Snack time!

One of my family's favorite snacks is homemade kale chips, and kale is in abundance right now as a seasonal vegetable.  Now  I know that kale doesn't sound that impressive as a snack, but when you know about all of the nutritional benefits of this wonderfully obscure green you will want to do what you can to have your kiddos eat it too!  

Kale is a member of the cabbage family, and it

 is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties; kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory.  Kale is very high in beta carotene,vitamin K, vitamin C , lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. 

 Considering that this is what it looks like, it is easy to see why it would be difficult to entice others to eat it:

However, if after taking the central stem out you happen to have some olive oil, sea salt, and nutritional yeast on hand, you can make a crunchy, slightly nutty, salty snack that is VERY addicting (our dog even likes to eat them...weird girl!)!

Once the central stem is removed, you just need to toss the kale leaves with the above ingredients until they are all coated with the oil (but not swimming in it!) and have a decent amount of salt and nutritional yeast on them.  I pop mine in to the dehydrator for about 45 minutes, but you can also put them under a broiler for a few minutes or turn your oven to the lowest setting and put them in for about an hour to an hour and a half.  Just make sure that you check on them so that they don't burn...burnt kale doesn't have a very alluring aroma!

The finished result doesn't look much different than what you started with:

But is sure is much more enjoyable!!

Once I start eating these, my body actually craves them and it is hard for me to stop (it's also hard for my boys to stop, they ask for the chips constantly when they know we have kale in the house)!  We also like to crunch them up over salads and pasta dishes to boost the nutritional value even more.

One of the best things about this snack  is that it is so easy for older kids to prepare, so put those kids to work creating a healthy snack for your family!

You have one life to live; do well, eat well, be well!

BS, CHC, AADP