kale chips that don’t cost a kajillion dollars…

Put me in front of a bag of potato chips and I turn into a teenage boy playing a video game marathon in the middle of the night….can’t stop…eating.  I make it a rule to never buy this stuff for my house because I have no self control.  A while ago, I had an abundance of kale available to me and I had no idea what to do with it so the farmer suggested I make kale chips.  Alright, I’ll bite.

It’s actually one of the more simple snacks you could make, it ends up being crispy, salty and well, kinda good for you.  I’ve experimented with using a dehydrator and different dressings that involve ground nuts for crunch but this one is by the far the simplest and still tasty.

Step 1: Buy a bunch of kale.  It doesn’t have to be organic but that’s what Granville Island had for me.

Step 2: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Wash your kale and salad spin it dry.  Rip the leaves off the hard centre stem and put it in a bowl.

Step 3:  Put some crap on it!  Drizzle a small amount of olive oil and massage it in with your hands.  A little goes a long way so just put enough to make it glisten.  Add some seasoning, whatever you like, sea salt, lemon pepper…I used a ready made tandoori seasoning from Maison D’Cote because JP’s the man and he makes it for me so I don’t have to.

Step 4:  Spread it out on a silpat on a cookie sheet, one layer high only please.

Step 5:  Bake for 10-15 minutes, give it a quick stir half way through.  It’s done when it’s starts to brown slightly on the edges and it looks dry.  Take a couple out to cool and take a bite to see if it’s the way you like it.  Be careful because it will burn if you leave it in too long!

Step 6: Eat your hippie-approved snack.  I apologize in advance because you WILL be disappointed with the yield, it shrinks like crazy and you’ll end up with only a small bowl of these treats.  Still…enjoy and thank yourself for not spending a trillion dollars for the same treat at Wholefoods.  (Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Wholefoods!)

Tips and Tricks

1.  Buy more kale than you think…two bunches will probably get you two trays worth.
2.  Curly kale is easier to make crispy because there is more airflow, you can use sturdy greens like collards but prepared to flip more often
3.  Too much oil and your kale will never crisp up
4.  If your oven is like mine, it doesn’t ventilate well, shove a wooden spoon in the door to let moisture escape easier

organic coconut flour and cherry cake…

Remember back in the day when you used to eat those box cakes that bits of pinkish dots in it that was suppose to be cherry cake?  I used to love those cupcakes as a kid but now that I’m a grownup, I can bake it out of real ingredients!

I was lucky enough to get a bag of frozen cherries from Klipper’s last weekend and in true fashion,I greedily hoarded them even though I didn’t know what I was going to do with it.  I ate one cherry to test it out but it wasn’t quite the summery burstiness that I was expecting.

Makin’ some spaghetti squash with my beef brisket so I thought I’d take advantage of the heated oven and bake a cake at the same time.  Coconut flour is a miracle flour.  High in fibre and you need so little of it (with addition of extra eggs) to make something fluffy and delicious.  This cake is low in carbs, sugar-free and made with organic coconut flour, cherries and eggs!

Here’s the recipe…

gluten free almond flax bread…

The thing I miss the most about wheat is the amazing bread that it can make.  Bread is probably the hardest thing to make well with gluten free flours like almond but I will keep on experimenting and try new combinations to see what I can come up with!

Most breads made with almond flour turn up a little cake-like which isn’t quite so bad in my opinion but still not quite the same has having a nice crusty slice of wheat bread.

My first attempt produced a sad little loaf that was dense but delicious!  Hardly enough for the week for breakfast but certainly enough for us to nibble on as a snack.

Slightly sweet and definitely nutty in flavour, try this recipe at home!

just in time for Thanksgiving! stuffed pumpkin!

Pumpkin has got to be fall’s comfort food, it’s sweet, mushy, warm and oh so good in my tummy.  I usually roast any kind of winter squash with a little butter and salt in the oven but on this day….I was going to stuff it!  These adorable sugar or pie pumpkins (grown for their flesh not for their shell) don’t grow over 5lb which makes them a tasty side dish for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.  Plus it’s vegetarian if you’re not really into the whole turkey thing…but really….how could you not be!

Here’s the recipe!

mustard panko crumb chicken breast….

I don’t know why I love mustard so much as a marinade, it’s not fancy or really all that intricate but it always makes things taste so good!

Here is a simple recipe for baked chicken breast!

spikey snack…

This one is a no brainer.  Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and grab 3-4 artichokes.  Slice of the stem at the bottom and about 1/3 from the top.  With some sharp kitchen scissor you can snip the tops off the leaves removing the browny bits.

Time to season this cactus looking thing!  Rub all the cut parts with a bit of lemon.  Pry open the leaves gently so you can wedge about 4 cloves of garlic in each artichoke in random places.  Season with salt, pepper, herbs  and even a little Parmesan if you like.   Wrap it up in tin foil, put it on a pan and stick it in the oven for about an hour.

What comes out is a delicious treat!  Pull of the leaves and scrape the meat out with your teeth.  Once you’ve finished the leaves…take the hairy part out with a spoon and at the bottom will be the artichoke heart!  We devoured ours in less than 5 minutes 😦

Happy snacking!