Baked kale

I have discovered my new favorite "great for you" snack..  I've been hearing from a dear friend how wonderful baked kale chips were and have never even seen them at the grocery store.  I was a super lucky and loved recipient of a huge bag of kale from my aunts garden.  (can you say favorite niece?:)  now, said dear friend is a bit jealous of my bounty...  but still my biggest fan...

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and simply tear the kale into bite side pieces, discarding the hard middle stem, and place on a light colored baking sheet.  (The first time I tried this I put them on my dark "seasoned" cookie sheet and drizzled olive olive oil on top and burnt it... you may better luck.)  Sprinkle with salt.

Some of the kale stalks were the size of my arm

Place in the oven for 5 minutes and take it out and make sure they're not sticking to the bottom and move them around a bit.  Put back in the oven for 5 minutes..  they should be very green and very crispy and dry.. I took off what was done and put the others back in for a minute or two. 

As you can see the taste testing of the kale chips leaves huge gaps on the cookie sheet :)

Place them on a plate and season them with whatever you like... we had them so far with nutritional yeast and with just plain salt.  Delicious!  They are melt in your mouth, crispy, and wonderful.. they even remind me of roasted pumpkin seeds.  If you've never had kale chips.. it is worth trying and a really quick and nutritious snack to whip up. 

Blueberry Bounty Buns

Lately we've been drinking smoothies in the morning.. all kinds. So when Jim needed to go out of town and needed some road trip snacks this is what I packed him. I made these in my small muffin pan so they could be eaten in one or two bites, but they can be spooned out onto a baking sheet with great results. So moist and so delicious!

1 cup ground oats (put quick oats in the blender until it's flour consistency)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. sea salt
3/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used Original Silk Almond milk)
1 T. flax meal (I used Chia seeds)
2 T. pure maple syrup
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil (I used olive oil, it's all I use anymore)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, combine the ground oats and flour, and sift in the baking powder and baking soda. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and mix to combine well. In another bowl, combine the non-dairy milk and flax meal, stir and let sit for 1 minute. Add the maple syrup, vanilla, and canola oil, and stir through. Add the blueberries. Immediately add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and stir through until just well combined. Scoop large spoonfuls of the mixture (roughly 1/2 cup each) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the buns are lightly golden and are set in the center (gently touch to check). Remove from the oven and let cool on pan for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes 6-7 buns or 24 small muffins :)

Recipe from Vive Le Vegan! by Dreena Burton (one of my favorites! An awesome gift from Pam Massey so many years ago)