The beginning of fall means just that: the beginning of fall. Long gone are those sweltering summer days where I’d step outside and suddenly feel like Olaf in that scene from Frozen where he stands in front of the fireplace a little too long. Instead, I can finally preheat my oven without feeling guilty about the escaped heat raising the house’s temperature a few degrees.

For me, fall also means the end of boardwalk ice creams, late night pizzas and greasy, irresistible funnel cakes that symbolize summer. Although I soak up summer’s fresh veggies for all they’re worth, it’s impossible to go an entire weekend in a beach town without cheating the healthy eating juuust a little.

It’s that time of year where I get back on track with the healthy eating. Yes, cheat days are still a thing. If you check my last post, you’ll realize those are the days I look forward to the most. But in between cheat days, I cook up healthy snacks and meals that are full of flavor without being full of guilt. Hence this recipe. I was looking for the crunch of a potato chip minus the somewhat-nauseating nutrition facts. Low and behold, my version of the kale chip was born. Crispy, crunchy, and full of flavor.

Ingredients:

Head of Kale

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 300. Wash kale and separate kale leaves from stems in potato-chip-sized pieces. Place in a large bowl. Combine olive oil, pepper and garlic powder in a small bowl. Drizzle olive oil mixture over kale leaves and mix with your hands so olive oil fully covers the leaves. Spread out onto a baking sheet; make sure not to put any pieces of kale on top of each other. Bake 10 minutes, then flip and bake an additional 5-7 minutes (check after 5 minutes to make sure leaves aren’t getting brown). Transfer to a plate and serve.