How to Make...Kale Chips (4 Easy Steps to Delicious Kale Chips)

I love kale. Kale is amazing. It's delicious. It's guilt-free. It's just an incredible vegetable that is so versatile and probably one of the healthiest leafy greens you can add to your diet. 

For those of you who have no idea what the heck kale even is, here's a definition:
Kale is a vegetable closely related to the wild cabbage and can be in the form of green or purple leaves. The leaves are thick, textured, and perfect for eating raw or cooking. Kale is being called "the queen of greens" due to its powerhouse nutritional benefits.

You can get kale at any supermarket or local farmer's market but I find that the best kale always come from local farmer's market. They're also usually half the price so why not support your local farmers? :)

Look for thick textured leaves vibrant in colour. If it feels limp or looks like it's yellowing on the edges, leave it.

Here are four steps to easy peasy homemade kale chips!

1) Wash your kale leaves thoroughly in cold water. Make sure you hit all the areas between the leafy edges where dirt can hide.

2) Remove the leaves from the stem by holding the end of the stem with one hand and pushing the leaves outwards with your other hand. You should be able to slide the leaves off pretty easily using this method. 

Tear the leaves into bite size pieces and dry them with a paper towel. Remember, they will shrink in the oven so don't make them *tiny*.

3) Pour a bit of extra virgin olive oil to the leaves (about 1-2 tablespooon) and MASSAGE them into the leaves. This part is so important because you want each leaf to be covered in a thin film of oil. This will not only ensure crisp kale chips but will also help the spices stick.

Rub it in gooood. :) Next, crack salt and pepper and give it a good shimmy.

 4) Preheat the oven to 300F and bake for 10 minutes. You want it at a low heat like 300F so it doesn't burn the chips and make them bitter. After 10 minutes, take it out, reassess, and flip the leaves if some look like their are crispier than others. I usually do it for another 5-10 minutes and it's done!

The final product! It's so delicious and if you ask me, it can curb any salty late night craving. You can either make these in a small conventional oven like me or a regular large one with a full size baking sheet.

I will now leave you with some health benefits of kale chips (as if you need any more reason to make them)

1) Kale is low in calories, high in fiber, and has zero fat

2) Kale is high in iron, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and Vitamin A

3) Kale has powerful antioxidants such as carotenoids and flavonoids to help protect against various cancers

4) Kale is high in calcium

5) Kale can be a great detox food due to its high fiber and sulfur content (keeps your liver healthy!)

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! 

Other popular healthy recipes:

• Healthy Banana Bread Recipe here
• Berry Greek Yogurt Recipe here
• Apple Pie Baked in Apple Recipe here
• Mango and Avocado Quinoa Salad with Blackened Shrimp Recipe here

Happy Eating!

 

courtesy of www.quickmeme.com

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Caulifredo Sauce with Zucchini Pasta Recipe

Everybody nowadays wants to eat a healthier diet with more vegetables, more lean protein, less fat, less calories, and to be frankly honest, I'm one of them. I always scrounge the internet looking for healthy recipes I can make at home for a low cost and I recently found one which seemed super interesting! 

It's a healthy take on the classic Alfredo Sauce which is typically made with butter, flour, cream, and milk, served over pasta. This healthier version is called Caulifredo Sauce which is made of.. guess what, pureed Cauliflower!! To take the health factor up a notch, I decided to serve it over zucchini pasta instead of regular wheat pasta.

Caulifredo Sauce with Zucchini Pasta  (Serves 2-4)

(low in carbohydrates, fat,and calories/ high in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, folate)

Ingredients:

1/2 large head of cauliflower, cut into chunks

4 small or 2 large turkey sausages

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella 

3-4 garlic cloves

1 cup of milk

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp olive oil

2 medium zucchini

1 vegetable peeler (that has the options of making twirls and spaghetti strips)

1) First, use your vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into either long linguine style strips or thin spaghetti like strips.

My vegetable peeler had the option of making it into really thing strips so I went with that because it most resembled 'real spaghetti'.

Once you've finished peeling all the zucchini, set it aside. Doesn't it look gorgeous?!

2) Mince garlic and chop cauliflower into smaller florets.

3) In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat and throw in the garlic. Let the garlic release its aromatics and turn slightly brown.

4) Add soy milk, salt, and cauliflower. Add mozzarella and stir throughly.

5) You can omit this if you want a vegetarian dish, but I oven baked some turkey sausages and sliced it up.

6) Be careful not to overheat your milk or else it will curdle!! Cook for about 15 minutes or until cauliflower can be pierced easily with a fork.

7) To cook your 'pasta', blanch the zucchini linguine in hot boiling water for 2-3 minutes to soften it.

8) Turn off the heat and let the cauliflower mixture sit for 10 minutes to cool down. Then toss the mixture into a blender and blend away!

There you have it, Cauli-fredo sauce over zucchini pasta!

This is an extremely healthy and easy recipe to make at home with very little ingredients required. Because I only used a little bit of salt, it tasted a bit bland so for you guys I suggest throwing in some spices before blending it to give it more flavour. OR.. throw in half a cup of delicious Parmesan to make it extra CHEESYY.

