Baked Kale Chips

So as we get ready to leave, we're trying to use up what's in our fridge. We're taking along some clementines, apples, pineapple chunks and mangoes. But last week, I bought a big bag of kale at BJ's ($1.99, can't beat that) for the purpose of making baked kale chips. I've seen several recipes for them, calling for varying oils and seasonings. I decided to stick to the basics.

I tried two different recipes:

Nom Nom Paleo's Baked Kale Chips

Smitten Kitchen's Baked Kale Chips

Kale, sea salt, avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil, ready to go.

I made my first batch with Nom Nom Paleo's recipe. They were good, but still pretty green-tasting and a little bitter. No way I could get The Boy to eat them. I told him they were green potato chips and he refused to touch it. He dropped it on the floor and pretended to have his stuffed dog eat it.

I made the second batch with olive oil. More flavor to the oil, so I figured tastier results.

Not so. I didn't realize the smoke point of olive oil is 325 degrees. I baked these chips at 350. I had a few finished chips and they tasted like Death's ass. That batch went in the trash.

I found this nifty reference on the smoke points of oils online. I think I'll have to keep this one bookmarked.

I looked at Smitten Kitchen's recipe and turned the oven down to 300 (whoops!) and tried again. This time, I salted one pan, and used a combination of salt and garlic powder on the other.

Verdict? Meh.The garlic powder made them taste better, but the long cooking time obliterated them. I managed to salvage 2 decent-sized pieces.

So I went BACK to avocado oil and 350 degrees and tried garlic and salt again.

Good! A little nutty, kinda veggie and salty with a hint of garlic. I am going to play around with seasonings in future batches but I like these a lot.