I am like a kid with a new toy at the moment. I have a Dehydrator! Special mention to my friend Bron who picked it up at ALDI for me. This is a very basic dehydrator (it cost only $39.99), but I was keen to see if I would actually use a dehydrator and didn’t want to spend $100s on one in case I didn’t.
Kale Chips were the first things I cooked in it and I loved how easy the dehydrator was to use and how tasty the end product was. I have tried two different types of kale and two different seasonings – there are so many options really!
For the first batch of kale chips I used curly kale and a homemade pesto. This kale was easier to cut up than the Tuscan kale I used in the second batch.
Taking the time to spread the kale in single layers across the racks does take a little bit of time, but it is worth it!
The second batch I made were hot spicy chilli kale chips. These were my favourite out of the two.
Kept in air tight containers the kale chips stay fantastically crunchy.
- 2 packs curly kale
- ⅓ - ½ cup homemade or bought pesto (I used capsicum and cashew pesto)
- Wash, dry and de-stem kale.
- Place it in a large bowl and add pesto. Mix gently using your hands, so all leaves have some coating of the seasoning.
- Place kale in a single layer onto the racks.
- Set the temperature to 60 degrees and start dehydrating. Dehydrate for 10 hours.
- I moved the racks around once at about the 6 hour mark.
- Once they are cooked remove and store in an air tight container.
- 500 grams kale (Tuscan)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (liquid form)
- 1 tsp garlic dried
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- De-stem kale as needed and place in a large bowl
- Mix coconut oil, garlic, chilli and salt.
- Pour over the kale and mix gently with hands.
- Place on dehydrator racks in a single layer.
- Set temperature to 70 degrees for 1 hour.
- After an hour decrease the temperature to 60 degrees and dehydrate for a further 9 hours.
- I moved the racks around once at about the 6 hour mark.
- Once they are cooked remove and store in an air tight container.
I Am Taking Time Off
This year is a big year for us school wise. We have our youngest starting school, our daughter in grade five is changing schools and our second son is started secondary school.
One of my goals for this year is to Increase family harmony. For the first quarter of this year my key focus in regard to this is to settle the kids into the new school year.
I operate much better when I have main focus so I am taking the next month off to enjoy the last weeks of the school holidays and prepare us in a calm fashion for term one 2014.
There will still be regularly posting here from which I have scheduled and some fantastic guest posts as well on topics that are not my area of expertise which I am really looking forward to sharing. I have scheduled content for facebook and twitter too.
I am very much looking forward to the break, spending time away from the Macbook and reading lots of books!
Thank you for your support of the blog and I wish you a wonderful start to the 2014 school year!