Smoked Chipotle Kale Chips

Yummy Kale Chips… and No MSG!

Everybody who tries them seems to rave about Kale Chips…and for good reason. Their texture crackles, crunches and delicious disintegrates in one’s mouth, and the ruffled edges of curly kale so nicely capture whatever flavorings have been added.

Thing is, many of the favorite recipes out there use raw cashews and/or nutritional yeast to give a kind of “cheezy” flavor. I love raw cashews, but I almost never used them in my recipes because they are both hard to find and very expensive. And I never use nutritional yeast - A, because I don’t like the flavor, and B, because I minimize the use of anything that may include forms of monosodium glutamate (MSG). People debate about whether nutritional yeast does or does not include a form of MSG, but whichever the case, it doesn’t taste “right” to, it doesn’t taste or feel “undenatured” in my body, and that’s always what I go with. So I won’t be including it in any of my Dehydro recipes.

Instead, I’m going to explore recipes that can be made from Utterly Pedestrian ingredients, or very simple, natural “superfood” ingredients very common in the raw world, such as Chia Seeds, Raw Cacao, Goji Berries and such.

Fresh curly kale, rinsed and shaken dry.

Adding the dressing to the kale...

Smoked Chipotle Kale Chips

These Smoked Chipotle Kale Chips use the neutral taste and texture of blended Zucchini to help create a kale-sticking dressing to distribute the flavor before dehydration. And the flavors are simple: smoked paprika, Chipotle Tabasco sauce, olive oil, lemon, and quality natural crystal salt.

So E-Z!!

Take a few minutes to rinse & shake the kale dry, a few minutes to make the dressing and rub & squish it into the kale, and then you just pop it onto a couple dehydrator trays, bung them into your Dehydro unit, flick on the machine and off go! No reason to feel intimated by the process of dehydrating, or to think that it is something laborious.

“How Long Do I Dehydrate? What’s The Right Temperature Setting?”

If you’re nervous about navigating potential enzyme-killing heat… relax. First, ascribing fear to how you’re feeding yourself is hardly a health-promoting outlook. Thinking stressfully is as much (or even more) a liability for your health as eating denatured food. And that, in my view, is the key here: you are minimally denaturing your food. You are taking a whole food, cutting it, seasoning it, subjecting it to some low temps to remove moisture. That is all.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens, a well-known raw guru, discovered that the “sweating” phase when dehydrating fruit & vedge actually lowers the temperature of the food and cause mold or fermentation if not adequately heated at the outset of the process. His recommendation is to start the process out at 145 degrees F, and then lower it to around 115. And that is what I do: 145 for the first hour, then 115 for 4-5 hours, or overnight, til done.

Smoky, zesty, spicy topping

Ready for the dehydrator!

Crunchy & ready for snacking!

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There are no pineapples in this dressing — good news for anyone like myself whose tongue is sensitive to the acidity of foods like pineapple! Instead, apples and cold-pressed coconut oil combine to create a mild, sweetly-savory dressing that just a “blush” of garlic.

Yep, garlic! Goes great with this flavor combo. I used this entire recipe for a huge double-salad to serve two people. There’s only 1 tablespoon of coconut oil for the whole batch, about 1-1/2 teaspoons per person, but with the metabolism-stimulating, weight-loss, immune system-enhancing, and energizing properties of coconut oil, I wouldn’t feel in the least guilty if I ended up scarfing the whole thing. And you can see from the photos that the dressing on the greens is very light — great for weight watchers!

I had serious energy to burn after this meal. I served the dressing over a mix of baby “spring” greens with red pepper, apples, and sliced onions. Simple. Juicy. Colorful. And very satisfying.

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Oh Lordy, where has this simple recipe been all my life? Warming, comforting, mellow, meaty, juicy, enlivening, nose-runningly spicy without an uncomfortable “burn”… it was just what I needed on this day where the Jersey mountain temps are already, in mid-afternoon, beginning to make their trek down to freezing.

Using “macaroni noodles” cut from fresh, peeled baby zucchini, cut thin and short, the tomato-less “sauce” to this “chili” is a combination of organic button mushrooms, chopped raw pecans, chopped jumbo medjool dates, fresh garlic, olive oil, lemon and chili & cayenne seasonings. And everything blends to perfectly pair some zesty fire with the mellow bland undertones that make pasta so comforting.

