Monday, May 24, 2010

Falafel Flavored Kale Chips


How is Monday treating everyone? My Monday has been gray but good. I got my exercise finished much earlier than usual this morning. It is amazing how much more time you have in your day when you do this. I am not a morning person but I am going to try to get back to early morning exercise. Only time will tell if this is actually possible for me. ;-)

This idea came for falafel flavored chips I sampled at our health food store about a month ago. They were quite tasty and I thought I know I can make a healthier version at home. Seeing the kale at the farmers’ market made me think kale would be a good vehicle to hold the seasonings. I used sesame seeds since tahini is so common in all Middle Eastern food. The flax was added so that the chips would get crispy. The verdict, they are the new favorite kale chip at our house. I hope you give these a try. Here is what I did:

Falafel Flavored Kale Chips
Makes 3 Man sized portions

Ingredients:

3 kale leaves (stems removed) torn into pieces approximately 2 inches by 2 inches
4 tablespoons sesame seeds (or the equivalent in tahini)
2 tablespoons flaxseeds
1 lime zested and juiced (optional you can use 1 tablespoons of water but the lime adds brightness)
7 tablespoons water
½ tablespoon cumin seeds
½ tablespoon coriander sees
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the sesame seeds, flaxseeds, lime zest and juice, water, cumin, coriander, and garlic in your blender. Process the mixture until it is completely smooth. You may need to add a little more of less water. The lime juice plus 7 tablespoons of water created a thick consistency that I thought was right for sticking to the kale leaves.

Pour the seed mixture into a bowl and add the kale and toss to coat. They are going to look like a gooey mess. Don’t worry the kale chips will get nice and crispy when dry.

Place the pieces of kale on top of the teflex sheets in a single layer. If you wish sprinkle them with sea salt and pepper and dehydrate at 105 degrees overnight. In the morning they will be crispy and crunchy and will be flavored like falafel.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 180.45
Calories From Fat (61%) - 109.34

Total Fat - 12.95g
Saturated Fat - 1.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 35.22mg
Potassium - 275.66mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.25g
Fiber - 5.26g
Sugar - 0.22g
Protein - 6.41g

Comments:

If you like regular kale chips these have better texture and flavor. They crunch more like a cracker. I love the flavor and aroma of these chips. They are a little high in calorie but the servings are big, about 2 cups a piece. The fact that they contain omega 3’s makes me very happy.

Each serving contains approximately 5,180IU of vitamin A, 45mg of vitamin C, 150mg of calcium, 275mcg of folate, 180mg of phosphorus, and 40mg of magnesium. Pretty amazing for something you have with your sandwich or salad. I am really pleased with this recipe.

Unrelated notes:

As usual my day hasn’t gone as planned. My friend Deirdre has something come up at work so we needed to cancel lunch today. Given our cool gray weather it was probably best that we had to reschedule. We were both hoping to go someplace downtown on the harbor and have an al fresco lunch. Today would not have been the best for that.

My afternoon is going to entail trying to get through the last few DVDs from the 2009 Nutrition Conference. The 2010 DVDs are available for sale now and I want to finish watching the 2009 ones before I order the next set.

I have a few things to get caught up at home. I will check in with you all tonight after dinner, if not sooner.

22 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Oh yummy. Those sound fantastic. How do you think they'd do in an oven on the lowest temp?

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  3. Heather,

    I have not tried that, but ... I think it should work. If you have a convection setting I would use that. Please let me know how it works in the oven.

    talk to you later,
    Ali

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  4. Oh my gosh do these sound amazing! I am printing this now to try. What a great idea!

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  5. Janet,

    Aww thanks! I was pretty happy with my creativity on this one. I hope you like them too! ;-)

    Ali

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  6. Rose,

    Thanks! I was quite pleased with this one. I only made a few yesterday so I need to make more tonight.

    talk to you soon,
    Ali

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  7. Tiffany,

    That was my thought exactly! I hope you enjoy them too.

    Alicia

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  8. Well done here! This sounds like a kale chip to get excited about. Next time I make a batch it will definitely be this one. I agree on the morning workouts, I love getting it out of the way early, but why does it have to be so hard to get up and get going?!

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  9. Sarah,

    Thanks, I hope you like them. If you want them crunchier, add more of the tahini and flax. Ours are almost gone already. I need to make more today. LOL

    I am guessing you are like me and aren't really a morning person. That makes early am exercise tough. Maybe one day I will like mornings, but probably not. ;-)

    talk to you later,
    Ali

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  10. I love kale chips SO much--I can't wait to give your version a try! Thanks for sharing :-)

    Courtney

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  11. Courtney,

    I was very pleased with these. I need to get more in the dehydrator. We only have two or three little pieces left. ;-) I think they are my best kale chips yet, and they are the first without oil. Not at all what I expected, much, much better!

    Alicia

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  12. Brandi,

    You need to try these. The disappeared rapidly here. I think they are my best kale chips yet. I think you will like them.

    talk to you soon,
    Ali

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  13. I'd forgotten about your falafel chips! I've never tried kale chips, but have sure seen a lot of people rave about them on various blogs and forums. But all the recipes I found called for oil, and I wasn't sure they'd turn out crispy without it. This recipe sounds great.. now I just need a food dehydrator! :-)

    I hope Heather will let us know how the conventional oven method works!

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  14. La,

    Same here, all the recipes for kale chips I saw had oil too. The tahini and flax worked great. They are crunchy and flavorful. If you coated them more thickly they would really be a great dipping subsitute. I had them for a snack, straight and with a salad. We really enjoyed them.

    My second batch came out of the dehydrator this morning. I do think they should work in the oven as long as you can set yours low enough 150 or less. My oven can be set to 105 which would be perfect though not necessary unless you want them to be raw.

    talk to you later,
    Ali

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  15. Ali, I had no idea how low my oven temp would go! So I just checked, and it's 110º. Sounds like I'm in business! :-)

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  16. La,

    Yay, it does sound like you are good to go and without a dehydrator!

    hugs,
    Ali

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  17. Just had kale chips a few days ago--wish I'd seen this recipe first! Looks great. :)

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  18. Ricki,

    I have another version of falafel chips planned for this weekend (hopefully). I was thinking I wanted to make something more "cracker like" but still include kale. We will see if it works, LOL.

    Ali

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  19. I know I'm a little (ok a lot) late on these but I just made a batch, put them in the oven and my house smells divine. I can't wait till they're done.

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  20. Shannon,

    I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. They are a cross between kale chips and flax crackers.

    have a good evening,
    Ali

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