What’s For Snack :: Kale Chips

My newest addiction.  Kale Chips.  Easy, healthy, and FILLING!

What’s the big deal about Kale?  Its loaded with Vitamin K and other health benefits:

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.

Baked Crispy Kale Chips

1 bunch organic Kale, stems cut off and inner stem removed

1 t. Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

And a squeeze of lime if your sassy…

Remove the stems, wash and dry kale leaves

In a bowl, toss with olive oil:

I added the sea salt and pepper here.  I added a touch too much salt so I would wait til the next step.

Arrange kale on cookie sheet, fanning out the curly leaves…then sprinkle sea salt and red pepper flakes to your liking.

Bake at 300 for 15-20 until crunchy.

So incredibly good!!  Addicting!

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo,

Carrie