Sunday, April 17, 2011

Snacks!

No, not rose petals:  beet chips and nori chips
While I try not to give myself too many attractive options for mindless eating, I'm working on a few reasonable "emergency" munchies that keep me out of my roommate's leftover pizza.

There are some good ideas here, but my quest continues to find a few good options that will work on the fly. For now I am figuring out how many different vegetables I can turn into "chips" in the oven. The beets and sweet potatoes would also be good PWO with a protein. Here's what I know so far...

For all veggies:
Set the oven to 250, and turn on the convection or "speed bake" if you have it.  Slice veggies to a very thin 1/8 inch as evenly as possible.  I get better results if I slice most veggies in half lengthwise first so they don't roll around while I'm trying to precision-cut. Grease your baking sheets with coconut oil, and spread one layer think.  Keep and eye on them while cooking, turning once they start curling up, and moving them to towels or plates to cool once they curl up and just start to brown.

Beets:
Peel, sprinkle with a little red wine vinegar.  Up to 2 hours in the oven depending on thickness.  Red beets seem to fare better than golden beets.

Sweet Potatoes:
Leave skins on. Try seasoning with cinnamon and chipotle powder.  Up to 2 hours depending on thickness.


Kale:
(Don't slice!) Tear out thick center stem, toss with good oil to just barely coat (I used almond oil), scatter on a try and sprinkle with a little good salt (I like smoked salt or truffle salt). About 15 minutes or when they turn dark green.  These are really brittle, and while tasty, do not travel well.


Radishes:
People make them, but I tried was not impressed.  Don't bother.

Nori:
You have to like seaweed to enjoy these.  See instructions here.

I tend to micro-manage this process, picking chips off one at a time as they get done, but they should finish up evenly if you slice them very evenly to begin with.  They crisp up a little once they're cool, so its ok if they're a little bendy so long as they've curled up and toasted a little.

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