Grilled Lettuce/Kale Chips

I hate kale. With just about every fiber of my being. I only knew it as garnish for diner food. I didn't know people regularly ate the crap until I moved to Boston, observed droves of hippie grass grazers chowing on it and noticed a slew of "Eat more kale" bumper stickers. No, I'm not kidding.

Then I heard of kale chips. When you bathe the kale in olive oil and cover it with pepper or Italian spices/garlic, it is pretty darn good. And better for you than that bagged bullshit from the store.

Skill level: Easy
Chance of burning the house down: Low. Don't forget about it in the oven.

Stuff you need:

- A couple bags of kale. (or fresh.. but not frozen unless you like soggy chips.)
- Olive oil
- Black pepper... garlic... Italian spices, whatever takes your fancy.

Instructions:

1. Take the kale out of the bags and pat dry with paper towels just to get any water off it. Let it dry some more for 5 minutes or so.

3. Preheat oven to 300.

2. Place kale in a ziplock bag add olive oil and spices... shake and move it all around. Then scatter on a baking sheet. (or if you're a lazy ass like myself, you can drizzle the oil and spices on once they're on the pan)

** It's recommended you tare the kale into chunks removing the center rib and also keep in mind that kale shrinks so if you decide to do this, make chunks bigger than chip size. I don't do this but you can**

3. Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges of the kale are brown.

Grilled Lettuce

You read that right. More delicious grass grazer food and clever salad idea. By now you've probably had the classic salad wedge. That's nonsense compared to this. Iceberg lettuce doesn't have much nutritional value

You can also make this in a skillet.

Skill level: Easy

Chance of burning the house down: Low

Stuff you need:

- 2 heads of romaine lettuce

- Balsamic vinegar (or whatever kind of dressing you want)

- Onion

- Pepper, salt if ya want

- Blue cheese or feta cheese... goat cheese... any kind ya like

- Olive oil

Instructions:

1. Heat grill or skillet to medium/high heat

2. Leaving the bottoms attached, cut the romaine lettuce vertically. Slice up onion

3. Brush lettuce and onions with olive oil

4. Grill lettuce quarters about 1 -2 minutes on each side. You want them to start to brown but not get too soft. 

5. Grill onions til brown and sprinkle over lettuce

6. Drizzle on balsamic, olive oil, pepper and salt. Then add cheese