How To Make Healthy Kale Chips

Kale chips seem to be a hot trend these days! I made them 3 times last month at cooking classes!

Most people who hear about kale chips for the first time, say “YUK!” but then when they try them to their surprise it is more like “YUM!”.

Healthy Benefits of Kale Chips

Kale is a super-nutritious green that has many health benefits including lowering cholesterol and protecting against cancer.

Actually, kale is often referred to as one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet.  Like cabbage and broccoli it is a cruciferous vegetable.

The nutrition superstar has only 35 calories per cup and is high in fiber but the primary reason it is so highly acclaimed is the high concentration of antioxidants and vitamins A, C and K as well as phytonutrients.   It is also rich in lutein known for promoting eye health.

How To Make Kale Chips

It is amazing how easy it is to make kale chips!

1 head kale, washed and thoroughly dried
2 tablespoons grape seed oil
Sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Remove the ribs from the kale and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces.
3. Lay on a baking sheet and toss with the oil and salt.
4. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 20 minutes.

3 Kale Recipe Notes:

1. You can use any kind of oil you want but grape seed oil also has great health benefits.
2. They must be eaten the same day they are baked as they get soggy in storage.
3. Be careful with the salt as when kale is raw it is natural to add too much, then it concentrates when the kale is cooked.

Healthy Snack Chip

Kale chips are a great snack that is really healthy!

When you make and eat kale chips you eat more than a one cup portion because when you start crunching the flavor is powerful!  One time I sat down with 3 friends and ate a whole head of kale that had been turned into chips….

I bet you can’t eat one!!

Think of all the nutrients you are getting when eating kale chips for a snack!

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How To Cook Store Fresh Herbs

This week I did 5 cooking classes on how to cook with herbs. The classes included herb recipes as well as how to clean and store herbs for future use.

Cooking With Herbs

Some of the recipes we made at the cooking with herb classes are already on the WOW! site.

We made the nutty herb cheese ball. This recipe for the Herb Cheese Ball is a basic beginning recipe that you can enhance based on your family’s tastes. Feel free to add more flavor by stirring in a nice flavorful cheese, like bleu or feta.

How To Store Herbs

The best way to store herbs for using fresh is to wash them, trim them a little then put them into a plastic container with a damp paper towel on the bottom and the top. Store covered in the refrigerator. They will stay fresh for 3-4 weeks…… For REAL!!

I am often asked how to freeze herbs. My favorite way to freeze herbs is to wash them, mince them and then just put them in a small plastic container with a bit of oil. Label it and pop it in the freezer. They will be easy to take out because the oil never freezes hard but protects the herbal flavor.

Herb Butter Recipe

When I first started in the restaurant industry every restaurant had a special blend of herbs that they made into compound butter for flavoring dishes. Compound butters were very popular in the culinary world as signature dishes often called “Maître d’ hôtel”.

A menu item would often say: Filet Mignon Maître d’ hôtel meaning “in the style of the hotel” or chef. Every restaurant had a few of their own signature butters, some sweet and some savory to top different food items.

Compound butters are a great way to store herbs for the future and make you look like a gourmet chef!

Maître d’ hôtel Compound Butter

1/2  lb. butter
2 Tbs. fresh herbs-minced
salt and pepper
3 garlic cloves-pressed
parchment paper

1. Combine all ingredients and roll into logs using parchment paper.
2. Can be stored in the freezer for months.

 Make Herb Vinegar

Another good way to store herbs is to make herb vinegar. You can really put anything you want in your vinegar. This is what we used:

2 sprigs rosemary
3-4 sprigs of thyme
2 garlic cloves
6 peppercorns
blend of red wine and white wine vinegar

All of these recipes can be used with any herbs that you would like to use.

Watch for future articles with the rest of our recipes from this week’s cooking with herb classes.

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How To Make Gluten-Free Pie Crust

Gluten Free Recipe For Pie Crust

Each term at the culinary college where I teach, the students are assigned a project to make a given recipe healthier. I give them the original recipe, they define what the healthy goal is, then rework the recipe and prepare it in class.

This term a student decided to make a  pumpkin pie recipe appropriate for people with gluten allergies.

I was really impressed with the result as it is not always easy create tasty gluten-free baked goods.

Gluten Free Ingredients

This gluten-free pie crust is excellent. The texture of the crust is a bit more like shortbread than your average pie crust but it will be enjoyed by the whole family!

1 cup superfine brown rice flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup white rice flour
1 tablespoon cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ice water
1 large lightly beaten egg
12 tablespoons cold, cubed butter or 3/4 cup

1. Measure and mix the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour the dry ingredients into a food processor bowl.
3. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse until the butter cubes are reduced to the size of peas and the mixture looks like coarse, dry crumbs.
4. Add the lightly beaten egg and pulse just until the egg is incorporated into the flour-butter mix.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of ice water and pulse several times. Remove the processor lid and squeeze a small amount of the dough in your hand. If it holds together, don’t add more water.
6. If the dough is too crumbly and dry, add 1/4 teaspoon additional ice water and pulse several more times. Check the consistency of the dough again. If the dough holds together and you can form a ball, don’t add more water.
7. On a clean, gluten-free work surface covered with wax paper, gather the crumbly dough into a ball. Flatten to a large disk shape. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least one hour before rolling out the dough.
8. Remove dough from the refrigerator and place dough between two sheets of waxed paper. Let dough sit just until it is soft enough to roll.
9. When workable, roll lightly from the center outward, working to make a circle about 10-inches in diameter and about 1/8-inch thick. If the dough should get too warm and sticky, place it in the freezer for several minutes and then continue rolling it.
10. Peel top sheet of wax paper from the dough and carefully flip the dough, on the remaining sheet of waxed paper, over pie plate. Gently peel the waxed paper from the dough.
11. Gently press the dough into the pie plate. Trim edges with knife and crimp edge with a fork. The pie crust is ready to fill.

Brown Rice – Millet – Amaranth Flour Are Gluten-Free

Gluten-free flours are not as easy to work with as the wheat counterparts. Brown rice flour, millet and amaranth flour could all be used in this recipe. Amaranth flour is a bit more earthy so may be objectionable to your palate as a pie crust.

There is a fine line between too much flour and too little. It will vary depending on the humidity and your flours. Adding too little flour will give you a crust that is not rollable at all and adding too much water will make the dough sticky and harder to roll out and shape.

*Buy online, at a health food store or a bakery supply location.

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