Zesty Nacho Kale Chips

Every once in a while you find a new food that you fall in love with. Now I'm no stranger to kale, but I wanted to express how much I really do love this leafy green veggie. I bet you can probably tell... I just couldn't stop myself from taking pictures. I think I had something like 40 photos to sort through once I uploaded everything. It was way too hard to choose my favourites for this post! 

So today we're talking kale... and kale chips!

It may look scary to some but it just needs a little tender love and care. My usual way to enjoy it is in a salad raw, massaged with a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil, some fresh lemon juice, and sometimes a sprinkle of sea salt. So simple and fresh. 

Then I finally tried making kale chips. Yummy! 

I don't know why it took me so long to make these. The only thing that's annoying is they don't store very well. That is if they last long enough. They basically need to be eaten the same day as baking (no problem there ;). Whatever you do don't store them in a plastic bag unless you have the paitience to re-crisp them in the oven for 5 minutes the next day. If you go this route just spread them out on a baking sheet and bake at 300F. They'll crisp up once you remove them and they start to cool. You could also you a toaster oven if you have one.

Seriously. If you ever find yourself craving potato chips, try making these nutritious chips as a healthy alternative instead.

These kale chips are very reminiscent of Doritos! Only 100% better for you and nutritious.

Kale for life!

Zesty Nacho Kale Chips

by Jennifer Trennum

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes

Keywords: food processor bake appetizer snack side lunch gluten-free grain-free nut-free soy-free sugar-free vegan vegetarian herbs kale tahini

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Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 large bunch of kale
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp roasted garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove the leaves from the stems of the kale and roughly tear the leaves into large pieces. Thoroughly dry the kale leaves using a salad spinner and place them in a large bowl. Set aside.

Add the tahini, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, cumin, paprika, roasted garilc powder, and sea salt to the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary.

Pour sauce over kale and mix until evenly coated. Don't be afraid to get in there with your hands and massage the sauce into the kale.

Spread the kale out evenly onto the prepared baking sheet into a single layer; be sure not to overcrowd.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for another 12 minutes more until the kale begins to crisp up.

Remove from oven and let the chips cool slightly before enjoying.

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Millet with Butternut Squash & Kale

Just like I promised I'm back with a new recipe this week featuring millet!

If you're new to my "Great Grain's" series you can check out my first post Great Grains: Millet where I've introduced millet as the first grain of the series and given a detailed description of the grain including nutritional benefits, general cooking, uses etc. Otherwise, if you know your grains and seeds well, then I've got a delicious side dish for you.

But first I have to share some exciting news. I have been featured on Spry Living! They are the companion website for Spry magazine, a newspaper-distributed health and wellness publication reaching 9 million households monthly. Their website is a great resource recipes, nutrition, fitness, weight loss, and healthy living. I was contacted about being featured earlier last month, so I've been keeping it under wraps somewhat until now. Something that's hard to do when you're brimming with excitement.

Spry living is currently running a new series of recipes this month for healthy casseroles and my recipe for Baked Ziti and Marinara Sauce is currently being featured as part a part of it. The series is called Health in 30: Healthy Casseroles. Every day for the month of February they post a new casserole dish that is health minded but just as warm, delicious and comforting.

There's that Ziti!

Now getting back to today's recipe...

I've used a little trick for this one. Instead of directly adding herbs (fresh or dried) to the recipe, this time I decided to use a Bouquet Garni, which is French for a little bundle of herbs tied together with string and mainly used in, but not limited to soup, stock, and stews.  Have you ever heard of it or used one before? The bouquet of herbs are cooked with the dish but removed before consuming. Of course there is also the dried version where you take your dried herbs, wrap them up in a piece of cheesecloth and tie it together with a piece of string so they don't spill out. For easiness you can leave one end of the string longer to tie to the handle of the soup pot. When your done you wont have to go fishing for it.

For the millet I used nice little bouquet of fresh thyme.

Fresh, easy, and full of flavour. Just the way I like it.

Millet with Butternut Squash & Kale {Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Vegan}

Print or Text This Recipe

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, passed through a garlic press
• 3 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 cup millet, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups no-salt added chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together with string or kitchen twine (also know as a Bouquet Garni)
• 2 cups chopped baby kale, washed and stems removed
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the millet and toast for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add broth, diced squash, and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the squash tender.
5. Gently stir in the chopped kale to wilt, which will only take 1-2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and season with a pinch of salt and pepper if desired.
7. Serve warm.

**Notes** 

• You may also store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator and reheat for lunches and weeknights. This dish can also be served cold. 
• If gluten intolerant, Pacific Foods broths are all certified gluten free.

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you haven't already, make sure you eat something chocolatey!