healthy laps

We decided to grill last night because the weather was so nice!  I stopped at a local market and picked up some steak tips for Brant, so it was another Sunshine Veggie Patty for me!

I cut a mini whole wheat pita in half and spread Spinach & Artichoke hummus on one side and sprouts on the other.

Then put my ‘burger’ in the middle.  It had a totally different taste than last night – just as delicious, though.

We both had a salad along with our dinners, which contained romaine, cucumber, sprouts, and a pistachio-fig nut mix.

Delicious dinner that totally hit the spot on a gorgeous evening!

After dinner, I was still in the ‘cooking’ mood, so I decided to make some Cheesy Kale Chips that I have seen on other food blogs.  I already had the ingredients that I had picked up earlier this week.  I was really cheap at the store – the recipe called for a red pepper, but they were $4.99 per pepper!  The green were only $1.99, so I went with green.  Therefore, I think that my cheesy kale chips taste the same, but they look more like ‘cool ranch’ instead of ‘nacho cheese’. 🙂

Nacho Cheese Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches kale, washed and torn into large pieces
• 1.5 cups raw cashews, soaked (for at least 2 hours, mine soaked for 8)
• 1 large red (or green) pepper
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
• 5 tbsp nutritional yeast (find out more info here)
• 1 tsp salt
• squirt of agave

Directions:

1. Wash and chop kale into large bite-size pieces.
2. Blend all other ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
3. Stir and massage into kale leaves.
4. Place on dehydrator sheets and dehydrate for 8-12 hours at 105°F.

You could definitely make these in the oven as well, but keep the temperature low so that they do not brown at all.  This was my first time making kale in the dehydrator and it is amazing how much greener they stay.  Usually in my oven, they brown very quickly and become a darker green.  The nutrients are definitely all still present in my dehydrated kale!

I have seen this recipe on at least 3 blogs: Gone Raw, Greens for Good and Love Veggies and Yoga.  Thanks for passing on this recipe, ladies!

Before heading out yesterday morning, I put my cashews in a bowl to soak.

When I was ready to start making the ‘chips’, I washed and tore up the kale (removing all stems).

Into my food processor went all of the other ingredients (including my green pepper!).

All blended up in a matter of minutes!

Then, I poured the cheesy mix onto the kale and used my hands to massage the leaves and mix everything up.  Kale does not have as much of a bitter taste after you massage the leaves a bit.

And, then the individual leaves were places onto my 4 dehydrator sheets.

And stacked together to start dehydrating.

8 hours of dehydrating at 105°F, they were done!  Check out all the cheesiness stuck on this kale chip.

They were not fitting very well in my glass containers, so I bagged them for easy transport instead, although who knows if they will last long enough to need transport!

They taste delicious!  You will definitely be seeing these on the blog again.

Filed under: Eating Laps, Recipes | Tagged: dinner, kale chips, veggie burger |