Staycation

Yep, I took a week of vacation in the middle of January. No, I didn't go to Mexico or some warm tropical island, I have stayed right here in the Midwest.

I have done a little running and a lot of lounging. I hit the trails for about 12 miles yesterday, it was a beautiful 45 degrees. In fact, most of the trail looks like fall right now.

January Trail - looks more like the fall

When I wasn't sleeping in or hitting the trails I experimented with a couple of healthy snacks that I thought I would share with you.

The Green Smoothie

Pre-smoothie ingredients

This smoothie is fairly simple to make and chock full of healthy stuff. You can put pretty much anything you like in here. This one contains half of a red delicious apple, fresh squeezed orange and lemon juice, one third of a banana, a few fresh spinach leaves, fresh kale, and half of a clementine. Blend well...and viola! 

It may not look so great, but it sure tastes great.

Tasty Treat!

 

Speaking of kale. According to the Mind Body Green website kale has some serious health benefits. My wife purchased a big bag of "Cut and Cleaned" Kale. We typically don't eat it all before it goes bad so with some extra time on my hands this week I thought I would try a recipe for kale chips. 

If you have ever tried a leaf of kale on its own, you might agree that it's not the tastiest green out there. Kale chips solves this problem

Kale Chips

 First, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Next, cut the large stems from the rinsed kale leaves and tear the leaves into manageable, bite sized pieces. I put the pieces in a bowl, drizzled on some olive oil, then tossed it to make sure the leaves were coated. Place the kale on a lined baking sheet then sprinkle with your favorite seasoning. You can use a seasoned salt, bbq seasoning, or what ever you may think you would like. Be conservative with the seasoning though because the kale will shrink in the oven and concentrate your seasoning. Your pre-baked kale should look something like this.

Oiled and seasoned kale before baking

Place the seasoned kale into the oven for 10 - 12 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, you want it to be crispy but not burnt. It is delicious fresh out of the oven while it is still warm and seems to keep well too.

The finished product should look something like this. It is really light and crispy. In my opinion, you really only taste the seasoning that you use but there is a hint of maybe a Brussels sprout flavor. 

baked and seasoned kale chips

I wouldn't go too crazy with the kale, there is some serious fiber in there. Also it is not recommended for people on blood thinners because it is high in Vitamin K.

Now it's time for me to get back to my reading.

After reading "No Easy Day", I became interested in checking out some similar books.

I am currently reading the Seal Team Six series by Chuck Dixon. I typically try to stick with non-fiction as much as possible but this series has been a great escape that I can't hardly put down.

Let me know if you try out either of these recipes, tell me what you think!