Surprisingly Snackable: Kale Chips

We picked up our first farm share last week and packed our canvas bags with all sorts of amazing things: broccoli, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets and turnips, just to name a few items. Then we brought it all home, unpacked our bags, and wondered: what are we going to do with so many vegetables?! There were things on our counter I’d never cooked with (kale) much less heard of (watermelon radishes?). And the thought of turning it all into toddler-friendly food sent me running to Facebook, where I posted a photo and asked for your ideas.

Well, turns out ya’ll are geniuses. (No surprise there.) From beet muffins and roasted potatoes with aioli dip, to maple roasted carrots and kale chips, some pretty remarkable suggestions were posted. I wrote them all down and went to work.

First up? Kale chips!

I’m going to be completely honest: I’ve never cooked with kale before. I’d barely even heard of it! But it turns out that kale is a form of cabbage filled with good-for-you things like beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein and calcium. Whole Foods has a entire article devoted to how healthy kale is. So to say I felt good about offering this to the munchkin is a understatement. But would he eat it? That was the question.

Building off Stephanie’s suggestion of kale chips, I did a bit of Googling and found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. It seemed straightforward enough so we went with it, and as you can see from the photo the munchkin helped. He enjoyed tearing the kale into pieces, drizzling olive oil then sprinkling salt.

I wonder whether helping make the kale chips had anything to do with the end results? Because this kid totally loved them. LOVED. I put a handful in his snack cup and before I knew it he was asking for more. “Pweese moh chips! Pweese!” How could I say no? He was eating KALE.

He let my husband and I have a few and I have to admit, they were pretty yummy. If there’s kale in our next farm share these chips are going to be making an encore appearance.

Have you ever tried kale chips?

You can find the recipe for these baked kale chips here!