Sweet Potato & Kale Chips

I LOVE eating clean!! Makes me feel good, and I am passionate about making sure my family eats clean too (as much of the time as possible anyway).  I will eat clean food pretty much however it is prepared-  it’s amazing how clean eating makes you lose your taste for junk food.  It has been a little bit more of a challenge to find ways to prepare clean meals for Big Jon though. When we first started dating, he seriously lived off of fast food (all 3 meals a day) & Dr. Pepper. Bachin’ it to the max!! Amazing how things have changed. He likes to eat healthy now and always feels so much better when he is eating well. He likes healthy foods for the most part, although he doesn’t like tomatoes or onions, and leafy greens and sweet potatoes were pushing it. Recently I’ve been working on finding ways to prepare spinach, kale, and sweet potatoes so he would enjoy them because they are packed with nutrients I want him to get in his diet. Mission accomplished….FINALLY!!!

I do not like to spend lots of time cooking…I prefer quick, simple meals.  And I HATE to follow recipes! (I  seriously have to re-read it like 50 times and I usually still mess something up.) So I pretty much just wing it when it comes to cooking and throw things together in a way I think will taste good. Sometimes Jonathan grills meat for us and we will eat on it for a few days, & I’ll just prepare it different ways and with different sides- typically just throwing random things together.

Tonight, for example, we had our Zaycon grilled chicken over a small serving of brown rice pasta. I cooked spinach in a cast iron frying pan with the Olive oil mister, minced garlic, sea salt, and Bragg’s Nutritional Yeast seasoning (just recently discovered he likes it cooked this way). And I made kale chips & sweet potato chips as our sides. Oh, and we had protein bites for dessert. YUM!! (I haven’t made them in a while because I’m not so good at eating these in moderation, and even though they’re “clean,” too much of anything isn’t good.)

I know many people DO like new recipes and ideas though, so I figured I’d share the super simple directions for the kale chips and sweet potato chips. Seriously, there is like zero prep time and they are yummy and healthy!

KALE CHIPS:

• organic kale
• Bragg’s Nutritional yeast seasoning
• sea salt
• Olive oil (use a mister)

Directions: Spread kale on tin foil. (Use a lot, it cooks down really small.) Spray with olive oil mister, sprinkle with sea salt and Bragg’s. Bake for 10-15 minutes on 350 until desired “crunchiness.”

SWEET POTATO CHIPS:

(I didn’t think to take a picture after they were cooked and we ate them all.)

• organic sweet potatoes
• raw local honey
• cinnamon
• Olive oil mister

Directions: Slice VERY thinly! (This was the trick for me….when they were thicker he didn’t like them.) Spray lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with cinnamon, and drizzle (very) lightly with honey. Bake for 20-30 min at 350, then flip and bake for another 15-20. You can probably bake them for a shorter time, but I had them in the oven with the kale chips. Plus, Jon likes them crispy.

I never thought Big Jon would like kale, cooked spinach, or sweet potatoes…but I kept trying and he came around! Woo hoo! Excited to throw these in the rotation.

Enjoy!!