Kale Chips!!!

Alright, so I know some people have attempted to make kale chips time and again and probably failed miserably. I know this because I am one of those people. I have tried all different temperatures in the oven, different times, different toppings and never really got it down. They were either burned, soggy, or too salty. 

I recently acquired one of the most beautiful dehydrators I have ever seen and I have been putting it to good use! It's the Excalibur Food Dehydrator with multiple temperatures and a timer that goes up to 26 hours. 

Ain't she a beauty? Anywho, this has been the saving grace to the kale chip fiasco. One of the great things about making the chips in a dehydrator is that you are able to retain many more nutrients than when you bake them in the oven, because, technically, they are raw. 

So today I set to work in making a new flavor, as I have also recently become obsessed with making people's mouths water over kale. I also made a flavor that got me rave reviews, tomato basil. Or caprese as my boss calls it. 

The tomato basil is exactly what you think it is. A handful of yummy baby heirloom tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Delicious!! I place it all in my Ninja blender cup and bleeennnd. 

Next I tear up a bunch of kale (red and green) and put it in a huge bowl. Then I douse it in the sauce and massage it with my clean hands until everything is covered. 

One of the most important things to do is make sure you place the pieces evenly on the screens. If they are layered sometimes they won't dry nicely. 

The other flavor I have not quite mastered that I attempted for the first time today, was a soy ginger. In my Ninja cup blender I combined low sodium soy sauce,  sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, minced ginger, honey, and wasabe powder. Blend it on up! I poured it all over a fresh new bowl of kale and sprinkled roasted sesame seeds on it then massaged it with my hands. 

The outcome was very interesting, it honestly tasted just like Trader Joe's Soyaki sauce. Which is also a really good marinade for turkey jerkey.... More on that another time. 

Ps... I'm very aware that soy sauce is not gluten free as the second ingredient is wheat. But it does not bother my gut, so I have no need to eliminate it. If you have a gluten sensitivity that is worse than mine, then I suggest using tamari sauce in lieu of the soy. 

Here are the tomato basil chips finished:

And here are the Soyaki:

I piled them all up so it looks better/like more. 

The dehydrator, btw, was set to 160 degrees and I dried them for about 5 hours. Maybe a little longer. I have done them over night and had the same results as well. 

Storage is a little tricky. I keep them in a closed Tupperware and plan on investing in silica gel packs to absorb the moisture. Without, they last about 3 days. 

Hope this was informative!! If anyone has any suggestions for new flavors send them my way and I will get crackin'!!