Aside from avocados, Sadie pretty much despises vegetables. No kidding. We’ve tried them all and the Sadie veto looks like this…tiny hand picks up the unsuspecting vegetable, arm swings the vegetable away – with a crane-like grace – from the high chair tray, tiny hand drops the vegetable onto the floor. Veto! That is, until tonight!
On my way home with Caleb and Sadie (Mateo had class tonight), I was trying to think of something to do with the dinosaur kale that we had in the fridge. Everyone has been talking about “kale chips” lately, so I thought I’d take them on as a quick project to do with Caleb this evening before dinner.
So easy. I pulled two bunches of dinosaur kale (and what kid wouldn’t love to eat something with the name ‘dinosaur’ in it?) out of the fridge, washed, put in salad spinner, and let Caleb have at it. Once the leaves were dry, I cut them up in small bite size pieces, tossed in a bowl, and had Caleb sprinkle a little olive oil and a pinch of sea salt over the greens. He mixed with wood spoons, then helped me spread the kale over a tinfoil-lined baking sheet. We put the pan in the oven at 350F for about 15-20 minutes. I kept tossing them around with a spatula until they started to look crisp and ever-so-slightly browned.
Once done, I put the oven-baked kale chips onto a plate and served them at dinner, along with pot-stickers (I was tired…it was a long day)! Caleb was sitting to one side of me, just gobbling down his pot-stickers and kale chips as if he had them all the time. I turned to Sadie, feeling very unsure about what was to come. I handed her a small batch of kale chips…fully expecting them to become ‘floor fertilizer’ any minute. She touched them. She picked them up. She put them in her mouth! She was eating them! And the crowd goes wild!!!
What I love about these kale chips is that to the kids, they’re just tasty…salty and crunchy. What they don’t realize is that kale is a powerful antioxidant, packed full of beta carotene, Vitamins C & K, and calcium. Now, that’s a ‘power veggie’! Awesome that I can pull a fast-one on my kiddos and slip in a bunch of important nutrients into their diet, while they’re innocently munching away on their favorite new snack. I especially love that a quick cooking project for Caleb and Mom, at the end of a long day, turned into an important food discovery….Sadie will eat greens!
i will be trying this over the weekend for sure!!! sadie sounds just like evan. evan eats tomatoes 10% of the time i give them to him. he eats all other vegetables 0% of the time i give them to him. and this mom is just not happy if my kids aren’t eating their veggies. so i will try this. my guess is that he won’t eat it either but i will not give up. one day he will eat veggies and like them!
p.s. i of course love the pic of sadie eating her greens but i especially love the super cute one of caleb. he looks so proud of his kale!
I’m curious how it turns out for you guys. Btw, I tried to store the kale chips in a zip lock and that didn’t go so well. Try using a Tupperware container and let me know if they stay crisp. I’ll have to re-heat ours.
I’ve been meaning to try kale chips for ages…you’re inspiring me to actually give it a go! Given how the kids adore roasted seaweed, I’m sure they will like these too!
They were surprisingly good and so easy to prepare. I liked how nutty / earthy they tasted without being bitter. Reminded me of seaweed.
I feel so proud to have inspired you to try this…ME, of all people….the Goddess of “I don’t cook.” So glad it worked out!
You totally gave me the idea yesterday. It didn’t occur to me when we were talking that I had kale in my fridge. Thanks for the inspiration oh Goddess of many other things!
I belong to a food coop also and we got ‘dinosaur’ kale this week. Cousin Toby also gave me the ‘chip’ recipe. however, because of the heat i don’t want to turn on the oven. i have been anxious to try it also. love the photos of Sadie eating the chips and Caleb holding the leaves up. I was amazed at how big the leaves are. You are such an inspiration. love and hugs,
charna
Make sun chips! Toss in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, then leave outside all day on a pan. Who knows…maybe you’ll start a new mid-summer trend!
Way to go, Anya & Caleb (and Sadie)!
Enjoy your veggies.
Love,
Cousin Steve (formerly picky eating kid)
Congratulations!! I can only imagine how thrilled you must have been when she ate those! We’ll definitely be trying this soon. I’ve had kale chips at parties and always assumed they were hard to make. Thanks for breaking it down.
We also have a kale smoothie that is a big favorite in our house. Jonah calls it “green drink.” 3 leaves of kale, stems and all, 1 cup – 1 1/2 cup Almond or Soy or whatever milk, 1 banana, some ground flax seed. And I add spirulina sometimes. And if its not sweet enough for you, you can add some honey or agave or sweetener to taste. Make sure to blend it for a long time, to get it as smooth as possible. Let me know if you have Sadie success with this one!
Thanks for the congrats and the smoothie inspiration! I will most definitley give it a whirl!