BeStrixed

**See addendum regarding baking these at the bottom of this post**

Believe it or not, this is NOT a complete entry!! This is me, rushed, lol. Lots more to come, but, here we go…

Okay, I had a looooooooooooong(er!!!) post with several recipes to post for these; however, I think I’ll just post this one for today, and the others in a few days. I just moved this week, plus the holidays are here already; so I’ve been super busy. SO, let’s get to it:

I was inspiredby these kale chips online. What a shock to see so wholesome a packaged product! Unfortunately, salty and too fatty, and they use agave nectar (which is just as bad as any other sugar) and WAY overpriced. C’mon, kale does NOT cost all that much! And, hey, how hard can these be??!

There are some recipes for kale chips online, but they are — yep — LOADED with fat, some, including oil, and all include salt; none of which anyone needs, right? Right .

Mine are better, in my opinion These are healthiest chips you’ll EVER eat!

Recipes I’ve seen call for up to 1 C of nut or seed butters, and some add oil on top of that (!!) for a small volume of greens So, I’ve cut it down well enough to still get great flavor and texture. You will get lotsa chips from this too; whereas recipes calling for loads of dressing use less greens. You can always make these richer or less so, all to your taste. I’ve made very low fat and the higher fat — truth is they are both yummy, but the richer ones, have better flavor. It’s all going to depend on your taste, how much you want to make, how much of these you will eat (watch it: these can revive “snacking” probs, if that’s one of your demons! You’ve been warned), and for what purpose…These are an awesome way to get in those greens! Especially if you don’t like green smoothies (pshaw!) or can’t get in enough, or just want some greens variety. Great with soups! I eat these with my ETL salads
Okay, lots of pics to show you and the first recipe! (For ease of reading the recipe sans the pics, scroll down to the near bottom: It’s written out there)

Thought I’d post the curry first, since I make this most often:

You need:

A dehydrator and blender

My Curry Dressing

9- 12  -ounces Dino-Kale (weight after de-stemming)

Additional Nutritional Yeast, for sprinkling atop, Optional

THE INGREDIENTS:

9- or 12-ounces Dinosaur Kale, Fresh, Washed, De-stemmed, torn into bite-sized pieces. Curly kale is fine; but Dino, preferred:

1/2 C Sesame Seeds OR SunflowerSeeds, (measure before soaking, if you do so; you can use more, if you wish to make them richer)

OR

3/4 – 1 tsp good-tasting, good-quality, fresh Curry Powder — your favorite, or your own homemade (I recommend Penzey’s Maharajah Curry powder-see “BELOW“)

1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds, whole (I sometimes add up to 1 tsp)

1 tsp Coriander Seeds, whole, (or 1/2 tsp ground powder)

8 ounces Tomato, fresh (about 2 smallish (canned, okay)

3 TB Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 – 1  Red Bell Pepper (about 5-ounces; OR use just the tomato; or just the bells — but both is best)

3 -4 TB Nutritional Yeast ( I like 4)

1 tsp Garlic powder* (Yes, that’s only a half teaspoon in the pic — double it!)

2 tsp Onion Powder*

Black Pepper, to taste

Additional Nutritional Yeast, OR  “Sprinkle” (see Notes) Optional, for sprinkling on leaves right after tossing in dressing to stick (not after dehydrated!)

Okey Dokey?  Now…

THE PROCESS

Add ingredients to the blender

Give it a good whiz Yes, it is watching you!:

Pour over leaves…

…and toss (pic is of a different sauce; I don’t have one of the curry, but this is how it’s done):

You want them thickly coated:

Place on dehydrator trays:

Choose your temp (See “Notes” on temperature)

…and let them go!! Make sure they are THOROUGHLY dry. The time they take to be done will depend on the temperature you choose and how many trays you put in at a time. I usually do 4 trays, spread, cranked to the highest temp — takes about 2 – 2 1/2 hours. So it will vary.

TA DA!!

Enjoy!!

*You can try this without garlic and onion powders, if you don’t consume them; It’s still pretty good

********

“Below”

I like Penzey’s Maharajah curry powder for this (if for nothing else; I’m not a fan of prepared powders. I make my own, and even then I rarely use it.) This one is not hot. If you like spicy, then add some

This is the key to the Penzey’s Maharajah — Saffron!

This is what makes their Maharajah:  The subtlety is *perfect*; if you know saffron, it is — well, to me — a bit difficult to use. It’s tricky — you can easily use too much or too little; and it doesn’t always taste good in things you think it will! Anyway, it is incredible on these chips. The Penzey’s has *just* the right amount.

So make sure the curry powder you choose is one you like: the recipe depends quite a bit on it, though it will come out good anyway OR add some saffron to yours! It’s outstanding for these chips!

Not the best pic, but Here are some with a topping; makes them look a bit nicer too:

NOTES:  You can use my cheesy sprinkle to top, if you wish; it works quite well on with any dressing on kale chips, actually.

You can use your nut/seed/or combo of choice + nutritional yeast. a commercial product uses walnuts + nutritional yeast (but they add salt), for example, which is very good. I like to add a bit of coconut to my nut-seed sprinkles; but here, I used just pignolis…

BUT, finely minced…

…by hand: It’s best, with very delicate, oily nuts, to hand mince, or you will end up with butter . Quite easy and quick.

