Easy and Good: Kale Chips

How long ago did I buy that kale?  Because it still looks pretty good.

I had three bunches left and used one for this recipe.  I'd say it made one serving.  I ripped the leaves into pieces, putting the thick stems in the freezer to make broth with another time.  Recipes for kale chips are all over the net but the gist seems to be toss them with olive oil and seasoning, them bake for 10 or 15 minutes.  I kept it simple, tossing mine with olive oil, salt and pepper after I washed them.  Then I spread them on parchment paper to bake.

After 15 minutes in the oven at 350, they were ready.  Crispy, yummy and green, who knew!  This is going to my my new go-to snack if I want something crunchy.  Try them, you will not believe how easy they are to make, and how fun it is to eat "chips" that are so healthy!

Kale and Cannellini Soup and Random Thoughts

I made a fabulous soup last night, cooking with kale for the first time ever!  And I have more than enough greens left over to try kale chips and probably something else too.

Look at all that kale, and for only 98 cents:

 

I used about half of it and ended up with maybe two cups of greens once I stripped them from their stems (and washed and chopped them).

 

 

I made two quarts of broth the night before using my mystery soup method.  One quart went into the freezer and the other into the soup.  I added a can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, the kale, and then a few ounces of one of the Valentine's Day cheeses.

 

After seasoning with salt, pepper and dried dill, I separated the soup into two saucepans because I was adding chopped Canadian bacon to J's soup.  I never brought the soup to a simmer; I thought that might be a bad idea with a dairy product in the mix.  And here is the finished product!  Note the difference in bowl sizes.  That is one of the ways I cope with cooking for someone who has no need to lose weight and can eat anything he wants with no repercussions.

The soup was great.  The texture of the kale was similar to spinach but with a milder flavor, and the cheese, while I did not use much, added some depth and personality to the mix.  The dill was just a guess, but it turned out to be the perfect match.  Of course for the purposes of full disclosure I should add that I'm a dill freak and I buy it in the bulk section of the grocery store because I go through so much of it.

Kale Experiment #1: Success!  Looking forward to Kale Experiment #2: TBD.  Probably kale chips.

Now for the random thoughts:

1. Weigh-in tonight!  I'm a little nervous.  I was at 187 and change this morning, so I'm pretty sure I won't be getting my 15 lb reward this week.  Ah well, there's always next week.
2. I'd intended this blog to be about my weight-loss journey and titled it accordingly, but I'm posting an awful lot of recipes.  Do I need to refocus?  Cut back on the recipes and post more about other weight loss efforts?  Maybe do I need to start a second blog for the recipes?  Seriously, I have two more cooking posts to put up but haven't yet because I think I'm already on the brink of over-kill with the cooking.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Randomness?  Bring it on, I love a comment!

Veggie Crazy!

I went to the grocery store this morning and came home with two new vegetables to try: fresh beets, and kale.  I'll post when I use them.  I'm thinking I'll roast the beets with some parsnips and sweet potatoes; ever since the Winter Vegetable Extravaganza, parsnips have become a staple in my house, right after carrots on the grocery list.  And I'm planning to make kale chips, where you toss them with olive oil and seasonings and bake them.  Or maybe add the kale to a bean dip, with garbanzo beans or cannolini.  Kale's supposed to be good in soup, too, but I have not been the soup-making-freak this winter that I usually am in cold weather.

Here are the two new produce experiments.  The paper towell is to keep the beets, on the right, from staining the counter.

Check this site out: 365 Days of Kale.  I found it on Green Lite Bites in a post Roni wrote about kale.  Lots of info about my new veggie!

I also bought cabbage, celery, carrot chips and cilantro.  And some things that didn't start with "C", too.