Eat Your Greens

Take THAT nasty Doritos!

So many recipes to post! This past weekend I spent a lot of time making snacks. Here is a spicy take on the classic Cheezy Kale Chip. Most recipes for Kale chips involve soaked, then pureed cashews. I've made that version, it wasn't anything to write home about. Being allergic to cashews, I'm no stranger to finding substitutes. However, why use expensive, heavy nuts when you don't have to? Before discovering the 'raw' version of these chips, I use to coat the kale in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Simple.

My take on the cheezy kale chip is SPICY! I love spicy food, anything with a kick. I figured being cold, wet and tired camping would make these a really special treat.  Ok, if you run screaming from anything suggesting spice, like indian food, mexican sombreros, valentines/santa lingerie, this may not be for you. Just a salty chip kinda person? That's all you have to add: olive oil and salt. The less olive oil the better as it will not dehydrate fully and you may not get the crisp you are jonesing for.

What a Beauty

Kinectic Kale (har har)
2-3 heads Kale (curly, dinosaur, I use tuscan.. anything works)
1-2 Tbs Olive Oil
2-3 Tbs Nutritional Yeast (google it.. so cheeezy)
1/4 tsp Chipotle Powder (so important)
1/4 tsp Cumin
Pinch of Chili powder and cayenne and salt
Water or almond milk as needed to make a paste.. creamy salad dressing consistency) 

Stir it up (lil darlin'! Bob Marley fans?) ! Have chopped Kale in a large bowl. Keep in mind kale will shrink considerably in the dehydrator (yes! you can make these in the oven! See below). Spoon a little of the mixture at a time, stirring in-between. Taste one and alter the spices to your liking. I kind of just throw mine together in a bowl... so the estimates above are, yeah, estimates.

Coated and Ready to Go!

Spread onto mesh sheet, dehydrate for 2 hours or so at 104F. Check often. You want these babies as crispy as a potato chip!
If baking: Spread onto baking sheet, 10-15 minutes @ 350F

Crispy!

Enjoy! I made lots of different veggie chips; posts to come! 

Spring Cabbage Slaw

Picnic Anastasia Island

While I was in Florida, I indulged in fresh produce allll day long. Florida Bananas, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Blueberries, Strawberries, Peaches, Tangerines, Grapefruit, Kale, Squash, etc. etc. Oh my gosh, the list goes on. I ate SO much fruit. It was heaven. I browsed the Farmer's market listening to live music for well over an hour shopping.

This tangerine tree to the left is at my Aunt's house. I even brought some grapefruits from her trees home with me. MMMmm.  Well, now I'm back in Alaska and produce is a little harder to get. Much less LOCAL produce. So, my diet comes back to a lot of root veggies and greens. Which is great, yes. But I do miss the fresh fruits in a bad way. All of our berries are frozen, our bananas are the conventional gassed kind, and watermelon.. basically doesn't exist. We do get a lot of produce from Washington (Full Circle Farms) and California. We can get greens from the neighboring farm (or from our own once they are ready). This area is definitely bountiful in berries during summer. Looking forward to that! It was much easier to keep a raw food diet in Florida though. Now I'm eating sprouted grain tortilla's and eggs again (loaded with raw veggies) when I'm feeling slack. I definitely rely on more dehydrated raw foods here. I definitely feel the difference in my energy. I ate 5 various citrus fruits alone yesterday. Which are $2.77 lb here. So, that was rather indulgent. It's so much more expensive to eat produce here. :(
Last night I made a delicious Red Cabbage Slaw. I generally avoid all sugar not found in fruits/dates etc. But I did use a bit of Agave in this. I found some very interesting (and disheartening) info on Agave and how your body metabolizes it similar to HFCS. Who knows. For now, until I have time to research it more, I'm cutting it out.

Delicious and Beautiful!

Spring Cabbage Slaw
1/2 Red Cabbage sliced into thin shred
1 Carrot Shred
1/8 cup Raisins (soaked)
1 Leaf Kale Shred
1/4 cup Cubed Cucumber

Dressing:
2 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar (or ACV)
1 Drizzle of Olive Oil (or sesame if your feeling like asian slaw)
2 Tbs Onion Chopped
1 Clove Garlic
1/4 Tsp Celery Seed or Salt
3-4 Cranks of Ground Blk Pepper
1/8 Tsp of salt (or more to taste)
1 squirt of Agave Nectar (could use honey)

Process all dressing ingredients until onion is tiny.

Mix all veggies in a bowl, add dressing, stir. Let sit for 10 minutes at least in fridge. Enjoy!

Kickin' Kale Smoothie

 

Here's a recipe for a deliciously mutant green smoothie:

    2 to 3 leaves kale
    3/4 cup pineapple juice
    4 to 5 strawberries, grapes, or 1 small orange
    1 banana
    2 to 3 pieces of pineapple
    1 tablespoon chia seeds, soaked overnight

Directions:

I came up with this on my juice feast that I started specifically to get rid of poison ivy. The chis seeds are great for your skin and kale is a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals, also good for healing.

1) First, blend the pineapple that you are using for your juice, or juice if that's what you are using. Then add the kale by itself to the pineapple juice and blend until smooth. Blending the kale first ensures that you don't get a big chunk while you're sipping later!

2) Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Enjoy!