Spring's Reward...Kale Chips! Weather rant plus Recipe

After working my tail off in the greenhouse and garden this morning, I picked a couple of handfuls of kale and decided to make Kale Chips. It stormed yesterday, pretty badly. Work was crazy trying to get all the plants out of harm's way. I came home last night to my greenhouse half collapsed. It really was too late to do anything with it, and i just hoped the storms were over for the night. They weren't, one more came through about midnight. I checked on the greenhouse first thing this morning and cried. The top was holding water and the south side had caved in badly enough that the wind knocked everything on that side over. All the little starts I had are now unlabeled, as they were scattered on the ground. Most of my very large Roma tomato plants were knocked over, bent or broken. I had to throw out several and am hoping the rest will perk back up. It's terribly windy today, so I don't know, but we'll see. I did plant 4 of them that seemed too wobbly to leave in their pots. I now have 3 very large buckets with Roma plants in them alongside my small raised bed.

I also took most of my herbs out of the greenhouse, at least the ones that are in large pots. I put them alongside my larger raised bed. I also moved Shannon's sunflowers out into the garden, too. She really doesn't do anything with them, and they're taking up a ton of space in the greenhouse. Several broke in the storm last night, and many no longer have labels because they were knocked around so much. I hope this weekend she decides to plant them.

Jason has decided it's time to reinvent the greenhouse. Basically we'll keep the cover and rebuild the base & walls much sturdier. I wish he'd done that right away, as this is about the 3rd time the stupid thing has collapsed. It wasn't worth the $99 I spent for it. It's been so disappointing. :( Hopefully the rebuild will last several years. Our goal is to eventually build a very, very large hoop house to grow our veggies & herbs in.

All this takes me back to the Kale Chips. While there was really not enough kale to make a whole recipe, I did want to have a few. Kale is about the only thing my son, Michael will eat that's green, other than lettuce. LOL! I found the recipe a year or two ago on www.grassfedgirl.com. It's a Paleo diet website. I did a little modifying of the recipe to make it my own, plus the fact that I don't want to buy the expensive seasoning that's called for. Here is my modified version, complete with pics. :)

2 bunches organic kale, large stems removed
2 Tbsp virgin coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp kale seasoning blend (or if you want to spend the money, Seasonello Herbal and Aromatic Salt...found on Amazon.com)

Preheat oven to 350F, Wash kale and dry thoroughly, tear into bite-sized pieces. Put kale in a bowl, drizzle oil over all, toss thoroughly with hands until all the kale is coated. Sprinkle seasoning over kale, toss again. Spread kale on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 10 min. Toss again and bake an additional 10 minutes (or less, depending on how dry it already is), until you can no longer see "shiny" oil on the kale pieces. Remove from oven and cool. Enjoy! Can also be put in a Ziploc baggie for storage when thoroughly cooled.

Note: Sometimes we leave the stems intact for a "handle". This is a very piddly amount of kale chips compared to what I normally make, but it's early spring yet, and the kale is just getting going.

Kale Seasoning: Equal parts of Sea salt (fine), dried Rosemary, dried garlic, dried sage & black pepper. Crush thoroughly with a mortar & pestle and put in a seasoning jar. I like to make a big jar of it at one time.

I have two kinds of kale big enough to pick right now, a total of three planted. The one on the right is Dwarf Siberian Kale, the one on the left is what I grew last year, has a great flavor...Russian Red or Ragged Jack Kale, and then the 3rd still in the garden is Lacinato (Italian) Kale. Can't wait til it's up!!!
I don't think the kale chips are going to survive til my kids get off the bus. I've already munched half of them down. :)