A “warm live raw pasta” is when you expose your live all-vedge ingredients to heat, but just enough to take it past tepid. The food is still filled with all it’s living viable-ness and isn’t remotely “cooked”. In fact, I didn’t even get down to the degree of warmth I was after, and still this dish was everything I wanted — warming and belly-filling in that please-sir-can-i-have-some-more way one can get on a cold night.

And the wee bit of sweet morsels of medjool paired with the earthiness of the mushroom? Brilliant. This is definitely a new favorite of mine to which I know I”ll be turning quite often through the cold months!

(This recipe would also be brilliant for non-raw types — they could could this further to create a wonderful side dish, which would be excellent with potatoes of any kind.

In fact… note to self: For next rawish meal, enjoy with Yukon gold potatoes swathed in grass-fed butter!)

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This evening I made a batch of my beloved Savoy Cabbage-Tomato-Almond Butter Chopped Salad and decided to make a kissing cousin with Kale. And between the two of them, I gorged my fill, with nothing but a fork as a side dish. No chips, no Ezekiel bread, just the two salads, a big bowl of the cabbage salad and a small dish of this wonderfully rich Kale-Red Pepper-Almond Butter salad. I was in heaven.

And honestly, these salads are so flavorful and filling, you can’t over-eat them. They just satisfy so thoroughly.

This salad, like all my other savory chopped salads, will be great as a “salsa” or dip to go with chips, or as a filling for a raw wrap or a “rawish” salad sandwich. And, again like the Savoy cabbage salad, the kale is structured enough that you can make a nice large batch and still be able to enjoy it the day after tomorrow without it degenerating into a wilted, sloppy mess! To me, this is a huge virtue because you can keep good things in your fridge that you can reach for when you’re starving and have been too on-the-go to keep up with kitchen duty.

Make both of these lovelies… frequently… for yourself or for guests or parties… and enjoy!

Suggested options:

Add chopped raw mushrooms, of any kind (YUM).

Add chopped raw pecans, either as a garnish on the top (hello, raw potluck!) or to mix in. (Mushrooms AND pecans would be spectacular!)

Add chopped grape or cherry tomatoes.

And would be wonderful as a “sushi” filling for nori seaweed rolls!

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Heavens to Betsy, did I enjoy this! For those of my readers who, like me, find salvation in savory, meaty-tasting raw/living food dishes, add this one to your list! Like this other meaty, super-satisfying mushroom recipe, which was life-changing for me and for a few others who were greatly helped by its steak-like flavor, this Mushroom-Pecan “Salsa” has got some kick-butt, rib-sticking flavor.

And as great as it is the day you make it, it’s even better the next day! How many raw food recipes can you say that about? I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being able to hit lunchtime the next day and to open the fridge and there was a great meal just waiting for me, which I enjoyed with organic tortilla chips and a side salad.

It’s made with raw almond butter and cold-pressed olive oil, can be made with any kind of mushroom (though it was just awesome with simple organic white buttons), and with the raw pecans, has nice crunch and real “chew”. The taste is mellow, soothing, savory, delicious as a dip for raw chips or organic tortilla chips, and would be a great quick “rawish” feast with toasted Ezekiel bread. And could make for a sensational “raw burger” in a lettuce wrap for hard-core raw foodies.

I included some serrano chiles, and the dish allows the flavor of the chile to come to the forefront, so you can play with that using your favorite peppers. Use sweet peppers, jalapenos, chipotles… whatever you have on hand.

This batch went quickly because I wasn’t the only one dipping into it… my nearly-70 mom loved it.

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Such a pretty salad… like confetti! And another good template recipe to know because there are so many ways you can play with it.

The heart of this one is fresh cucumbers (I generally use the long, thin “British” cukes) with a combination of sweet red, orange, and or yellow peppers. The dressing is made with honey, lemon, and a generous helping of garlic. Add a good portion of green onions, some chopped avocado for a bit of rich texture, and some fresh basil, then let it sit for a wee bit to meld the flavors… and you’ve got a nice full-flavored salad for… whatever. Great for wraps, salad sandwiches, a side-dish for “non-raw” folk (goes great with fish).