Regarding, the temp — I crank my dehydrator to the highest temp. They may or may not be “RAW.” However, I’m not a “raw foodist,” so that’s of no consequence to me. IF, however, you are a raw food purist, you can absolutely make these: Simply lower the temp to whatever you believe best, and let them go. I’ve done it and they come out great. I just let them go overnight. Delish either way

Here is the recipe without pics for ease of reading

My CURRIED KALE CHIPS

Curry Dressing

9- 12  -ounces Dino-Kale (weight after de-stemming)

Additional Nutritional Yeast, for sprinkling atop, Optional

CURRY DRESSING:

1/2 C Sesame Seeds OR sunflower seeds, (measure before soaking)

3/4 – 1 tsp good-tasting, good-quality Curry Powder — your favorite (I recommend Penzey’s Maharajah Curry powder-see “Below”, or your homemade)

1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds, whole (I sometimes add up to 1 tsp)

1 tsp Coriander Seeds, whole, (or 1/2 tsp ground powder)

8 ounces Tomato, fresh (about 2 smallish (canned, okay)

3 TB Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 – 1 Red Bell Pepper (about 5-ounces (or use just the tomato; or just the bells — but both is best)

3 -4 TB Nutritional Yeast ( I like 4)

1 tsp Garlic powder*
2 tsp Onion Powder*

Black Pepper, to taste

Additional Nutritional Yeast, Optional

Blend up all except the black pepper, till smooth and creamy

Stir in freshly-ground optional black pepper to taste.

Toss thoroughly with prepared leafy pieces to coat.

Sprinkle with optional additional nutritional yeast.

Place on trays.

Dehydrate thoroughly till nice and crispy-crunchy!

*You can try this without these, if you don’t consume onions and garlic. It’s still pretty good

An important consideration: The dressing is not going to taste ideal on its own; it must stand up to those greens! So try it first – maybe test a few leaves by drying; then, see: If the dressing isn’t up to your taste, then adjust the seasoning. The dressings for green leafy chips must be much more concentrated in flavor; so you must concentrate the seasoning. Just keep that in mind they will taste different once dried and ready to eat. some of the dressings taste too vinegary, for example, but, again, it’s not going to be so after they’re dehydrated; the vinegar tempers the harshness in the fiber of green leafies. Soon, like me, you’ll be whipping these out without a recipe!!

Enjoy!

I have made DElish ones using a good hummus style, sans the beans and using only the sesame/tahini; I’ve not used one with beans, but that might be a good experiment. I have LOADS to share about these chips! But, for now, Go wild with it; it’s SUPER easy!

More to come: Here are some I’ve had success with that will be posted soon!

Avocado, based

“Ranch”

Cesar

Nacho cheesy

Until then OR if you don’t like curry-flavors, here is a GENERAL guide:

This is the one I started with when I first began:

1/2 c SESAME SEEDS OR SUNFLOWER SEEDS (or other)
1/4 C APPLE CIDER 9OR BALSAMIC +LEMON)
1 LARGE GARLIC
1 tsp ONION POWDER
1/2 C WATER
1/4 C NUTRITIONAL YEAST
1 tsp WET BROWN MUSTARD, Westbrae,
BLACK PEPPERCORNS
HERBS,SPICES, etc. OPTIONAL( can’t go wrong with cumin! It’s great with the flavor of greens)

Another quick example:

1/2 C soaked unhulled (brown) sesame seeds (measure before soaking)
3/4 – 1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
2-4 TB nuttritional yeast
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1/2-3/4 C Water
2-4 TB Nutritional Yeast

Lemon Zest, few scrapes, optional

Variation examples (omit water first and add later if needed):
Use bell pepper
Use tomato, fresh (or sundried)

As you can see LOADS of things you can do! You can try a favorite dressing; HOWEVER…I *strongly* advise you to concentrate your seasonings. In other words, make your dressing stronger (by doubling you seasoning (not volume), for example) than you would for simply a salad.
But do try mine Try a few leaves if you’re hesitant; then adjust to taste. This way you can see how to do it TO YOUR liking

If you share this with anyone, please link to my blog as the source. THANKS! Oh, and please leave a comment if you try these…well, if you like them that is

***To give credit where credit is due, the idea of kale chips, is actually not new! It just sort of is because the raw foodies came up with it for dehydrating. Joanne Stepaniak actually made these years ago, I do recall; however, she sprayed them with oil and used just salt and pepper, I think — certainly not a sauce. They were also baked at 350-degrees (actually, I think higher, but I’ll say 350- to be on the conservative side), which is not very healthful for greens. Dry, high heat = loss of nutrients and acrylamides! May as well just eat regular chips!

From Disease Proof:

Many whole-grain cold cereals are so processed and overly cooked that they have lost most of their nutritional value. Because these foods were dry-baked to make them crisp, they are also generally high in acrylamides and other toxic compounds. Soaking, sprouting, or cooking grains in water, instead of eating pre-cooked breakfast cereals, is a much healthier and more nutritious way to eat them.

On the other hand, you can try baking these in a more healthful manner at a low temperature in your oven. Go the lowest you can and watch *carefully,* perhaps moving them around often. A forum member over at Dr. Fuhrman.com mentioned she uses her oven as a dehydrator by attaching a lightbulb in there! Very clever . You can do the same. Some people keep their temp at the lowest and leave the door slightly ajar to let air circulate and keep the temp low (some even put small fans in); however, this may be a great way to waste energy!

So, a dehydrator is best, but you can still give baking these a try . Please let me know if you do! I’d love to know the results

Poxacuatl