Spicy Cheesy Kale Chips

I finally made fabulous kale chips! I am so excited because I have failed miserably at this task, many times. And its pretty frustrating when you waste high quality and expensive ingredients only to produce a shitty outcome. So...I tried to follow a recipe (http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/spicy-cheesy-kale-chips.htm) but being me, didn't really follow it. I have been working on this recipe-phobe issue for a while now, and it's not really getting better. I don't know, I may just accept this about myself. Jury is still out.

I used a food dehydrator (http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/) for this recipe so I can only speak of how it went down that way. Not sure if the cheesy recipe will work in the oven. You can make very easy kale chips in the oven by just washing, de-stemming, tossing with olive oil and salt/pepper and putting on cookie sheet for 15 min. or so in a 300-350 degree oven. Just wait til they get crispy but not burned!

All of the healthy enzymes will not remain intact but at least you will be getting in a whole bunch of greens. With dehydrating all you are doing is getting rid of the water so everything that is in the fruit or veg. stays in. You get the benefit of eating raw fruits/veg but with a brand new texture. However, they are pricey and not absolutely needed unless you are pretty determined to eat a raw diet. If you have been raw for a while the same foods can get pretty boring so a dehydrator can definitely open up a brand new world (cue Little Mermaid music).

Here's what I did:

THE NIGHT BEFORE- put 1 cup of raw organic cashews into a bowl and cover with healthy clean water. Let soak at least 6-8 hours. Then drain off water.

Assembly:

-wash 2 big bunches organic kale

- shake off water and dry a bit

- rip leaves off of stem into chip size pieces. Not too small b/c remember they will shrink

- put in a bowl and drizzle with a bit of organic olive oil and pepper and a bit or high grade salt, I like Himalyan

- massage oil into leaves

- In food processor or badass blender, blend up cashews until a smooth hummus consistency. If you have a food processor use it, much easier. Then add 4 raw garlic cloves, pepper, cayenne to taste, chili flakes to taste, bit of garlic powder and a ton of nutritional yeast. I probably used at least a half cup or more. Mix everything up til blended. Poor onto kale and massage.

- Then spread out kale onto dehydrator trays. I have a 4 tray machine, but I only use 2 at a time since the leaves are bulky and the trays are skinny.

- Dehydrate overnight. I did 12 hours b/c I like mine crispy!

- Then watch them disappear

xoxoxx McLean

Junkie Car

I am a bag lady on wheels, socially accepted but embarrassed all the same.
I loathe making New Year's Resolutions. They either seem too brutal or too lame. Either way I usually feel pretty ick about it. So this year I decided on no more "resolutions" but more of "ideas" or "desires" for the upcoming year. One of which is to learn how to treat my car better. Specifically the space within my car.
I am not proud to admit this, but I do not have a great track record with car cleanliness. In fact, a dear  friend of mine got in my car a few months back and her immediate response was "wow, you have a junkie car". And she meant it. And she knows. She was A) once a junkie and B) once lived in her car. So coming from her I took this seriously. A few days later when my shame fully settled in my bones I began to pick through my junk. Twine, hats, broken CD's, old bottled waters that were surely full of melted plastic chemicals, date pits, lots of clothing, Ikea bags, plastic bags, paper cups, coffee mugs, notebooks, broken glass, dog leash, birthday cards, etc. You get the idea. Not great for a 2 door Toyota Yaris. My mom has always told me that the state of your car represents the state of your mind, which means I need help fast. So I am trying to weed out the trash as it begins to collect. My car is full at the moment because a great friend just gave me a full car load of needed baby hand me downs but I will be organizing it all very soon. At least it is on my mind daily and hey....knowing you have a problem is half the battle.