Chips to the Rescue

In my house we eat a lot of greens. My personal favorite is kale but I don’t discriminate. We love all species of kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, beet greens, spinach. You name it we probably love it. They’re easy to make, can be tossed into soups, stews, eggs, casseroles and just about anything else you can think of. One of Annabelles first foods was kale pureed with breast milk.

Every once in a while Annabelle will let me spoon feed her but mostly she likes to pick up her own food now. Since I make one meal for the whole family I was at a loss about what to do for our greens. I was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to chew them down enough or that if I balled them up they would unravel  so instead I’d make another vegetable every time I made a leafy green so that she could have something as finger food. Until last night.

I recently picked up my first share from my local CSA and we got a bunch of turnips. Since I’m a leafy green fanatic the turnip tops were the first to go and I didn’t want to make another veggie that night because it was late and I didn’t have anything cleaned and prepped (bad planning I know). And then it hit me… kale chips! I love making kale chips. They become paper thin and almost dissolve in your mouth. Surely Annabelle would be able to eat Kale chips as long as they were crunchy enough. Surely you can substitute another leafy green for kale. Yes! They were delicious, Annabelle loved picking them up and eating them and we both got a good share of greens without pureeing or worrying about a choking baby!

They are soooo simple to make:

1 bunch greens (I’m not sure how spinach would work but any other type of leafy green is great)

1/2 tbsp. olive oil or avocado oil

Sea salt to taste

Wash your greens thoroughly, dry them well. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Toss well and then spread them on a cookie sheet in an even layer and bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes depending on how crispy you want them. Sometimes I grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top before putting them in the oven.