Kale Chips

I had a healthy weekend of eating.  I awoke today and had an egg white omelette with fresh spinach and tomatoes, but found I was hungry again early afternoon.  I was watching "Cooking Channel" and someone was making kale chips.  It reminded me that I had this really curly, springy bunch of kale in my fridge so I decided to make it too.  I preheated my oven to 300°F.

I stripped the stems off each piece of washed kale and then patted it dry with paper towels.

I broke each leaf into bite sized pieces and put them in a bowl.  When done, I massaged all the kale with one tablespoon of olive oil.

I wanted to season these chips with more than just salt and pepper today (my usual) as I've been eating a little bland these past few days, so I put together in a ramekin:

• 1 tablespoon of Trader Joe's  No Salt "21 Seasoning Salute"
• 1 teaspoon of Diamond kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

I mixed these well.  I covered a baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper and then dumped the kale out and tried to spread it out evenly.  I held the seasoning up high with pinched fingers and did the "let it rain" technique.  

Then I tossed once more and put it in the oven.  I set my timer for 25 minutes.  Your oven may be less than that.  Check at 10 minutes and rotate the pan.  When they were done, I let them rest for 5 minutes before taking them off.  I read that this helps crisp them more.  

Mmm, these were perfectly crispy.  I really think it was because of the kale bunch I had.  Really curly, springy bunches do well for the chip.  I enjoyed the seasoning.  I'm not always a fan of smoked paprika but it worked well with this - I liked the smokiness that went with the heat of the cayenne pepper.  It was a bit salty however, so maybe 1/2 a teaspoon would have been better.  Perfect snack on this Sunday afternoon.  I ate the whole tray!  Crisp kale is magnificent in my eyes.