Super Easy Kale Chips Recipe

Look at me, a regular blogger these days!  Well that's only because I have a lot to say and time to say it, which was sorely lacking last year.

First things first.  Last night I decided to try my hand at kale chips and a smoked salmon quiche. I pretty much did the same thing I did with the last quiche only with better evaporated milk (Carnation, not store brand).  I bought a smoked salmon fillet that was ready to eat...it tastes delicious either way and I was really proud/happy with the results.  The kale chips came out fantastically.  Here's all I used:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Wash the kale and dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Separate the leaves from the thick stem...trash the stem.  Place leaves in a big bowl (not pictured) and spray them liberally with the Pam Olive Oil cooking spray.  Massage them to make sure that the oil gets over every leaf.

Then shake as much of the seasonings on it that you can stand.  Beware, that creole seasoning has a real kick to it.  If you are watching your sodium intake, take it easy. 

Spread the kale out on your baking pan (I used a 16" round pizza pan, not pictured), making sure none of the leaves touch.  Bake for 10 minutes. 

Now here is what I learned from this experience.
1.   Kale chips are good.
2.   Kids love them.
3.   The raw kale tastes great with this olive oil/seasoning combination too.
4.   They do burn easy.  They are supposed to retain their green appearance.  I went overboard a few times
      and turned my dark green kale to olive green (which is burnt) but they still taste darn good. 
5.   They are very fragile.
6.    Did I mention kids love them?  Finally had to put my foot down on the fifth batch which I intended to
       take to work.

In a nutshell, Kale chips are really yummy.  I admit I was dubious when I saw them in the local natural food market last year.  I couldn't imagine them being tasty.  Now that I have tried them I can honestly say I am hooked. and I am too pleased I didn't have to shell out $7.99 - $9.99 a bag.  Kale costs $1.19 a bunch in these parts.  I also have a kale plant (and several broccoli plants) growing on my deck. 

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I discovered a website called www.giveit100.com.  Apparently, you make 10 second video clips of you practicing something every day for 100 days.  I chose to do this with my newest aspiration:  learning how to do a pull-up.  Laugh if you must, but I don't feel in the least bit bad I can't do one.  Apparently I am in good company, as 55% of the women in the Marines can't do the required three.  So my goal is to be able to do at least three (preferably more) within 100 days.  I added push-ups for good measure.  First Lady Michelle Obama can really go at those.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll have arms as enviable as hers if I master those too.  I know she can do at least 25...she challenged Jimmy Fallon and Ellen.  Well they challenged her and they both lost miserably.  I will update with my progress daily.  It will be every other day...I did pull-ups today so push-ups tomorrow.

My hubby has me doing them differently to start.  I lay down on the floor at the bar assist machine (that's not the name of it "officially" but it is the machine that helps you do your squat that you can adjust.  I lay down on the floor and attempt to pull myself up.  I do the motion twice and hold for three seconds on the last before slowly lowering myself to the floor.  I did eight reps today.  Those are TOUGH.  I know in another 99 days I'll be laughing at my weakness but for right now I am hurting.

Pescetarian for the New Year!

I decided to go pescetarian for the new year.  What's a pescetarian?  A vegetarian that also eats fish.  It's not too complicated.  I still eat eggs even though I don't eat chicken and I absolutely love cheese and still add milk/cream to my recipes...becoming vegan will be difficult so I'm taking baby steps.  I went vegan all at once back in 2012 and got sick, sick, SICK.  Seriously, I ended up with bronchitis which even with medicine, hardly cleared up until I started eating meat again.  I tried again...got bronchitis again.  Apparently my body was detoxing in overdrive because of my sudden switch so I'm going easy on myself this go around.

