Part I:  Kale Chips

I’m a healthy eater.  Not religiously healthy, though.  I do enjoy a wide variety of food that includes some pretty rich stuff.  Like Baked Brie, for intance.  But I’m always on the look-out for good healthy snacks to offset my indulgences.

I recently discovered Kale Chips. I’ll credit Foodgawker for my introduction to this newly favorite treat of mine, since that’s where I first read about them.  They must be pretty trendy because I keep running into recipes as I surf around on my favorite foodie blogs.

You can easily check out the link in this post and find a few recipes posted on Foodgawker.

I’ve settled on preparing them this way:

I wash and COMPLETELY dry enough kale leaves to cover a large baking sheet (about 4-5 handfuls).  I use the deep green, firm leaves, tearing them into bite-sized pieces (after discarding the stem parts).  Once the kale leaves are completely dry, I throw them into a gallon-sized ziploc bag.  I add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and toss the kale leaves around to coat them very lightly with the oil (sometimes I’ll massage them a little bit to make sure the oil is evenly spread).  Then I spread the leaves on the baking sheet, and sprinkle them lightly with salt.   Sometimes I also sprinkle a little garlic powder along with the salt.

The recipes I’ve read recommend baking the kale chips at a variety of temperatures, ranging from 35o-450 degrees.  I’ve tried them at 350, 400 and 425 degrees, and I’ve settled on 350 degrees at approximately 15 minutes.  They object is for the kale chips to come out very crispy, and that depends on how much oil is on the leaves.  So I’d recommend checking on the chips once they’ve been in the oven for about 12-13 minutes.  If they aren’t done at that point (and they usually aren’t for me),  just keep checking every minute or so until they’re nice and crisp, but not brown.

The first time I made these, I enjoyed them with a nice glass of chardonnay.  My curious family gathered around to see what I was eating.

“What IS that, Mom?”

“Is that spinach?”

“Are you gonna eat that?”

I explained the kale chip concept to the kids, and popped one in my mouth.  “Delicious!”  I exclaimed.  “Wanna try one?”

Blank stares.

“Can you give us some money for Taco Bell?”

Well, at least I didn’t have to share.

Part II:  Virtuous Healthy Drink Horrifies Anthony

I was paging through a food magazine the other day when I came across an article about juicing fruits and vegetables.  It put me in mind of V-8 juice, which I like.  I decided I need more of it in my life.

So I ran out to the store and got some V-8 juice yesterday, and decided to doctor it up by way of the juicer.  I poured a 5.5 ounce can of the veggie juice into the juicer, and added a few small slices of celery and green pepper, and just the tip of a jalapeno pepper.  I sprinkled in some salt, pepper and garlic powder, powered on, and created what I thought was a pretty darn good healthy drink.

About the time I was pouring my drink into a glass, Anthony walked up to the kitchen island to work on his science homework.  He noticed my drink.

“What’s that?”

“Vegetable juice.”  I took a drink.  Yum.

“Whoa!  Did you just drink that?”

“Yeah.  Why?”

“I thought that was to go in soup.”  He was looking at me a little mistrustfully.

“No.  I just told you it was juice.”

“Why would you want to drink vegetables, Mom?  You can just eat em.”

I took another drink.  A long one.  “Want to try it?”  I offered.

“Okay.  No.  Gross.  Don’t do that anymore, please.”  He was clearly rattled.

“Fine.  I’ll leave you alone with your homework, and just go enjoy my drink by myself.”

“Dad’s not gonna want to kiss you if you keep drinking that.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that, buddy.”

At that point, I hustled off to the shower to get ready for Snacky’s basketball game.  I took my virtuous healthy drink with me to sip on while I got ready.

When I emerged from my room with the empty glass in my hand, I could feel Anthony looking at me out of the corners of his eyes.

“What?”

“Did you really drink that whole thing?”

“Of course.”

“Are you gonna brush your teeth before we leave?’

Wow.