Garlic & Onion Cashew Cream Kale Chips

I don't use my dehydrator too often but when I do, I love making kale chips!  The kale chips sold in the stores can be a bit pricey so I love making my own organic kale chips at a fraction of the price.  This recipe has garlic and onion cashew cream massaged on to the kale and then dehydrated until crispy.

Ingredients:
2 bunches kale
1 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 4-5 hours
1/2 cup filtered water
1 medium garlic glove
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

 Instructions:

1. Remove kale ribs (save ribs for juicing or smoothies).  Tear the leaves into large pieces and wash and spin dry in a salad spinner.
2. Drain cashews and place in high speed blender with water, garlic, onion powder, sea salt and black pepper.  Blend until smooth and creamy like a thick dressing.  
3. In large mixing bowl, coat the kale pieces with the cream by massaging the cream on to the leaves with your hands.
4. Place on dehydrator trays leaving enough room for air to circulate around.
5. Dehydrate overnight or at least 13 hours.
6. Kale chips can be stored in air tight container at room temperature for a week.

Happy snacking!

Dried Baked Sweet Potatoes

My friend Patricia introduced me to dried baked sweet potatoes or yams.  They tasted like chewy and soft sweet potato taffy or candy.  I enjoyed them so much I had to recreate them.  Patricia told me that it takes her several days to make them because she uses her oven to dry them out followed by leaving them on the counter for a few days.  I wanted to try it using my dehydrator and it worked after 11 hours in the dehydrator.  This is the perfect sweet healthy snack and it's also good to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Items needed:
1 bag of sweet potatoes or yams (I used a 5 lb bag of organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's)
Oven
Dehydrator

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line a roasting pan with foil.  The foil helps with easy clean up since the sweet potato will release sugars on to the pan.
3. Wash and scrub sweet potatoes and pierce a few times down the side with a fork.
4. Bake for 1 hour or until very soft.  The skin should come off easily.
5. Remove from oven and let cool.
6. Once cool, remove skin and slice about half inch thick lengthwise.  The sweet potatoes will shrink in the dehydrator so try not to slice too thin.
7. Lay slices in dehydrator.
8. Dehydrate for 10 -11 hours until the edges are chewy and middle is soft.  My dehydrator is old and does not have a temperature setting.  I believe mine is set to 115 degrees and it took 11 hours to get the texture I wanted.  You may need to monitor yours to due to difference in dehydrators.
9. Enjoy!