Kale chips ’n cheezy dip

By blum099

Ingredients

• 1 bunch kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
• 1/2 a large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup soaked cashews
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

Preparation

Step 1

Place all ingredients except kale in a blender.



Purée, adding a splash of water if needed.



Add the mixture to the chopped kale in a large bowl.



Toss to coat the kale thoroughly. You’ll need your hands for this, and yup, it gets messy! Spread the kale on mesh-lined (with or without Paraflexx sheets) dehydrator trays.



Dehydrate at 105-115 degrees for 6-8 hours, or until crisp, flipping once halfway through. But you didn’t think I’d leave you dehydrator-less people hanging, did you?! You can instead bake these in a 300-325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, watching them closely so they don’t burn and flipping them halfway through. Alternately, you can turn the oven on the Warm setting, leave the oven door ajar, and bake them for a few hours (I don’t know how many, sorry—just keep an eye on them); the low-temp baking will mimic the effects of a dehydrator.



Yield: 6 servings.
Per serving: 121 calories, 6.5g fat (.5g sat), 13.3g carbs, 3g fiber, 5.5g protein.

I admit it—these are shockingly good all by themselves, unsullied, unadorned. But that didn’t stop me from trying out Averie’s “spicy Doritos” cheezy dip recipe to go with them.



I made a half batch, reversing the amounts of sunflower seeds vs. hempseeds (for frugality’s sake) and adding an extra heaping teaspoon of chili powder.



You’ll have to visit Averie’s page for the full recipe, which I highly recommend you do. It’s not just for kale chips—hell, dip French fries in it if you want to!



Yield (full batch): 8 servings (about 2 cups).
Per serving (about ¼ cup): 102 calories, 7.8g fat (.5g sat), 4.2g carbs, 2g fiber, 5.3g protein.

You can have this whole snack – a mountain of kale chips and a big scoop of cheeze dip – for barely over 200 calories, yet it nets you nearly 11 grams of protein. Ok, ok, I concede—score 1 for leafy greens!



Is there any ultra-popular vegan food/dish/ingredient you simply can’t stand