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.

Pearsnapples Sauce

This morning, I woke up and weighed myself. I was so excited! I've lost 2 pounds since starting Paleo a week ago. And my jeans are falling off my butt all the time already. If that's not enough motivation for me to keep going, I also woke up on my own, feeling refreshed. I have a 2 1/2 year old. Anyone with a toddler has probably forgotten what that feels like. It was great! I went downstairs and spend some time with my husband before he left for work, and I made myself a microwave scrambled egg, some leftover chicken sausage from yesterday's breakfast, a handful of cherry tomatoes and some coffee.

Look at my FIU mug. See the paw, feel the claw! Go Panthers! What, no? OK, I'll stop.

Turns out though that the sausages (Johnsonville chicken sausages, apple flavored) aren't Paleo-friendly. Oh well, scratch those off any future shopping lists.


I also finished up the Crock Pot pear sauce I started last night. When I was at Harris Teeter this weekend, I found a nice big bag of 4 overripe organic Bartlett pears for $1. I started with this recipe from Money Saving Mom, but when I checked on the pears, they'd pretty much turned to water. I threw in a few Pink Lady apples and let them cook for a few more hours.


Mash 'em up with a potato masher...There, that's more like it.

Pearsnapples Sauce
- 4 ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced
- 3-4 small sweet apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- Hearty sprinkling of cinnamon (eyeball it)
- 1 cup water

Throw fruit, cinnamon and water in a Crock Pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until fruit starts to fall apart. Mash with potato masher until you achieve the consistency you want. Eat warm (yum!) or cold.

I was hoping my son would eat it. He took a taste of it off my finger. He liked it! So I made him his own bowl. Of course, he took 2 bites and asked to get down from the table. Stinking toddlers. I thought it was pretty darn good and so did DH, so more for us then, picky baby!

I feel like I'm learning to cook all over again on Paleo. I have a pretty nice collection of great cookbooks, but when you throw out the recipes that call for potatoes, bread, rice or milk, you've only got a handful left to choose from. I threw together a Southwestern-style chicken and sweet potato dish. It was yummy, but it needs work before I publish it. Chicken breasts, bacon, sweet potatoes, onions, spices and some jarred salsa stirred in, with avocado on the side.



DH made it into hash and threw some fried eggs on top:



Well, back to the drawing board tomorrow. I have to pack for our upcoming road trip, and it will be interesting to see what we can eat when we're away from home. I hope I can post at least a few times while we're gone.