Kale Chips

For a low-fat and unprocessed snack you can't go past Kale chips. Kale is so cheap and all you need is some olive oil and seasoning of your choice! These chips are seasoned with paprika, chilli flakes and salt. I make 2 oven trays at a time. You need space because the pieces shouldn't be touching one another. They do shrink though so you may think it looks like a lot, but it won't be in the end.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and grab a bunch of kale (about 250g)
2. Line oven trays with baking paper
3. Place the kale leaves (stems discarded) torn into bite size pieces into a large bowl
4. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil
5. Sprinkle with paprika
6. Sprinkle with chilli flakes (add more if you like your snacks hot)
7. Sprinkle with salt and toss the lot
8. Lay the leaves out onto oven trays so they don't overlap...the oil needs to dry the leaves so they go crispy
9. Cook for 15mins swapping trays around half way, or cook until they go crispy.

Banana and Kale Smoothie

I always thought smoothies consisted of fruit blended with milk. How wrong I was!!! You can add fruit AND vegetables to a smoothie and it doesn't even need milk.

I created this smoothie 6 days ago and have made it for breakfast EVERYDAY and am not bored with it. It's packed full of Vitamin B and Iron so give it a go - you will be pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana
• 6 green grapes
• 1 kale leaf (stem discarded)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon almond meal
• 1 cup cold water (refrigerated, not straight out of the tap)
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter

Method:

1. Add all ingredients to a blender, NutriBullet or Ninja - whichever you use for blending and blend... viola. How easy is that?
2. Drink up!

Delicious  XD

Lentil & Cauliflower Stew

Miss 17 and I watched a movie called Fork Over Knives. It's a movie about the benefits of eating a plant based diet and eliminating meat. It was very interesting and occasionally shocking. She has now decided she would like to become vegetarian. As she is still growing, her dad and I have agreed that we, as a family, will eat more vegetarian meals in support, but we won't eliminate meat totally. We will, however cut down our meat consumption. At present we eat meat 6 nights a week, so agree that we can cut down to two or three times a week.

Therefore Miss 17 went hunting for some more vegetarian dishes to try. And because I've recently bought a new slow cooker, I insisted that she find some slow cooker vego recipes too. This is the first one we came across.

Ingredients:

• 375 gram packet of dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 400g cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 2 leeks, white and green parts, halved, washed carefully and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 8 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups chopped kale

Optional toppings:
Greek yoghurt, crumbled fetta, graten parmesan, low-fat sour cream.

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the slow cooker, except the vegetable stock and tomatoes
2. In a large jug mix together the stock and tomatoes and pour gently into the slow cooker
3. Toss gently and cook on high for 4hrs or low for 8hrs
4. Serve topped with any of the optional toppings D-E-L-icious XD

Pasta with braised kale

Kale? Yes kale! Apparently kale is the new superfood It is similar to cabbage or spinach, but better tasting. Well thank goodness for that - I'm not particularly keen on spinach - unless it is in a pastry with ricotta ;)

This serves two and is perfect for lunch or as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• Pasta cooked as per packet instructions - use gluten free pasta if celiac
• 2 heads of kale, stalks removed and set aside
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• ¼ cup good quality olive oil
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• ¼ cup water

Method:

1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the fibrous stringy outer layer from the stems of the kale and discard
2. Chop the stems along with the kale leaves and place in a medium sized saucepan
3. Add the chopped onion, oil, paprika and water
4. Braise with the lid on over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30-40mins
5. Serve over cooked pasta. It's also nice served over chicken or pork too. D-E-L-icious  XD