I discovered black bean burgers at Buffalo Wild Wings and they became an instant favorite.  Then disaster hit!  I ended up getting food poisoning at a local grocery store's deli (national chain that shall remain nameless).  I should have known better but I've had their tuna subs before.  This go around was probably as typical as you're going to get I suppose.  After almost 24 hours of waves of nausea not to mention the whole, "I can't keep water down" shtick, I went to the doctor who confirmed that I had gastroenteritis most likely caused by food poisoning and gave me some anti-nausea medicine, the kind that dissolve on your tongue as I couldn't drink water.  It worked.  I was finally able to eat, albeit it was cream of shrimp soup followed by two oranges.  I felt like I could fly over the moon after the oranges which let me know my blood sugar was especially low.  Today is the first day I could see my veins since last Thursday so I am confident I am sufficiently hydrated.

The good news is I lost some weight!  Prior to this I was trying out the whole eating within an 8 hour period, fasting 16 hours thing...almost two weeks and I lost 2 pounds.  Then the food poisoning.  I lost an additional two pounds.  I'm sitting at 156 even now.  I figure I will probably gain the last two pounds back but so far despite being back on my eating schedule, I seem to be holding steady.  My waist at the belly button went down 1 whole inch (31 now, woohoo!).  Yes I am celebrating a bit.  I am back to where I was (weight-wise) in May 2013.  My doctor was impressed with my weight loss from December 18th (when I went for the chest wall inflammation).  I lost six pounds according to her scale.

Well, what have I been doing lately?  I got back to the gym for the first time today!  I've been doing small workouts at home but it felt good to work up a sweat at the gym.  My husband wouldn't let me dive right in so we did some modified strength training to accommodate my inflammation issues and worked on stretching more.  He's also showing me the proper way to run by showing my the technique and form.  Apparently I'm a natural.

I've also been cooking.  Now generally I don't like to cook.  I do like to eat and I love good and beautiful food.  I'm also an artist so I should be able to do a little something but I like to keep things simple.  Steam, foil bake, boil...anything that doesn't fit within those confines remains uncooked.  Well becoming a pescetarian challenged my limited abilities.  First off, developing a love affair with black bean burgers meant shelling out $7.99 + tax to Buffalo Wild Wings ($3.73 with the $5 off survey coupon).  That just seems so fiscally irresponsible I just had to find a recipe.

The Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burger from Allrecipes.com is great easy and tastes DIVINE!  In my opinion when it is done fresh...not when it is reheated in a microwave as I am forced to do at work. 

So I am good for the week on that.  The recipe made five huge patties.  I bought some chipotle cheddar cheese (yes I know, terrible but I don't care...) to eat with them.

My Quiche...isn't it lovely?

Then I decided to make a quiche.  I LOVE QUICHE.  Emphasis on L-O-V-E.  The thing is I had never made it before.  This go around it was About.com to the rescue.  I was struggling with the whole "crust" thing when I noticed the low-carb option in google for a Crustless Quiche.  I bought some evaporated milk and a deep dish 9" pie pan along with some other niceties that I won't have to buy again for awhile and made a broccoli, spinach and cheese quiche.  I threw some diced onions and green peppers and blue cheese in for good measure.  I followed the recipe to the letter.  The results were simply divine.  The kids weren't thrilled and hubby didn't try it but who cares?  More for me.  Since quiche tastes good cold as well I don't have to do the whole "microwaving" thing.  I absolutely abhor microwaves but that's a post for another day.

What's my next recipe?  I'm thinking Kale chips :-). Or Zesty Kale Chips...  Oh and a Crustless Smoked Salmon Quiche...

Last thing...I can see my results!

August versus January

 The left picture was August 24, 2013.  The right picture was January 13, 2014.  I started working out in October.  That's roughly four months, 9 pounds and several inches.  Can you see the difference?  Even my face lost weight.  There's the case of the disappearing boobage but I guess that can't be helped as long as it is taking belly fat with it.  Now I need to work on muscle definition.

Remember back in October when I said I needed help giving up Zaxby's?  I haven't had Zaxby's in months!