Baked Kale Chips: Snacking, Purified.

Have you ever baked kale?  I mean, baked it for a snack.  To munch on by the bowlful while watching PBS’s Sherlock?  Yeah, just like popcorn. It’s crazy good.  Baked kale gets thin and crispy, and has an earthy, toasty, umami flavor. I’ve been baking it on pizza for quite some time, but it hadn’t ever occurred to me to just bake it, for the sake of snacking.

I found baked kale on a fabulous, new blog that recently hit the blogosphere — me.purified.com.  J. humorously writes about her journey from the bottom of a Cheetos bag into the enlightenment of pure, healthy eating and living. Her witty prose and refreshingly honest insight will surely keep readers coming back for more. J., who is coping with the loss of popcorn and other movie snacks, takes baked kale packed in tupperware to the theatre (but, suggests taking it out of your purse before walking in — she does not condone illegal activity, wink-wink).

J. tosses kale leaves in coconut oil (all the rage right now) and salt, and bakes them on a sheet pan in a 400° oven. It works great. Seeing that it might replace my bowl of popcorn, I strayed from the recipe and sprinkled some freshly grated parmesan over the top before sending it to the oven.  It was delicious, although a little weird with the coconut oil. But, I like lots of weird stuff, so it was okay. You, on the other hand, might want to use olive oil if you decide to add some parm.

Popcorny Kale Chips

by my adored sister, J, @ me.purified.com
makes about 4 cups

• 1 head (or 1 bag, if you are lazy like me) of Kale, cut into bite size pieces
• 3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
• Salt (and pepper if you want)
• Parchment paper or tin foil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with tin foil/parchment paper.

Wash and thoroughly dry kale (or if you bought the pre-washed bag of Kale, take out of bag) and place in bowl.

Pour melted coconut oil on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Use your hands to smoosh the mixture all together to ensure an even coating on each piece.

Spread the leaves onto the parchment paper (try not to overlap too much) and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, stirring once half-way through. When the leaves are crispy and browned on the edges they are done.

These come out perfectly salty and crunchy, and since they are low carb with great vitamins, you can chow down on these like it’s nobody’s business. Just be careful when carrying them in your purse that you don’t crush them, or better yet, use Tupperware…oh, and take them out of your purse before you go into the theater.