Family Fun Screws Up...in a Good Way

I've subscribed to Family Fun magazine for ages, and I always love the projects and things that they come up with; in fact, I've gone so far as to tear out the pages for the last 4 years and keep them in a binder of good ideas, since I know it'll be a few years before my kids can do most of the crafts presented.

Anyway, in the last issue of FF, I found a suggestion for getting your kids to eat more veggies: toss them with olive oil, lay them out on a baking sheet and bake them for x number of minutes, depending. One of their veggie suggestions - apparently the "kid preferred" veggie, in fact - was Kale. Now, kale rocks. It has an awesomely green flavor, and it's great used many ways...my favorite is chopped up in Italian Wedding Soup. So I got excited: new use for kale, and my kids will undoubtedly LOVE IT...right?

Yesterday at the Farmer's market I picked up a lovely bunch of semi-curly kale and proudly brought it home in my reusable shopping bag...how green am I on Earth Day? Whatever. Anyway, today I whipped that kale out of the fridge, pulled off some leaves (removing a good portion of the tough stem area), tossed it with some olive oil and spread those leaves out on a baking sheet, popped them into a 400 degree oven, flipped the leaves after 5 minutes, took them out of the oven after another 3 (8 min total), removed them to a paper towel-lined plate, and immediately sprinkled them with sea salt. Then I tentatively picked up one of those perfectly browned, gleaming, lightly salted leaves (attempting to keep it from crumbling on its way to my impatiently-awaiting mouth) and popped it into my face.

OH...MY...GOSH.

If you like toasted pumpkin seeds, you will LOVE oven-toasted Kale. As my parents would say, (sorry, Mom and Dad, it's too funny not to steal) my mouth climaxed. See, I LOVE pumpkin seeds...but I hate that hull, and I'm too lazy to strip the hulls away. Not so with kale. No hulls...just perfectly crisp, toasty, tasty yumminess...

...that the kids hated. All three kids, in fact, since Bella was here today too. Tyler took a little bite and proclaimed it "Not so Yummy." Bella chewed thoughtfully for a minute and then spat her small mouthful into the trash. Mikayla ate the first little bite I gave her and asked for more, so I gave her a whole leaf...which she immediately bit, crumbled the rest, and announced was "Eeeew Yucky."

Note to self: do not feed ANYONE oven-crisped kale over a black area rug when previously inundated by cockroaches. Crumbled browned kale on black fibers look an AWFUL (and I do mean awful) lot like cockroach parts.

So the kale wasn't a hit...with anyone but me. But lemme tell ya, it'll get ME to eat a whole bunch more kale (and I do mean bunch!), and the kids can just go back to popping cherry tomatoes.

As for me? Heading back into the kitchen to make some more kale chips...right...now.