Really? A recipe that is not a cookie or laden with fat and calories? Yes. One can only eat so much of that stuff. There must be a vegetable every now and then.

Somebody help me! I ate one!

I have a long history of not eating vegetables. Okra, green beans, squash–my Dad could tell some stories!

The wisdom of age, ok, quit laughing, the wisdom of age has taught me that vegetables are a must, and some are pretty good.

One that I have not mastered yet is greens! Oh, the slimey-ness, oh the yuckiness, oh the old-people-ness!

Don’t get me wrong, I love old people. My experience with greens immediately takes me to Franke’s Cafeteria in McCain Mall with my mom and grandmother.

I would sit there with my mom, grandmother, and sister and eat my chicken leg (or roast beef), mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, jello, and chocolate milk while happily watching the shoppers pass by the big windows. My mother and grandmother would have something like LIVER and GREENS!

The greens looked something like this…

source

Every kid’s nightmare! They would even use those funny little square cafeteria bottles that had peppers in them!

I was always grateful for my mac and cheese! Greens were, in my little 5 year old mind, for old people.

You can imagine how surprised I was at myself when I thought about trying a recipe for Kale Chips.

I guess I was feeling adventurous–but KALE!

Here is what you need: kale greens, olive oil, garlic salt.

The instructions are just as easy.

Kale Chips

Make sure your kale is washed thoroughly.

Grab a handful and rub it with olive oil.

Sprinkle garlic salt to taste. (The original recipe said a generous amount. I assumed this was to cover up the taste of the kale!)

Bake at 400˚ for 5 minutes. Turn the pan, to insure even heating, and bake 5 more minutes.

before

after

Now, the moment of truth, the tasting.

Drum roll please.

The chips were very light and airy. You know when you burn a marshmallow over a campfire and slide the burned part off and eat it? Well, the texture kind of reminded me of that. Weird, I know.

I think I used a little too much of the garlic salt. I thought they were too salty. Next time I will know better.

Will I make them again? Probably, I have a big ol’ bag of kale in my refrigerator! I doubt I will boil it!

Critics’ Corner

Chip: This is proof that you can make just about anything taste good. I really liked these. They are perfect for when you want a lightly crunchy and salty snack.

Megan: Good, but a little too much salt. (Megan liked them enough to take in her lunch the next day rather than potato chips.)

Katie: The kale chips were pretty okay. They just weren’t my taste.