Baked Chipotle Kale Chips

When my husband and I decided a little more than a year ago to be mostly vegetarian, our first thoughts were similar to that of many people’s reactions:

“But how can you live on just vegetables?”

“Where do you get all your vitamins?”

“Isn’t it boring to not eat meat?”

Thankfully, we’ve been able to answer those questions both for ourselves and for others on a positive note. But it wasn’t always that way. Admittedly, at first, neither of us was too keen on eating non-meat foods like meatless burgers and tofu. And secondly, we weren’t ready to be courageous enough and try foreign foods (to us) like rainbow chard and quinoa and kale. But when you need to eat and meat isn’t always an option, well, you have to get creative.

One of the many recipes we’ve come to enjoy in the past year is these Baked Chipotle Kale Chips. When I tried kale for the first time, I thought it was disgusting. Green, leafy vegetables, though healthy, are not always my friend. Give me spinach any day – but kale? I’ll pass.

Unless it’s covered in sea salt, olive oil and a hint of spicy chipotle chili pepper, like these crispy homemade chips. Something about adding those ingredients to the mix and baking the kale until it has a crunchy texture, to me, completely changes the taste of the vegetable. You no longer feel like you have to eat kale, but you actually want to eat it. Plus, it’s healthy, so that’s a bonus.

Don’t think these chips will completely replace your affinity for potato chips – as we quickly learned, though in an ideal world we’d love to eat kale chips all day long instead of greasy potato chips, they’re just not the same thing. However, when you need to have your daily dose of leafy greens but can’t stand the thought of eating them raw, try these. It’s a great way to get your vitamins without feeling like you have to force them down.

Stephanie (aka Girl Versus Dough) joined Tablespoon to share her adventures in the kitchen. Check out Stephanie’s Tablespoon member profile and keep checking back for her own personal recipes on Tablespoon!