All in all, worth a try if you're looking for a healthy alternative to butter based cream and white pasta. :) Let me know how yours turns out!

Happy Eating!

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Sushi Han (Richmond) - Small Family Owned Restaurant

I've lived in Richmond all my life and for some odd reason, I've never been to Sushi Han, the incredibly popular (by word of mouth) family-owned Japanese joint on No.2 and Blundell. 

My friend Misu decided on this restaurant so Nature Girl and I met up with her here. She's been here apparently over 20 times cause it's her favourite go-to Japanese place.

They used to be located in another area of the strip mall but have recently moved during all the renovation going on. They are next to BMO and Cobs Bread.

Based on Misu, this new location is a lot more spacious and comfortable to sit in now. I did notice a very family vibe going on that I really liked. Not a hint of pretentiousness here.

 Nature Girl chose the 1/2 Order Salmon Sashimi ($5.00) and we were surprised to see a lean deep red cut as opposed to 'normal' farmed sashimi that has a lighter colour and fattier texture. This was definitely wild sockeye salmon. Giant thumbs up on quality.

Based on Misu's recommendation, we both ordered the Seafood Salad ($8.95) which consisted of baby shrimp, wild sockeye salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, raw scallops, and greens with a wasabi dressing.

I gotta say... this was incredible. I can easily order this every time I come. You might think raw seafood on lettuce is a weird combination, but it totally works when mixed with the wasabi dressing. It is super refreshing and light on the carbs which is great if you're trying to eat clean.

The Unagi Don ($10.95) looked pretty delicious but it's the typical packaged teriyaki unagi on Japanese rice.

We all shared the Assorted Tempura ($9.95) which came with three shrimps, mushroom, pepper, zucchini, yam, and carrot. The batter wasn't too thick and it was freshly fried.

Overall, I had a fantastic time at Sushi Han and I will definitely be coming back. I like the concept of supporting local businesses so I'm also uber happy about the fact that they're a family-owned establishment. Their prices are reasonable, the quality of their food was surprisingly high, so all in all, its a great place for Japanese eats in Richmond.

Service Rating: 4.5/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!

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Mango and Avocado Quinoa Salad with Blackened Shrimp Recipe

Since I am currently on my Wild Rose Detox, I figured I should reflect this on my blog via this healthy recipe I made recently for my Christmas party potluck. This recipe came from a blog called 'Daily Crave' and I loved it because it combined my favourite ingredients, mango, avocado, and shrimp together!

Quinoa is a complete protein and a super grain/seed which is rare in the plant world. It also provides calcium, iron, magnesium and cooper, as well as fiber. I like to cook it in chicken broth to give it more flavour and stir it into soups, chilis, stews, or eat them like rice with a side of veggies and chicken perhaps. I bought my quinoa from Costco (check out my US healthy grocery shopping trip post).

Mango and Avocado Quinoa Salad with Blackened Shrimp

(makes 2-3 servings, gluten free,  low fat)

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups chicken stock

pinch of salt

1 large mango, pitted and diced

1 large avocado, pitted and diced

handful of cilantro

freshly squeezed lime juice

1-2 tbs of olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

Blackened Shrimp

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and devained

blackening or cajun seasoning

salt

2 tbs olive oil

1. Add quinoa, chicken stock, and a pinch of salt to a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil and then cover with a lid and turn the heat down. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Alternatively, you can use a rice cooker as the water to quinoa ratio is the same as rice.

2. For the shrimp, place all of the shrimp in a large ziplock bag and add a drizzle of olive oil. Shake and coat completely. Then add your blackening seasoning (you can easily make your own if you can't buy it in stores) and shake the bag again to distribute the seasoning evenly.

3.Heat a tbsp of olive oil to a medium-high heat pan. Cook shrimp on each side for a couple minutes, or until they turn pink. Once the exterior is pink, remove from heat completely. Make sure to not overcook the shrimp.

4. Mix the cooked quinoa with the remaining ingredients, season wtih salt and pepper and serve with the shrimp and fresh cilantro garnish.

If you want to see the original recipe, click here.

This dish was a hit with everyone at the potluck so do yourself a favour and try out this recipe for your next potluck. :D People will love you for bringing such a healthy yet delicious dish! I will definitely be making this again once summer rolls around.

Happy Eating!


courtesy of http://www.eatingwithkirby.com/2012/11/healthy-avocado-smoothie-recipe.html

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Sweet Chili Tuna Avocado Salad Recipe

I recently saw a salad recipe on bodyrock.tv called "Chunky Light Salad" which contains tuna, kidney beans, avocado, feta cheese, apples...etc and it inspired me to create a salad similar to the ingredients used in their recipe. I wanted to make a salad that included less ingredients so I came up with this! It is called Sweet Chili Tuna Avocado Salad.

This salad is super duper easy to make and it is absolutely delicious!! Even Meta Knight was surprised at how good it tasted. :) All you need are three ingredients. A ripe avocado (but not too ripe where it just turns to mush), one or two (I used two) cans of Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna in "Spicy Thai Chili", and a few handfuls of spinach.

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