With the cold weather winding down and spring just peeking around the corner, we found ourselves with an abundance of fresh, organic kale from our fabulous friends over at Big Lick Farm in Myrtle Creek. Just wanted to share with you a small briefing of how I set about keeping all this lovely kale from going bad and not having to eat kale day in and day out. I turned it into Cheezy Kale Chips, and if you try this recipe out, you'll find it is a delicious way to enjoy them.
In a blender, combine and blend until creamy:
1 cup raw cashews; soaked for at least two hours then drained and rinsed
1 organic red bell pepper; stem, seeds and inner membrane removed, then cut in chunks
2 Tbsp. fresh organic lemon juice
1/2 tsp. agave, opt.
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. Celtic sea salt
Place about 1/2 of the sauce mixture into a large bowl. Add to the bowl clean, rinsed and torn curly kale leaves with the stem removed. Gently massage the cream onto the leaves, coating each piece. You will want a light layer on the leaves, too much cream will overpower the flavor and it will take much longer to dehydrate. Repeat with remaining kale and sauce.
Lay the kale onto the flexible sheets of the dehydrator trays. Spread it out as much as possible. Don't worry if it's piled on a little, you'll be able to separate them when they've dried out some.
Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 4 1/2 hours or so. Check to see that they have dried out sufficiently to separate easily and replace them to the screen. Dehydrate another 4 1/2 hours more. Check for crunchiness and no bit of moisture. Dehydrate as long as is needed to achieve this texture.
If you are familiar with dehydrating foods, you know that once done, they have a tendency to become limp or stale when exposed to the air. It helps to preserve the quality by packing them in thick plastic pouches such as the ones for vacuum-sealing. Also place an oxygen absorber packet if you really want these to last. However, they are so good, they may not last very long anyway! Enjoy!
