This year we grew our first garden.  My hubby is the real green thumb while I’m fumbling around trying to learn all that I can.  We grew some red russian kale last year that went to seed in the spring.  We ended up with thousands of seed pods after all was said and done.  We decided to take a large empty garden bed and just let the seeds do there thing to see how many plants we’d get.  We got an entire forest of kale!

I’ve been trying to think of ways to use our kale and Kale Chips popped into my head.  How could I not think of this before?  I’ve been hearing about these for the last couple of years now and it’s about time I get on board.  I did some searching for ideas and settled on a delicious sweet, tangy, and slightly spicy recipe that was inspired by my favourite cookbook author Ali from Whole Life Nutrition.

From a Chinese dietary perspective, kale is a “warming” green and perfect for the colder months.  It’s warming and restores balance in the body.  I find it pretty versatile in helping to resolve Dampness (candida, phlegm, mucus), boosting Qi (energy, immune system, digestive health), Blood Building (anemia, eye floaters, low self esteem), and relieve Stagnation (anger, PMS, irritability, mood swings). (Wanna know what Yin Yang Diet your are? Take our QUIZ)

What I love about this recipe is that you use a thick nut butter to mix the flavours into.  This evenly coats the kale leaves so you are left with a scrumptious crunchy treat.

You can use any nut butter you’d like, but I used sunflower seed butter since we’re not introducing nuts to my 17 month old son for another month.  You can see my post of Food Introduction for Babies here.  I’ve also experimented with lemon juice, but lime is definitely the best.

Organic Kale Chips

(original recipe here)

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• 1 bunch kale, washed/dried, torn into medium size pieces (remove ribs & stems)
• 1 tbsp organic olive oil
• 1 tbsp organic sunflower seed butter
• 1 tsp organic honey
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
• light sprinkling sea salt

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Preheat oven 250 F

1.  Tear kale into medium sized pieces.  Tear the leaves away from the tough middle rib, so you are left with more delicate pieces.  Wash and dry well so the sauce sticks to it.

2. Combine olive oil, sunflower seed butter, honey, lime juice, and chipotle powder together in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk together until smooth and creamy.

3.  Place dried kale leaves into the large bowl and toss together until evenly coated.

4.  Line a pan with parchment paper (I find the chips crisp up better and are less likely to burn) and spread them out in single layer.

5.  Bake in oven for approximately 40 minutes.  **Flip the chips over 1-2 times while they are cooking to prevent them from burning.  I found they needed flipping around 20 minutes in and then maybe once more around 30 minutes.

There you have it, delicious, easy, organic kale chips.  That forest of kale is no match now that I have a chip recipe that my whole family loves.  Best part is my 17 month old eats these like they are going out of style.  He’s on a veggie strike, but I can get him to eat these with vigor and joy.

What’s your favourite way to prepare Kale Chips?  Share your recipes below.