EASY Kale Chips Recipe

Yesterday was my last day working for the YMCA. It's one thing saying goodbye to adult co-workers because I know we can text, email and Facebook each other to stay in touch, but leaving a group of 1 - 6 year olds who I've grown to love over more than a year of being charged with their nutrition... it's a lot. It didn't help that they drew me cards of their favourite foods (many that I encouraged them to give a chance, and then they ended up liking) and wrote me a song (titled "Us Will Really Miss You"). 

I think beyond even quinoa, falafels and tofu crumbles, my greatest accomplishment with those kiddies was kale chips. After all, what kid (what adult even) will willingly believe that something bright green is going to taste like potato chips? I kid you not, by the end of each meal that included kale chips they would be begging for more "green chippies". It felt amazing to think of the incredible nutrients going into their growing bodies with each bite, thanks to a great recipe.

Kale Chips

1 bunch of fresh kale
1 T oil
1 tsp sea salt
Your favourite flavourings: a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, a squeeze of lemon, a dash of red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast (there are great recipes for vegan "nacho cheese" kale chips using cashews - try them!), garlic, apple cider vinegar (my fav), chili and lime zest... go crazy!

Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Wash the kale but then dry it really well. This is totally the key to good kale chips - they need to be mega-dry.
Cut the hard middle stems out. This is the other vital key to good kale. You don't wanna eat that tough part, it will make you hate kale forever.
Cut or tear the leaves into bite size pieces. Toss with remaining ingredients. Make sure every piece is coated.
Lay them out, in a SINGLE LAYER (really important tip #3) on a lined baking sheet. You can use parchment, foil or grease up a good baking tray.
Bake for about 10 minutes. You want them to be very crispy but not burnt. I will often get them almost there, then turn off the oven and open the door. This will drop the oven's temperature drastically but allow them to finish drying out, almost like a dehydrator.
Once cool, use a pancake-flipper (what is the real name of that?) to collect them all up in a towel-lined basket and serve!

I'll bet you could eat the whole batch yourself in one sitting so you may as well triple it and leave the leftovers in paper bags for kids' lunches or for late night snacking.

By the way, for every cup of kale you eat (and this recipe would give you more than that) you're getting:
2x your daily vitamin A needs (in the form of beta-carotene so it's safe)
1.4x your daily vitamin C needs
6x your vitamin K needs (this is both EXTREMELY good for you, and very hard to find in other foods)
fibre, copper, manganese
only 33 calories

So, enjoy some today!

* Ready to eat kale chips are available in many health food stores but you'll pay a pretty penny. This recipe should cost you under $2.

"Energy circle" Cookie Recipe

When I worked at a health food store in our city's hippie-ish village, I was addicted to a gluten free cookie called an Energy Circle. I would eat one a day and they were huge. 

It was around the time that my employee purchase tab started inching over $100 that I made a vow to replicate the recipe. 

Energy circles are soft but crunchy. Salty but sweet. With specks of sesame seeds and a strong hint of maple syrup flavour, studded with an apple butter centre. These ones were made with brown rice flour. 

Today while reading Gwenyth Paltrow's cookbook My Father's Daughter I saw a picture that looked awfully close. 

A few modifications later (I substituted whole wheat flour because it's what I have on hand, used pecans, and reduced the recipe to a quarter in case it was horrible) -- I am wowed! I have made my own energy circles!

Amy's Psuedo Energy Circle Cookies

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup crushed pecans

1 tsp go-mashio (I make mine homemade, want the recipe?) or 1/4 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp sesame seeds

1/4 cup maple syrup 

1/4 cup oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Jam of your choice

Preheat oven to 350. 

Mix all ingredients except jam together. Form into small balls - recipe should make 10-12. Place on a lined baking sheet and press down slightly leaving a finger indent. Place a tsp of jam in each cookie's centre: use apple butter for an authentic taste. 

Bake until golden 15-20 min. 

Whole Wheat Berry Danishes

One very delicious blog I follow called Seven Spoons recently posted a recipe for a rhubarb danish. Naturally, I had to begin baking immediately. With no rhubarb in the house, all markets and grocery stores closed, and my beloved rhubarb plant abandoned at our old house (along with my berry patch and perennial herbs - waaaah!) I had no choice but to use the berries in my fridge.

The blogger who created the danish recipe apologizes that it is tricky and time consuming but I didn't have much of a problem. I made a few adjustments and am very pleased!

Whole Wheat Berry Danishes

6 T milk, warmed
1 egg
1 tsp dry yeast
1 drop almond extract
1 heaping cup whole wheat flour
1 pinch sea salt
1 pinch cane sugar
1/2 cup very cold butter or coconut oil, diced up
coarse sugar for finishing

In a small bowl, mix milk, egg, yeast and almond extract together.
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar and butter together. Cut the butter, using two knives, into smaller and smaller pieces until it's basically lumpy sand.
Pour the wet into the "dry" and mix.
Place in the fridge, covered, overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 375.
Place dough on the floured surface and roll into a rectangle. Fold in half, and roll back into the same shape. Fold again and roll, repeat.
Cut the rectangle into 4 equal servings. For each, place a handful of blueberries and raspberries, a pinch of sugar and a dash of lemon juice down the middle line. Alternatively, spread a line of berry jam down the centre. Then, like you're making a soft taco, roll the edge with the berries inside until you have a large cigar shape. Make 3 large cuts along the top, and bend into a barely "C" shape. (This danish style is called a Bear Claw and it reminds me of working at Starbucks.)

Place on a lined baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse sugar. (These have a tendency to stick so buttering the tin foil or parchment may be a good safety net.) Bake until golden (about 20 - 25 minutes).