Kale is a super healthy food. When I read up on treating cancer nutritionally, kale kept coming up everywhere I read, so I knew I had to find a way to get more kale in out diet. I remember reading on a few different blogs about making homemade Kale Chips. I gave it a try and I like them! My kids were apprehensive, but after crunching on some and tasting the salt I sprinkled on them, it grew on them and the pan was gone by the end of the night. I think I tore mine into pieces that were too small, which ended up making some of the edges over cooked, which then made those spots taste a little weird.
Next time, I will try to get kale that is straight leafed and bake it flat and whole like she did here at Roost
The recipe I used is from The Little Red House. I loved that it called for lemon zest, yum!
Baked Kale Chips
1 bunch of kale, rinsed, dried and bottom (thickest part) of the stems cut off.
olive oil
lemon zest (a few tsp)
coarse salt and cracked pepper
Cut (or tear) kale into smaller, bite sized pieces.
Toss with olive oil, lemon zest, and s & p.
Spread onto lined baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until light and crispy.
Here is one more recipe for kale chips that intrigued me from Bonzai Aphrodite. She adds a whole bunch of yummy ingredients, I would love to try this recipe sometime.
What’s New and Beneficial About Kale
- Kale can provide you with some special cholesterol-lowering benefits if you will cook it by steaming. The fiber-related components in kale do a better job of binding together with bile acids in your digestive tract when they’ve been steamed. When this binding process takes place, it’s easier for bile acids to be excreted, and the result is a lowering of your cholesterol levels. Raw kale still has cholesterol-lowering ability – just not as much.
- Kale’s risk-lowering benefits for cancer have recently been extended to at least five different types of cancer. These types include cancer of the bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from glucosinolates in kale play a primary role in achieving these risk-lowering benefits.
- Kale is now recognized as providing comprehensive support for the body’s detoxification system. New research has shown that the ITCs made from kale’s glucosinolates can help regulate detox at a genetic level.
- Researchers can now identify over 45 different flavonoids in kale. With kaempferol and quercetin heading the list, kale’s flavonoids combine both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits in way that gives kale a leading dietary role with respect to avoidance of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.
