RECIPE: How to Make Kale Chips

We love to garden over here at the Smashed Peas household and this past spring we decided to grow all our plants from heirloom seeds (we flip back and forth with organic seedlings every other year).  With the cooler temps at the end of spring and the beginning of summer plus with all the rain we received in Chicago our garden is literally exploding! Our leafy green beds are absolutely crazy, we can eat a large salad at least 3x a day...but we don't cause that's a little cray-cray so we share our bounty with our friends and neighbors :-)

One of our favorite leafy greens is Kale...we always plant kale in our garden! We love it as there are so many options for using it plus it is a superfood so it's really good for you. 

We love making Kale chips, they are sooo easy and sooo tasty.  They are the perfect quick snack...and healthy to boot and are a great replacement for other less healthy salty snacks!  I will say that once you bake your Kale the chips are very thin and crisp...so beware of that, there is not a lot of thickness to them but the flavor is amazing!

Here's my super easy and super fast Kale chips recipe for y'all...give them a try, you won't be sorry!

Kale Chips

bowl full of Kale, washed and dried

extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil

salt and pepper to taste

herbs or spices of your choice (red pepper flakes, curry, etc)

freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese or other favorite cheese

Once your Kale is washed and dried, lay it leaf by leaf onto a rimmed baking sheet.  Spritz the leaves with extra virgin olive oil or liquid coconut oil (not solid!) and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.  You may also add red pepper flakes, curry, or other spices and herbs you enjoy.  Freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese is also delicious melted on top! Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Check out all that leafy green Kale goodness! I love how pretty and green it is!

Rinse your Kale in a bowl full of fresh water and place in a salad spinner to spin dry.  If you are picking your Kale straight out of your garden take extra care to make sure you get any bugs off of the leaves while rinsing.  Yes, that is one of the downfalls of a garden...bugs!!  It totally grossed me out the very first time I ever picked my own lettuce but really just rinse it off and spin it dry...so easy and not that bad to deal with, I swear! Otherwise if you bought your kale in a bag pre-washed then you can just skip this step if you want.

Place your dried leaves on a rimmed baking sheet and spritz with EVOO or coconut oil in the liquid state.  If you have an oil mister this would be the perfect place to use it! Then sprinkle on some salt and pepper...or other dried herbs and spices...or even cheese...I love Kale chips with bubbling cheese on top!

Mmm...looks soooo good!

Okay, when you are done bake that lovely green goodness at 325 for anywhere from 10-15 minutes.

The color changes slightly but not to worry the taste is divine!  Like a crisp salty chip...nom!

My husband and I love red pepper flakes on ours...it brings the heat and a runny nose but dang they are sooo good!

If you've never tried Kale Chips I highly recommend you give them a whirl.  They are a great healthy snack and really do not take long to make at all!  They are a great alternative to chips if you are the kinda person who likes a salty snack every now and then!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Paleo Pudding Pops

The other day I was thinking about Pudding Pops, remember those?  Those awesomely delicious pudding pops hawked by Mr. Bill Cosby himself, oh the commercials! Can you hear him saying it now...."Pudding Pops!" with that weird sort of T-rex arm dance he would do, ha!  Loved it!

It's sad to think that they no longer make them. I really liked them.  It's also sad to think that my kids won't ever get the opportunity to enjoy them...do they make an app for that?

So I set off to my kitchen to make me (ahem, them) some but thought a healthier version might be a nicer touch.  I ended up taking my favorite Paleo chocolate pudding recipe (minus the avocado since for some reason frozen avocado grosses me out...helloo it turns all nasty brown!) and voila, Paleo Pudding Pops were born! And they are still nice and creamy even without the avocado, hooray!

Paleo Pudding Pops (makes 7 medium sized pops)

1 can FULL fat coconut milk

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl with a whisk and pour into popsicle molds allowing room in each mold for expansion during freezing.  Freeze for minimum of 5 hours.  Run molds under warm water to loosen pudding pops and enjoy!

Simple simon met a pie man...okay, maybe a pudding man. Truth.  All you need are four simple ingredients to make these nostalgic pudding pops, holla!

In a medium sized bowl whisk together one can of FULL fat coconut milk (please use FULL fat!! If you use lite your pudding pops will not be as creamy. You need the fat, plus it's good fat so it's good for you!), 2 Tbsp of Cocoa powder, 2 Tbsp of pure maple syrup, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

Pour the pudding mixture into your molds...

 Leaving room at the top for expansion once frozen!

Place the caps or wooden sticks in and freeze for a minimum of 5 hours.

