Defeated by Kale Chips

by Rachel on October 19, 2012 · 5 comments

Over the past few months, I have been reading so many fun fitness and foodie blogs raving about this thing called Kale Chips. I had never tried them, nor really had a desire. Until recently.

I received a huge box of local organic fruits and vegetables from my CSA. In the box was a bunch of kale. The only thing I knew what to do with kale was to either chop it up in salad or juice it. I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and make this thing called Kale Chips.

I like green leafy vegetables. I like chips. It should have been a win-win, right!? Wrong.

I guess I forgot why I don’t’ usually go out on a limb and try new healthy food snacks. The answer is simply, I don’t know how to prepare them! I am not a foodie. I like to eat… but cooking is not a craft I own.

I googled how to make kale chips and found thousands of people’s personal take on how to make this delicious snack. I figured what could go wrong!? Simple enough, right!? Wrong.

I heated my oven to 375 degrees. I sprayed olive oil on the cleaned and cut kale. I seasoned them with garlic salt and set the timer to 20 minutes. After 10 minutes I flipped the chips. However, after the flipping I realized that there was a slight burning smell. My kale was burning! Yuck!

I took everything out of the oven and decided to try these delicious bad boys called kale chips.

It definitely had a crunch. However, it did not have much flavor. I think I tried to be too healthy and was too stingy with the seasonings.

The taste was very similar to if I decided to walk out my back door and pick up a fallen leaf from the ground. Pick it up and eat it. Crunchy leaf with no flavor. Yuck!

My oldest ate a few chips and pretended to like them as he mumbled to himself, “This is healthy and will help me grow big muscles.”

My middle son refused to even try them. My youngest son put one in his mouth and promptly spit everything out on the kitchen floor. He proudly proclaimed, “Yuck!”

When my husband came home, he opened the door smiled and then with a disgusted look on his face proclaimed, “What is that awful smell!?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I made a healthy snack! I think he made his decision for me not to make kale chips again. I am still trying to air out the burnt kale smell from our home!

I think from here on out, I will stick to eating my fruits and veggies raw. I think they taste great and they are super pretty in my yummy salad too!

If for some crazy reason I decide to try to make kale chips again… I would love it if you were to share with me your recipes in the comments below!

So many people like kale chips, I am determined to try again!