast 
Opt dash of Cayanne or Chipotle Powder 
Sea salt to taste 

Tear kale leaves into bite-sized pieces, and set aside. 
In a food processor, process cashews and lemon juice to a hummus consistency paste 
Add all remaining ingredients except kale. Process smooth. 
Place kale pieces and 1/2 cashew mixture in a large bowl, 
Massage cashew mixture into kale pieces, massaging each leaf individually.. When cashew mixture runs thin, add the remaining 1/2 of the mix. 
Place kale pieces one by one on Teflex covered dehydrator trays, and dehydrate at 110 degrees for 2 hrs.. 
Remove trays from dehydrator and transfer chips from teflex sheets mesh covered dehydrator trays (easy way: Place a mesh sheet over the dehydrator tray with the chips. Cover the mesh sheet with another dehydrator tray. Flip the assembly and then remove the first dehydrator tray, and the teflex sheet.) 
Dehydrate for 5-6 hours more, until crunchy. 

And last but not least a very plain variety but tasty all the same!  I have tried these and they are yummy.  (I would back off on the salt a bit!)

Love this pic!  

Totally Addictive Kale Chips from

Tessa the Domestic Diva: Wholesome, Allergy-Friendly Living

1 head kale, Lacinto/Dinosaur or Curly

Dressing:  
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon salt


Optional flavor add-ins: sesame seeds, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, maple syrup,sesame oil.  The options are really limitless.I have used Annie's Asian Sesame Dressing even.   I keep it simple for my kids, but have really enjoyed playing with the spices and options out there. 

So have some winter fun making kale chips!  So easy and a really great healthy snack!  Enjoy!

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Spiced Broccoli and Coconut Milk Soup

I had some broccoli I needed to use up the other night and soup has just been sounding so good lately.  So I was hunting down a healthy version of broccoli soup without regular milk or cream or wheat flour.  I was so pleased to come across this lovely version with coconut milk (which I love) and it's a little spicy too....bonus!  I ended up loving this soup so much I had to make it again.  This time a much bigger batch!  Here's where I found the original recipe at EASY NATURAL FOOD.  So whip up a batch to enjoy, I can guarantee the kids will love it too!

Spiced Broccoli and Coconut Milk Soup

2 tablespoons oil (ghee/coconut oil)
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Red chili flakes (to taste)
4 cups (approx.) chopped broccoli (about 2 large broccoli heads)
2 small/medium red potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large celery stalk, sliced
2 ½ – 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock (depending on how thick you want it)
½ – ¾ teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
Black pepper (to taste)
1 cup coconut milk

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot.
2. Add onions, sauté for 10 minutes or so.
3. Add garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin and red chili flakes. Stir for a couple of minutes until the spices become fragrant.
4. Add the broccoli, potatoes and celery. Mix the vegetables in with the spices.
5. Add the stock, salt and pepper.  Simmer until all vegetables are cooked (about 25-30 minutes).
6. Remove from the heat. Blend (I use an immersion blender) until smooth, taking care if the soup is still very hot.
7. Stir in the coconut milk, then serve with a dash of yogurt (yum!).

The Beagles Excellent Adventure for Martin Luther King Day!

We couldn't just let a whole day off of school go by without planning some kind of a Beagles adventure.  So after much research and some heated conversation we finally settled on going some where that we had never been.  Drum roll please.........The Tracy Aviary!!!!!!!!!!      And off we went!

For lunch we went to Lone Star Taqueria!  Best Fish Tacos in the U.S.

It's Your Birthday S H O U T HOORAY!

Today is Amanda's birthday!  A very important birthday!  A 21 years on the planet birthday!  Hooray!  Amanda I'm so glad you were born!  You are so fun to be around and you help us to laugh even when we want to cry!  We had a fun weekend celebration with dinner out and movies and pedicures and birthday dinner at home!  Can't get any funner than that!  Love you my sweet Manda booboo girl!  You're the best!