Kale Chips

Fall is the perfect time to try something new in the kitchen. The farmer's market is bursting with veggies we never buy, eat, or try. There is no time like the present. The weather is crap, so inside is the place to be. I was at a local Portland store grabbing a quick lunch when I saw a bag of kale chips for $8.75... $8.75! Are you kidding me? Who has that kind of money? Sure they had crushed organic Oregon hazelnuts on them but really? Almost ten bucks? For a bag of healthy chips! No way. So last week at the farmer's market I bought some kale. Two kinds to be exact, since I was clueless on what variety to use. I tried both the original organic kale and Italian kale. Both were good, but the chips tasted best when I used a mix of both. The change in texture from chip to chip made my healthy snack more exciting. If you're up to try something new below is my recipe for Crispy Kale Chips!

Ingredients:
Kale
Olive Oil
Marcona Almonds or Hazelnuts

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with PAM or olive oil spray.

2. With a knife or kitchen shears remove the leaves from the thick stems. (See tip) You can either keep the pieces long or tear them into bite size pieces.  

3.Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Place the cut kale in a bowl and add in olive oil, sprinkle with seasoning salt, sea salt, and pepper. Mix kale and seasoning.

4. Put the kale on the baking sheet and bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 20 to 30 minutes. Flipping them half way through. 

5. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with crushed marcona almonds or hazelnuts. Enjoy!

Cooking Tip:  If you don't remove the stems they become very hard when cooked and will stab you in the mouth while you're eating and no one likes that. 

Shopping Tip: Italian kale is flat and looks more like a collard green. Regular kale is ruffled like an 80's prom dress.