Festive Kale Chips & Sunflower Seed Crackers

Festive Kale Chips & Sunflower Seed Crackers

Want some delicious, healthy snacks for this holiday season?  Dehydrated chips and crackers are a fabulous choice. Dehydrated foods make great snacks that can help you lose weight much more easily because they offer taste satisfaction and crunch without a lot of calories.  For example, Kale Chips are very low in calories and exceptionally high in nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and vitamin K.  Onion Rings, Dehydrated Tomatoes, Garlicky Jicama Crackers, and Dehydrated Zucchini make wonderful snacks or accompaniment to holiday appetizers. They offer a burst of flavor along with fiber, enzymes, vitamins and minerals. It doesn’t take much time to prepare them and the rewards are great. (All these recipes are from The Juice Lady’s Turbo Diet.)

You’ll notice that the dehydration temperature varies in all the recipes between 105 and 115 degrees  There are a number of schools of thought as to what the best temperature is to preserve the most enzymes and vitamins.  When in doubt, choose the lower temperature setting on your dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator, give yourself a Christmas present or get it on your Christmas wish list. A dehydrated also makes an excellent gift for someone who’s interested in healthy eating. I only recommend the Excalibur dehydrator because it dries evenly and offers square trays. I don’t recommend round trays because you can’t spread batter across the sheets, score and make a full tray of crackers.

Cherie’s Famous Kale Chips

Kale is an excellent source of calcium, superb for your bones and teeth.

• 1 bunch kale
• 1/4 cup apple cider or coconut vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced or pressed (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper

Wash the kale and then dry. Take your hand and run it down the stem to strip the kale leaves from the stem. Save the stems for juicing.

Add lemon juice, vinegar, and olive oil to a blender and process until well combined. Pour in a bowl and stir in the sea salt and cayenne.  Dip kale leaves in marinade and shake off excess marinade. Place kale pieces on dehydrator sheets. Spring minced garlic over the leaves, as desired. Dehydrated for about 7 to 8 hours at 105 to 115 F or until crisp. (Chips will shrink as they dehydrate.) Store in in a dry place in a covered container. These chips are so delicious I’ll bet you won’t have any left to store.

Sunflower Seed Crackers

Sunflower seeds are a good source of vitamin D, something we all need more of in the winter.

• 1 cup flax seeds soaked overnight in 2 cups purified water
• 1 cup  sunflower seeds soaked overnight
• 1 cup almonds soaked overnight
• 1 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup yellow squash, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh oregano or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons Celtic sea salt

Blend flax, seeds and nuts in a food processor until smooth.  Add the other ingredients and process until smooth. Spread in thin layer on a dehydrator sheet,score for square crackers, and dehydrate for 12 to 20 hours at 105 to 115 0 F. until crisp.

Makes about 36 crackers

Recipes from The Juice Lady’s Turbo Diet