Kale Chips In The Oven Recipe

So, I picked some heirloom kale from my garden and decided to make some kale chips. Was going to use my new dehydrator, but it died on me. I am flustered and sad. Hoping to find a repair person in Austin to fix it. Anyway, I thought to try and dry them in my oven and this is how I made Kale chips in my oven.

Get a large bowl and put all the Kale's leafy parts and not the stems into the bowl. Try making them bite size. Then I pour a little olive oil in. Sometimes I put to much or to little. It is always a challenge. Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder (opt.)  and some Brewers yeast (opt. to) mix with a hand until well blended and place on parchment paper or baking mat on a cooking sheet.

Turn your oven on to lowest setting. Mine is 170 F. Put your baking sheet or sheets of prepared Kale  in and on the racks. I turned my largest bake sheet side ways to block part of the oven door to have it not close all the way. I would say it was cracked open about an inch or two. My oven will not stay a little open on it's own. If yours will than doing that is a good idea, so not to over heat the food drying.

I baked/dried my Kale until the food was dry. I would check every 30-1 hour. It took about 2 hours.
They are very green and turned out great. Will remember to do this if I need to in the future.

Brussel Sprouts Sauted Recipe

Before this day I had never cooked or eaten Brussel Sprouts. They have a bad rap for being gross. I decided to grow some this winter. I thought, "What do I have to lose". Nothing. My garden is not the greatest soil. Hoping to remedy that this year. So my sprouts are growing slow and small. That is fine. I picked a few and cooked them as:

Ingredients:

A handful of sprouts per person. (one for me only) Cut them in half.
Some olive oil
salt
garlic powder
2-3 dried Italian sweet peppers. (Optional)

Simple and quick. Just pull out a fry pan and add 1-2 T. oil. Heat pan and add Sprouts cut side down. Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Saute on medium for about 3-4 minutes. Add dried sweet peppers if using. Flip the sprouts on their rounded side and stir all a bit for about 3 more minutes. Put onto plate and serve.

I was amazed how good these are. Wish I had tried them years ago. They are delicate with a warm, soft, fresh, mild cabbage flavor. Not over powering. Just right. Try something new. You just might like it or even fall in love with it.

Pumpkin Scavange And Pumpkin Meat Info.

The day after Halloween I took my son to school and noticed Pumpkins still in the patch of the school/church area. Hmmm... I call the school directer and asked if I could take some. She said go ahead, but some one is coming to pick them up. I waited a bit to long and when I went there most had been picked up and scavenged already. It did seem that no one wanted the bumpy ones and I had read online that those were good. Lucky for me, I had bought some good heirloom ones at the pumpkin patch before Halloween.

All of the pumpkins are edible. Do not let anyone tell you any different. I have baked the dark green one here and it had tons of meat. Almost all of the inside is a "dark" orange meat. The skin bakes very soft to. When I dehydrated and blended for storage, I tried it in my pumpkin drink with chocolate and it was not good. Very strong taste, but I baked some Pumpkin muffins with it and they are heavenly. So, the green bumpy pumpkin is worth it's meat in the cash you pay for it and is only good for baked goods.

The grey pumpkin I have not baked and tasted yet. Will let you know asap. I did bake the orange bumpy ones.

Wish I had taken pictures of the green one. My bad. These orange bumpy ones do have a disadvantage. It is a tough outer skin. Sharpen your knife for these. Some had a lot of meat and others not so much, but over all a great pumpkin for eating like a sugar pie.

I took many pics of this one. Very impressive meat. the advantage of the tough skin is that it is easy to scrape out the meat after you have baked the pumpkin.

Baked pumpkin.

I must of had extra time this day.

Note: Pick a pumpkin that is heavy for it's size. Awesome meat.

Nice. The Jack-o-lantern pumpkins are yummy for all eat and drinking to. They are not as meaty as the bumpy ones can be. The ugliest ones have been the best and most meat. I did have some pumpkins I scavenged go bad. They were added to my compost for the garden. Do not take cracked or soft pumpkins. Even then there is a risk after a pumpkin has been sitting in the warm Texas sun with people bumping them around all month. And even if you do not scavenge the pumpkins, buying a few extra and baking them later is a fresh nutritious addition to your diet.

Do not forget the seeds. You can toast them to eat and or save some to grow more pumpkins yourself. I gave many toasted pumpkin seeds as gifts for the holiday.