Kale Chips

I know I've said this before, but I have a hard time finding vegetable dishes that are a.) starch free and b.) that the Mister is willing to eat. That being said, he will eat kale chips every single day. AND he'll be happy about it. Doing the starch free thing, he often laments the lack of crunchy and snack-y types of foods. So kale chips make a good alternative to potato chips, even if you can eat starch. And don't tell anyone, but we like to dip ours in ketchup. They only take 10 minutes, start to finish. So you really can have them any day of the week.

{pre-baking}

Kale Chips
serves 2-3
3-4 cups of (loosely packed) kale, washed and trimmed of the thick stalk and torn into pieces
olive oil
seasoning salt and pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line your baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper. Spread out kale evenly across sheet. (I usually mound up the kale a little, or you won't have very many kale chips once it bakes down.)
2. Drizzle olive oil over the kale and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until kale chips are *starting to brown.
3. Serve immediately. With ketchup.

*You'll have to keep a close eye on the chips in the last part of cooking, because they'll go from perfect to burnt pretty quickly. I like mine on the chewier side (which looks more green, like the picture above) and the husband likes them crispy, which will be browner. Test it out and see what you prefer.

{a little glimpse into my tiny kitchen}

Starch-less Cheddar Crackers

Okay, I know what you're thinking. What the hell is this? Well, I promised you that I'd post the recipe for cheddar crackers and then promptly realized that I never got any good pictures of them before they were all gone. And I haven't had a chance to make them since. But as they go excellently with my last post (hot spinach dip), I figure I should just get to it. As well as going well with dip, they're also tasty broken up into little pieces as a topping for soup.

When you make these, err on the side of more thin. Mine were a little too thick because I didn't want to make them too thin, and of course I had the opposite problem. If they're not thin enough, they won't crisp up correctly. These would also make a good foundation for nachos. A later post!

And I promise when I get better pictures I'll redo this post.

Cheddar Crackers - adapted from Healing Foods
makes about 35
1 1/4 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup sour cream
course salt
optional seasonings:
1/2 teaspoon dried sage and/or thyme
1/2 teaspoon onion powder - I used this...
1/2 paprika - ...and this

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Combine the cheddar with the almond flour, sour cream, and seasonings (except for course salt) and knead until all ingredients are combined.
3. Place the dough onto the lined baking sheet. Put another layer of parchment on top of the dough, then roll the dough between the two layers out until about 1/16 inch or 2mm thick.
4. Remove the top layer of parchment and press the course salt sparingly into the dough. Then with the edge of a knife, cut the dough into cracker-sized pieces.
5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until slightly browned. Let cool and store in an air tight container.

Green Tea & Mint Poppies

Anyone who knows me well knows that popsicles are one of my favorite foods, definitely my overall favorite food group. When I was younger, I would forgo any kind of cake, cookie or pie for a bomb pop (you know -- the iconic red, white and blue kind of popsicle). Even in the middle of winter I would choose a poppy over another kind of dessert; that's how deep my love of poppies goes.
Anyway, this is my way of introducing an ongoing series that I'll be doing throughout spring and summer -- homemade poppies (and of course they'll be starch free). And don't worry if you don't own a mold for making your own popsicles. If you do have a mold, that makes it easier, but you can make poppies using espresso cups, ice cube trays, disposable cups, shot glasses, etc. (+ popsicle sticks) for your molds.

The first kind of poppy in the series is a simple and tasty green tea & mint flavor. I got the recipe from this book.

Green Tea & Mint Poppies
makes six 8-ounce pops or eight 6-ounce pops 
(or any variety of smaller pops)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 loose green tea or 5 tea bags
12 sprigs fresh mint
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup honey, or to taste
opt: 1/4 cup edible flowers or 1/4 cup blanched almonds (I opted out of these two)

1. Bring 4 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan. Pour into a heat-resistant pitcher (or mixing bowl with spout) with the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the tea, 10 sprigs of the mint and the lemon juice. Cover and let steep for 1 hour.

2. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in honey to taste. Add a few fresh mint leaves (and flowers and almonds if you'd like) to each poppy mold. Pour in the tea and insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 6 hours. (If you're using actual popsicle sticks and not molds, you'll have to freeze it for awhile and then put in the sticks, or they won't stay in straight.)

3. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for a few minutes or put the poppy under hot tap water before removing it from the mold. Then go and feel amazingly refreshed!