the best kale chips in america

i don't presume to know what your diet is like and i don't know if you've ever had kale chips. regardless of whether you have had them or not, i have the best recipe for them right here.

basic kale chips are pretty straight forward. toss some bite sized bits of kale sans stems (dino or curly) in oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake.

boring.

the other day i pulled last seasons dino kale out of my garden. the stalks were about 3 inches in diameter and the plants were taller than me! surprisingly, there were still a ton of harvestable leaves on them. i wish i had taken photos. oh well. anyway, back to the recipe... i have made two batches now. both times i thought i was making a ton that would last me a few days. both times it was all gone within an hour of coming out of the oven.

here's the not so big secret: sriracha

i use about a 5 second squeeze on a big bowl of raw kale (about 3 handfulls) torn into bite sized pieces. toss them along with about a tablespoon of olive oil until the leaves are more or less coated evenly. you can use more or less sriracha depending on your tastes, it's not an exact science.

spread the leaves onto as many cookie sheets (lined in parchment paper) as you need to avoid overlap.

sprinkle with sea salt AND garlic powder.

bake at 275 for about 15 minutes. until they're not floppy but not burnt.

the best news about it? kale is one of those "cruciferous" vegetables everyone says you need to eat all the time. these are "brassica" veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, and collards that are descendants from wild cabbage. kale lowers cholesterol, is anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and rich in vitamins K, A, and C!

springtime

it's mid-april and that means a lot is changing around here. it has been unusually sunny for this time of year, which gets everyone in a fuss: shopping for shorts/sunglasses/swim suits, sitting with the masses on restaurant patios enjoying margaritas and bloody marys even though it's still only 58 degrees out. the weather tricks us every year by giving us just enough of a taste of sun in order to keep us/remind us why we're in portland before the rain comes back: summertime.

when the sun is out is when i'm the most productive. cleaning long forgotten dust bunnies, finally getting rid of clothes i'll never wear, mowing the lawn, planting the garden, transplanting house plants, saying yes as often as possible... i feel like myself again.

speaking of the garden: my seeds are sown! i still have some beautiful rainbow chard that thrived through the winter, despite (or perhaps in spite of) my negligence. in my 6'x4' bed, i have now planted kale (both dino and curly), broccoli, spinach, carrots, and lettuce. in my 4'x4' bed i have zucchini (i took a chance planting it early, hoping the last frost has passed) and onions. i have one large pot for strawberries and i have yet to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, and peppers. i hung two long plastic containers on my fence for my herb garden: parsley, sage, cilantro, etc. and i have starts for rosemary, lavender, peppermint, and spearmint (seen in the photo above). clearly i'm more interested in vegetables than flowers, but the one flower i do want to grow is calendula, which is a beautiful bright orange flower that is a potent anti-inflammatory.

speaking of herbs, i have exactly 5 weeks until school starts. i went by the ACHS apothecary and picked up my materials for my first classes!

now, the herbs were an understandable component of the kit. but i've never had a class require me to purchase a bath brush! having some knowledge of dry skin brushing and the benefits to circulation i can understand the need, it just looks a little weird. these materials are for my introductory class on nutrition, bodycare, and herbalism. my first of three anatomy/physiology courses only has books.

lastly, there are only 3 weeks until my 6 day vacation to new orleans! it's in the 80s there this week, so i can only imagine how amazingly miserable it will be in may :) i can't wait. 

lil baby sprouts

alfalfa sprouts: day 2

how are these little legumes so delicious? i think 99% of it is texture. man do i love that crunch. i guess it doesn't hurt that they're packed full of nutrients like beta carotene and isoflavones (antioxidants, yo. they help protect cells from damage), as well as vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and potassium. and they maybe, just mayyyybe, can lower cholesterol and blood glucose. Also, due to their size and taste you can eat hundreds of sprouted seeds at a time, each of which may contain all the nutrients of a full grown plant. So, in a sense, you can get all the goodness of eating hundreds of fully grown plants in one meal!

the long and the short of it? they're good for ya.