Eating Healthier in Today's World

Drying Kale and Zucchini Chips   

Dehydrated vegetables make wonderful chips for summer snacking and they are easy to prepare in your Dehydrator.

One summer a call-in talk show radio host was asking for suggestions on how to deal with the prolific zucchini harvest that the area was having.  I could easily identify with this situation and chuckled at one caller's suggestion - "Find an unlocked parked car and fill it with the zucchini, and walk away".

 I have always called the zucchini the "unwanted vegetable" as I have always advised if you see someone walking towards you with a large zucchini, to turn and run the other way.   But really, my solution, however, is to dry zucchini chips and make zucchiini-rhubarb bread.

Zucchini Chips

Zucchini chips are easy to do and make wonderful healthy,alternative dippers to potato chips.  Take the torpedo-shaped younger zucchini and peel, cut in half and scoop out seeds (if you wish) and slice into 1/8 to 1/4 inch strips.  

Zucchini Chip Marinade - 

1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. water, 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar, 1 heaping Tbsp. roasted garlic, 1 Tbsp. sesame oil and 4 cups of zucchini slices.  Combine all ingredients, with the exception of the zucchini, and blend.  Add zucchini slices and marinade at least 1 hour before putting on mesh-lined dehydrator trays.  Dry at 110 to 135 degrees F. until crisp.  (you can make them dry less time until just leathery but if you want them for dipping then make them crisp)

Click here for Zucchini Rhurbarb Bread Recipe

Kale Chips

Another easy to grow super-food vegetable is Kale.  Over the last few years it has been gaining in popularity so that now every vegetable stand and supermarket carry it as a staple.  A few years ago I remember having to ask at the meat dept. of the store to purchase Kale for my famous Kale salad (click here for that recipe) because it was only used to line the displays in the butcher shop.  I have grown it in my garden for years.  An easy way to presserve it's goodness is to make Kale Chips.  Like the Zucchini chips, you get much more flavour if it is marinated first.

Kale Chips in your Dehydrator              Click here for printable recipe

 3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cups kale, cut into 1 to 2 inch strips or cubes

 Choose your kale.  Clean.   Cut away the internal stems.  They too, can be dried and powdered, but they make the chips too tough, if they are not removed.  My first cut is the tip of the leaf of the young kale that doesn’t have much of an internal stem.  Cut along the internal stem into 2 inch pieces or long strips.  When finished, you will have lettuce-like kale pieces and a stripped internal stem that you can dry separately and grind into a powder.  Tender young chard or spinach leaves work just as well as kale.

Place the vinegar, salt, and oil in a bowl.  Stir.  Add the kale and mix by hand to get the surface of all the leaves covered.  Place a bowl on top of the marinating kale to force it into the marinade and let sit for 1 hour.  Flatten each leaf on mesh-lined dehydrator sheets.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and dry at 110 to 135 degrees F. until crisp.

 Variation

Prepare leaves, place in a bowl and pour vinegar over leaves, press down to force vinegar into leaves and marinate at least 1 hour.  Remove from marinade and toss with olive oil.  Place on a mesh-lined dehydrator or oiled leather sheet.  Instead of separating each sheet, allow the leaves to overlap.  Sprinkle with salt and dry.

Many of these creative ideas with Dehydrated Foods come from our very popular book "Food Drying with and Attitude" that we carry in our cookbook section of our online store.