Making Kale and Okra Chips

Dehydrated foods are still considered raw as the dehydration process does not kill the living properties of the food. And they taste wonderful. I have always been a big snacker and like to keep kale chips and dehydrated crackers on hand. Helps keep me from reaching for the bad things. They are more filling and don't cause the bad cravings that eating other snack foods do.

There are many ways to make kale chips and many recipes. This just happens to be one I like.

Dino Kale

I am not sure I even knew the word kale before I began adding raw foods to my diet. I usually use curly kale but this looked rally good in the organic produce section of Whole Foods. Kale is great in salads and absorbs toxins in the body. I am sure the best way to eat it is just like it is but today these lovely leaves are getting coated in a tasty sauce and going in the dehydrator.

I love the way water droplets look on the kale - like crystals. Prettier in person than in this picture. Some of the fun in preparing raw food recipes is taking time to notice the color, smell, texture and nice surprises like the way water looks on kale when washing it.

Remove the stems from kale because they are tough and can get very sharp when dehydrated and can hurt to eat it. I put the stems aside and will juice them later.

Fresh Organic Okra - sooooo good! 

I confess, I ate a few of these while I was preparing the kale. I am not doing a thing to these - just throwing some of them on the dehydrator and keeping some out for salad later.

I found these raw cashews at Farmers Market. I soaked them and let them dry out a bit. Nuts and seeds have enzyme inhibitors and you need to soak them. This starts the germination process and makes them much better for you. Do some research before preparing nuts and seeds. It is fun to find out more about the food we put in our body and it is important to find out the proper way to prepare food in order to get the most benefit for our bodies. Cashews can get slimy if soaked too long and can taste nasty if dried too long. A lot of this is trial and error. These taste amazing so I must have done it right.

If you don't tolerate nuts well or are allergic you can substitute raw zucchini. I rarely use nuts and seeds in my foods but on occasion they are a nice and filling treat. I typically make this recipe with raw zucchini instead of cashews. I have found that zucchini can be a good base for a lot of dips and fillings in raw food dishes. They are bland so they take on the flavors of the food and add good texture. They are good for you and not that expensive when buying organic.

Put the cashews in a food processor until they are chopped fine - I used about a cup. I don't really measure anything and just add ingredients until it looks and tastes good.

One medium size red bell pepper - add to the cashews and blend until smooth. You may need to add a bit of filtered or spring water to the mix.

I add about a tablespoon of Nutritional Yeast - it has a cheesy taste.

Now add other ingredients:

Finely chopped onion

Garlic

Chipotle Seasoning - taste as you add as this can get a bit spicy

1/2 lemon - juice only

Himalayan Sea Salt - great mineral properties

And anything else you would like.

Remember to taste test as you go but try not to eat it all before you put it on the kale.

This is what I ended up with and I scooped some out for dipping veggies later.

Now mix it into your kale (by hand works best) - when it looks really messy it is ready to be placed on the dehydrator trays.

Make a lot because they will shrink quite a bit.

I added okra to the top tray.

This will take quite a while in my dehydrator because it is old. Time varies depending on your dehydrator and if you don't have one you can make these in the oven. Just put them on a cookie sheet and set the oven on 150 or lowest setting. Time will depend on your oven. I have never made them this way so you will need to do some research to find out how long to bake them. They are not exactly raw when oven baked but still way better for you than a bag of potato chips and they'll taste great no matter how you make them. When they are nice and crisp they are done.

Here they are!

Some chips will be ready before others so make sure you check them as they are dehydrating. This is the first batch to come out of the dehydrator and they are so good and perfectly crisp.

If you have a kale chip recipe you would like to share, I would love to hear about it.