Here’s a recipe that takes a vegetable my kids don’t like very much and turns it into something they actually get excited about - a rare find! Why do we want to eat kale? I happen to think it tastes great, but also... Dr. Mercola recently named kale as one of the top-ten superfoods we should all eat (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/10/top-ten-best-superfoods.aspx ) - here’s a fun way to get more of it in your belly!

Ingredients

1 large bunch of kale (if bunches are smallish, get 2)

olive oil

salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350 deg. You’ll need 2 baking sheets and 2 wire cooling racks that can sit on top of them.

Tear the leaves off of the stems and then into large pieces (2 to 3 inches, approximately). Wash and dry the leaves as best you can (a salad spinner works perfectly).

In a large bowl, toss the kale with a pretty good-size drizzle of olive oil and some salt, then spread it evenly on the wire racks placed on top of baking sheets. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes until nice and crispy. The leaves will darken somewhat. Enjoy right away! As soon as I pull it out of the oven the Samurai and our 2 sons immediately come and stand around shoveling it into their mouths making disturbing crunching noises and leaving little kale crumbs around the stove. Not too pretty a sight, but I console myself with the knowledge that all those nutrients are gonna be good for them.

Serves about 4 - 5 in our house.

Notes

This recipe only seems to work with kale and its curly leaves. Any of the flat-leaved greens don’t crisp up properly. Also, be sure to use the wire racks - if you put the kale directly on the baking sheets, you would have to turn all the pieces halfway through the cooking to try to avoid sogginess - tedious!