Get Cooking | Olive & Parmesan Kale Chips

Yesterday I made an amazing discovery: I LOVE kale. “KALE?” you may inquire curiously. Yes. I promise, stay with me here. Kale is a cruciferous veggie with leaves that form a bouquet of beautiful crinkly waves. It’s related to broccoli and collard greens, if that helps, which should make visions of antioxidants dance through your head. Did it? No? That’s okay. We’ll get you there…

Kale is prized for being an amazing source of beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, fiber, and calcium. Kale also contains a chemical that is believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. The chemical actually initiates a response in human cells that optimizes their ability to disarm and clear free radicals and toxins from the body. Its leaves have a soft, earthy flavor and pack more nutritional bang for your caloric buck than most other foods. Its season is mid-winter through spring and tastes especially good if it survived a slight frost. (How poetic is that?) Its history dates back to the Celtic wanderers who are credited for bringing it from Asia Minor to Europe about 600 B.C. It was a significant crop for the Romans and later in the Middle Ages it was being grown commonly throughout Europe. During WWII cultivation began to take root here in the US.

Its favored in German cooking especially where they boil it in large quantities and serve it with sausages. In Sweden its served with Christmas ham. In Japan they juice it as a popular dietary supplement. And now, thanks to this simple recipe, it can make an appearance in your household too.

Ingredients:
1 bushel of fresh Kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt, to taste

Preheat your oven to 375. Rinse kale leaves and break the leaves off of the stems into bite sized pieces. Lay a piece of foil over a baking or cookie sheet and spread kale evenly across it’s surface. Drizzle olive oil over the kale and sprinkle with salt and cheese. (Add any other seasonings you like. I like Old Bay and a bit of cayenne.) Bake for 15 minutes until edges are brown and kale is crispy.
Serve right away and enjoy. They should crunch like super thin potato chips. :)

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