Kale chips

Kale chips

Healthy Benefits

Very high in dietary fiber, vitamins A, B6 and C, B12, potassium, and manganese. Potassium is a simple mineral with a crucial job: helping your heart beat. A hundred thousand times a day, potassium helps trigger your heart's squeeze of blood through your body. 

No sugar and no cholesterol (high blood cholesterol is generally associated with an increased risk of heart disease) and low in calories.  

Ingredients   236 calories per serving (serves 2)

5 stems of kales broken off with stems removed
2 tspn of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbspn of nutritional yeast (and then some for the topping)
1/8 tspn sea salt
1/4 tspn black pepper
A few shakes of garlic powder

Preparation  

Mix all ingredients in large bowl by hand.
Place on cooking sheet as one layer.
Shake another 1 tbspn of nutritional yeast on top.
Preheat oven at 250 and bake for 28-30 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes and enjoy.

Note to vegan chef: I tried making it with 1/4 tspn of salt but it tasted too salty. Nutritional yeast is an excellent source of B12. Two tbspn a day meets the daily requirement. If you are not already taking a B12 supplement you should start. Any kind will do. B12 is the one vitamin needed that a plant-based diet cannot provide. You really want it to be crispy. 

Nutrition: (per 1 serving)

Fun facts: 

• There are over 50 varieties of kale. It has been in cultivation for over 6,000 years and is grown around the world.
• A kale plant continues to produce late into winter and becomes sweeter after a frost.
• Kale is an amazing source of carotenoids, which are linked to one’s level of optimism.
• Kale has more vitamin C than an orange. (among other benefits, Vitamin C helps heal wounds, protects agains ill effects of stress, and helps to lower cholesterol).
• Kale has more calcium than a container of milk. (Calcium, the most common mineral in the body, plays an essential role in blood clotting, muscle contraction, nerve impulse transmission, and bone and tooth formation). 
• Kale has more vitamin A than any other leafy green vegetable. (Vitamin is essential for good health. It promotes growth, the immune system, reproduction and vision).
• Kale might become the new state vegetable of Vermont.
• Thomas Jefferson experimented with several varieties of kale at his garden in early 1800s.

Reference: Calorie Count, Potassium and Your Heart,  Kale Facts and Trivia, 6 Things You Didn't Know About Kale, Vitamin A and Bone Health, Vitamin C, Adding up the Benefits of Calcium