Kale Chips (like Brad's Vampire Slayer)

It's been an amazing garden year for kale in my area! Here are the basics to making Kale Chips:

-  use your hands to mix the coating onto the kale leaves to get the most uniform results

-  be sure to lay out the kale piece by piece in a single layer so none overlap

-  cook it low and slow for the crispiest chips...use your lowest oven temp or use a dehydrator

Kale Chips

A bunch of kale leaves, torn into small pieces

1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

3 tablespoons of Garlic Powder

3 large Cloves of Garlic, Pressed

1 tbsp Paprika

2 tbsp Parsley

1 dash Salt

2 dashes Fresh Ground Pepper

1 tbsp Cashew Butter or Almond Butter or Tahini

A dash of cayenne pepper

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Mix the coating, spread onto the kale, and cook at a very low temperature (or dehydrate) for 2-3 hours.

Oven Crispy Kale

Five years ago, I had never tasted kale. Add five growing seasons, 2 CSA seasons, and countless vegetarian potlucks, and kale has become one vegetable that is a staple of my kitchen garden. Why? Oven Crispy Kale. This simple side dish has to be the fastest, yummiest way to cook kale - ever. When your kids are begging for "more kale," you know the recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients

Kale
Olive oil
Sea salt
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

Cut the kale into small pieces - kitchen shears work perfectly for this - and discard the stems. Lay the kale pieces on a baking tray in more or less a single layer. No need to be exact.

Drizzle generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and parmesan cheese, if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the kale become crispy. Serve and enjoy!

easy hummus

I think I've mentioned before how my large-capacity food processor is one of my top 3 kitchen must-haves. Here is yet another reason why. What follows is a super easy recipe for hummus, blended in a food processor (a blender will work too).

Traditional Mediterranean hummus calls for tahini, which is basically sesame butter - think peanut butter but made of sesame seeds instead. In our house, we rarely have tahini around, so I've experimented with many different nut butters. Each has been successful, and lent its own variation to hummus. Whatever nut butter you have at home, try it!

Ingredients
One 15-oz can of chickpeas (or "garbanzo beans"), undrained
The juice of one lemon 1/4 cup tahini, almond butter, peanut butter, or other nut butter 
One raw garlic clove, minced or crushed or three cloves roasted garlic
1 Tbls olive oil
1/4 tsp salt, more to taste  

Directions
Drain the chickpeas and reserve the liquid.
Combine in your food processor or blender: the chickpeas, the lemon juice, the tahini or other nut butter, the garlic, the olive oil, and 1/4 tsp of salt.
Add 2 Tbls of the reserved liquid and pulse several times. Continue to add the reserved liquid a Tbls at a time, pulsing between each addition, until the hummus is your desired consistency.
Taste and add more salt if needed.

Garnish with olive oil, paprika, and/or olives.
Serve with pita chips, tortilla chips, potato chips, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, and/or fresh, sliced kohlrabi.

garlic and ginger black beans

Black beans and rice are staples in our pantry - we almost always have some on hand. Tonight, Sassy (my eldest daughter) asked for "plain rice with butter and salt" for supper. I put together a black bean dish to go with it that featured some of our favorite spices. Water chestnuts added the crunch that made everyone ask for seconds.

Ingredients

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bulb garlic (about 10 cloves)
1/4 cup freshly grated ginger root
1 can sliced water chestnuts, rinsed and drained
2 Tbls. salsa
oil for sauteeing
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Separate and peel the cloves of garlic. Finely chop each clove. Try the 10 second garlic peeling technique if you haven't yet. (yes, it really works)

Saute the onion, garlic, ginger and water chestnuts until the onions are soft and the water chestnuts are no longer white.

Stir in the drained and rinsed black beans and the salsa. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with rice or tortilla chips.