But you can change the lemon-basil theme here to lime-cilantro, and this dish is just begging for chiles! Jalapenos, smoked chipotles, or whatever else you have on hand. Or you could use chili paste and toss with some lemongrass for a more Thai flavor.

My non-raw parents loved it.

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Super-quick, super-flavorful, and made with Utterly Pedestrian ingredients so easy to keep on hand!

Enjoy without the meatballs — super-delish on its own, over “noodles” or “spaghetti” made from fresh, raw baby zucchini — or make a side of meatballs for a heartier repast!

And even if you make the whole Spaghetti & Meatball affair… it will still take you all of about 15 minutes, tops!

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I just love fresh, jumbo Medjool dates. Not when ground up and mixed into nut balls or energy bars… blech. In fact, I loathe those sorts of things, where the almost-juicy quality of the dates is destroyed by over-processing.

No, dates are best enjoyed whole, where their lovely succulence can be enjoyed full-on. I’ve said more times than I can count that the simple treat of a raw pecan stuffed into a whole date and popped into one’s mouth is like pecan pie, only the way pecan pie wishes it could taste!

Here, I’ve made up a salted vanilla filling for the dates without any additional sugar. All the sweetness comes from the dates themselves. And the overall effect when all is said and done is that of a salted caramel!

The dish is comprised entirely of non-perishables, so you can make this entire batch and keep at your desk at work, or in a container in your gym or dance bag for a quick energy pick-me-up when you need it… and with the added salt, it’s a great way to replenish electrolytes after a good workout! And shoot… I just finished one up as part of a late breakfast.

And forget those “nut balls” that so many raw foodies make with dates (did I say “blech” yet?)… these put those to shame. In my not-so-humble opinion.

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When you can make something quick and easy like this, forget oatmeal and any of the other hot cereals out there. This is the kind of dish that kids will go crazy over… and I mean crazy-crazy.

It tastes like warm vanilla cake batter.

Forget kids… how many adults do you know who still love to lick the batter out of the cake bowl?

This Corn Pudding is made from Utterly Pedestrian ingredients. And drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, it makes for a brilliant breakfast, a cozy dessert, or a deliciously warming snack on a cold day!

Takes just a few minutes to make, including cutting the fresh corn off the cob, and is a great way to use up any corn you have that may have been in your fridge long enough to convert it’s sugar over to starch and lose its natural sweetness.

And, similar to my Warm, Live Polenta recipe: You can keep this recipe all-raw-vegan by using cold-pressed coconut oil to enrich the polenta, or — if like myself you’re an omnivore who eats as high-raw as possible — then you may follow in my footsteps and use organic, grass-fed, unsalted butter instead, for a truly authentic flavor.

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Want something warm, savory, starchy and comforting to go with your amazing “Mushroom Tapenade” dinner tonight? You can make this gently-warmed-but-still-raw “polenta” using corn freshly cut from the cob!

Probably takes no more than 5 minutes to make, including cutting the corn off, so — as nearly all of the recipes on this site are — it’s seriously hassle-free. This is also an excellent recipe for when you have corn that you may have left uncut in the fridge for a few days, when it tends to have lost its sweetness and get more “starchy” in flavor.

You can keep this recipe all-raw-vegan by using cold-pressed coconut oil to enrich the polenta, or — if like myself you’re an omnivore who eats as high-raw as possible — then you may follow in my footsteps and use organic, grass-fed, unsalted butter instead, for a truly authentic flavor.

The ingredients are all Utterly Pedestrian… corn, salt (you know the drill on that, tho — Himmy or Celtic salt, or something else in that vein), fresh black pepper, and either coconut or dairy butter, as per your preference.

The result? You have one more cold-weather staple to pull out of your hat when you want something cozy and warming!

Variations:

Turn this into a fun Tex-Mex side-dish with an assortment of options, including chiles, cilantro, green onion, and tiny sweet tomatoes.

Or make a nice Mediterranean side-dish, with black sun-cured olives, red onions, basil, and olive oil!

This is a great “template” style recipe you can customize lots of different ways.

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