Once your pudding pops are nice and frozen, run warm tap water over the base of the pops until they are loose enough to pop out.  You can also fill a large container with warm water and set the mold in it to thaw the pops that way.

Mmmm! And there you have it...Paleo Pudding Pops...healthy and DEEEE-LICIOUS!

 Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Paleo Chocolate Syrup

Summer is officially here for us in the Smashed Peas household.  Noah had his very last day of Kindergarten earlier this week...a real-live first grader he is now....sigh. He's all, "whatev mom", first grade schmirst grade and I'm all, "Nooooooo!" Why do they have to grow up?

And what is summer without eating popsicles or ice cream sundaes outside on a hot day and then washing off the sticky mess in the sprinklers. I say, it's not summer without some sort of sticky hot mess happening...ice cream?  bubbles?  s'mores? Yeah, they're all hot messes in my book.

So to celebrate the beginning of summer we invited a bunch of our sweet little friends over to enjoy an Ice Cream Sundae Party...yahooo!  Ice cream = Summer!!!!  

And of course every sundae needs some chocolate syrup, right?

This is my go-to recipe for a healthy Paleo-friendly version of it that tastes just like the real high fructose corn syrup thing :-) It's great for making chocolate milk too!

Paleo Chocolate Syrup

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup water

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk the cocoa powder and water together over medium-high heat until boiling.  Add the maple syrup, sea salt, and vanilla to the cocoa mixture and whisk together over medium heat. Once the mixture boils, allow it to simmer for another 4 minutes to thicken up some, stirring often. Then take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before pouring into a mason jar. Refrigerate the chocolate syrup.  Should stay fresh for up to 4 weeks.

Ahhh. Simple ingredients....who knew this is all you need to make chocolate syrup!

First, mix the water and cocoa powder together until it boils.  Then add in the maple syrup, sea salt, and vanilla.  Whisk often and let the mixture come to a boil.  Let boil for about 4 minutes to thicken some....remember this is a syrup (think Hershey's chocolate syrup!) and NOT hot fudge so it will still be somewhat liquidy!!

Take the syrup off the heat and let cool for about 5-10 minutes. Then pour that delicious syrup into a jar of your choice to keep in the refrigerator.

And when you taste buds fancy something a little naughty yet healthy you can take that jar o'delicious paleo-friendly chocolate sauce and let your coconut milk ice cream swim in it :-)

 Pool of chocolate syrup, anyone?

Enjoy!!

And thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Balsamic Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

I know, I know this recipe is nothing new, I mean everything seems to be wrapped in bacon these days. But can I tell you that I have had similar "bacon wrapped date" recipes (even stuffed with blue cheese or goat cheese and those are really good too) but what takes these Bacon Wrapped Dates to the next level is the Balsamic Vinegar...it makes them over the top awesome! Clif and I were out on a date a week or so ago and I had a similar version at the restaurant where we ate dinner...WOWIE ZOWIE, they were so good.  

So good, of course, that I have been eating them almost everyday since.  They really are the perfect lunch-y dinner-y food.  

Dates are good for you and bacon, if you get the good, uncured, no-nitrate kind is pretty good for you too! The perfect Paleo meal if I do say so myself!

So let's make a few shall we?

Balsamic Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

16 Pitted dates

4 slices of thick bacon (uncured, no nitrates is best!)

Balsamic vinegar

Cut bacon into 4 pieces each.  Wrap one piece of bacon around a pitted date and pierce with a toothpick to hold it in place.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, rotating the bacon and splashing each piece with balsamic vinegar halfway through cooking time.  Splash more balsamic over bacon wrapped dated and enjoy!

Yum, dates!  I could eat a whole bag of these, anyone else...Bueller? :-)

We love this bacon at our house.  It's nice and thick too.  If you happen to have thin or smaller slices of bacon you may just want to cut each piece in half...do whatever works to get it wrapped around that date!

Ahh, this is where the money happens, folks!  The Balsamic Vinegar brings this basic recipe to a whole new GLORIOUS level of taste bud happiness.

Alright, so here we go.

Slice bacon. Wrap around date. Pierce with toothpick...BOOM!  Easy, right?

 Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then flip over.

 Then splash with the balsamic vinegar and bake for an additional 5-ish minutes.

 Ahh, can ya smell the goodness?

Before you eat (or serve to guests) splash with a whole bunch more balsamic vinegar...trust me, it's awesome!

There ya go!  Lunch for this weekend? Or dinner, perhaps?

Enjoy!

And thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,