Good morning! This weekend was wonderful. Low key, relaxing, yet productive. Hubbs, Hailey and I ventured into Charlotte Saturday morning and grabbed breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, Zada Janes in Plaza Midwood.
I chowed down on this omelet stuffed with goat cheese, spinach, onions and mushrooms and savored ever bite. It left me wishing Mooresville had more unique restaurants. Instead, Mooresville is the king of chains and I LOATHE it. We just got a new one- IHOP. Ugh.
While driving around I finished up listening to Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. I had read it before, but when I saw it on cd at he library I decided to give it another listen.
It’s such an inspiring book and makes me really look hard at what constitutes healthy eating and how ‘nutritionism’ has skewed society’s view of what to eat. It is most famously known for his food rules of
- Eat food
- Not too much
- Mostly plants
Feeling inspired, I decided to heed his advice and focus on incorporating more plants in my diet, especially leaves. It started at lunch with my Jimmy John’s sandwich… in a lettuce wrap.
Admittedly, it’s kind of a weak excuse for eating healthier. So I took it a step further and decided to cook with a new (to me) ingredient- bok choy! This shrimp, bok choy and noodle bowl was delicious and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy bok choy is to work with.
And to really go the distance, I finally pulled out the dehydrator I have been too intimidated to try.
I don’t know why I was intimidated. It’s the easiest thing in the world to use. For my inaugural dehydrator snack, I made The Fitnessista’s Cool Ranch Kale Chips.
You guys…. WOW. I’ve tried kale chips before and found them to be ok at best, but Gina was NOT kidding when she said that these kale chips have a way of disappearing. The flavors in these chips are addicting and neither Hubbs nor I could wait until they were completely dehydrated to pounce on them.
Oh, you read that right, HUBBS could not get enough! He kept creeping over and sneaking kale chips into his mouth. My meat ad potatoes guy… SNEAKING KALE CHIPS. Incredible.
Even Hailey wanted in on the action… soon my sweet girl, soon.
I made a whole bunch of kale’s worth of chips last night. This morning, they are all gone. They’re that good.
I’m still feeling the glow of healthy eating and pumped up to keep Pollan’s words going through my mind. I’m stocked up on healthy food:
And did all my food prep yesterday.
Bring on the week!
Do you have a favorite kale chip recipe?
What is your favorite leaf to eat?
These kale chips might be my new favorite leaf. Who woulda thunk it?!
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Aww she wants some Kale so bad
Spinach is still my preferred staple, although I eat it more in pancakes and smoothies than other ways. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!
That book really opened my eyes. I now pretty strictly “the grandmother rule.”
And I love dino kale, especially since it’s the only green I really like cooked. But for smoothies and scrambled eggs I always opt for spinach. Or the best of both worlds — baby kale.
I just might have to try these little chips … Nate might really enjoy them!
I’m a huge fan of JJ’s Unwich!!
And those kale chips look delish!! I was a bit weary about them at first until I made them. Now I’m obsessed!
I am so awed by your prep for the week. I definitely need to start doing this!!!
I need to try this recipe for kale chips….I just always think they are kind of okay.
I do the same things with my veggies on the weekends so they are ready for the week! It makes things so much easier!
Food prep for me is KEY!! Not having food prepped basically means I eat junk. Meal planning, shopping, prepping are all a neccessary. I have never had kale chips. I know, I am probably the only person on the planet.
As for your dehydrator, if you had a garden you can make your own “sun dried” tomatoes in the dehydrator (ok you can use grocery store tomatoes, too), plus all kinds of fruits like peaches, apples, and bananas.
I just started reading “In Defense of Food” last night. The intro was enough to draw me in!
And my favorite leaf is spinach. I love the mild taste and how it works so well in my smoothies!
How funny. I just posted about bok choy. So good!
Wow, I can’t believe your husband liked the kale chips!! Maybe I need to give those a try … my husband grumbles about how many veggies I have us eat … and it’s really not even that many!
Those kale chips look wonderful!
Bok choy is so yummy! I love it!
My favorite greens at this moment is spinach for my green smoothies!
I am in the middle of reading his book and I love it! I love bok choy..I just cooked it for the first time recently, and since then I have made it a lot I love it!
I love the pics of hubs and baby girl with the kale chips–they’d make a funny holiday card
I have been salivating over those chips since Fitnessista postem ‘em…unfortunately I don’t have a dehydrator!!
I love going ahead and prepping all of my food for the week! Well, I love it after it’s done!
I’ve been wanting to try Gina’s version of those kale chips for some time now. You’ve convinced me
I live kale chips and its such a pain/mess making them in the oven and they don’t even turn out that great bc they don’t get super crispy. I tried to replicate my fav ones from the store by pureeing cashews, red bell pepper, lemon juice, cayenne and a few other ingredients and putting it over kale then baking it. Its pretty messy but decent. They real deal is my splurge at the health food store haha. They charge like $8 for a small bag!
I love kale chips – sadly I’ve never made them in the dehydrator. I think that needs to be done.
My fiance lives in Mooresville (and I will, starting in September!) and I hate how there are so many chain restaurants too. We really love The Daily Grind for breakfast though! Their omelets are always so good!
First of all I want to appologize if i have commented on your page like 4 times today. It is not showing my comments on anyone’s blog and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Not meaning to flood your blog if i did!
I need a dehydrater since i always overcook my kale chips in the oven!
Those kale chips look AMAZING! I suppose I could attempt them in the oven.. hmm.
I LOVE the unwiches at Jimmy Johns!!!! #6 no mayo as an unwich is like my staple order. haha So much so that I would just walk in and the guys would start making it! Ohhh college
OOOH…a friend of ours loaned me their dehydrator last weekend. I made apple chips and blackberry/cherry “fruit leather”. I’ve made kale chips in the oven, but didn’t think to dry them. Thanks for the idea, that’s on my “try next” list.
Have a great leaf-filled week.
Kale is not something we get here in South Africa.
My fav leaf to eat is Spinach. Baby spinach for that matter on sandwiches, in pastas and in everything for that matter
I too would not mind for a dehydrator.
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