Life is so good. I might be tired all the time still, and maybe I don’t have much of an appetite, but I’m not feeling so sick all the time anymore, and I have an amazing husband who takes such good care of me, our dog, and our house. Hopefully soon I’ll feel even better and will be able to relieve him of some of the tasks he’s picked up in my unproductive period…

Last night I was cooking Italian Chili (recipe to follow when I take a photo of my leftovers, cause I didn’t snap a shot last night) sitting on a stool in front of the stove, since I still get very tired if I’m standing up for a long time. Hubs looked over at me and said swooningly, “Mmm… I love when you cook.” Aww… well, if that doesn’t make me want to buck up and cook more often, I don’t know what would!

It’s also awesome that I have a job I love so much (and a boss who is super-flexible about things like doctor’s appointments and whatnot). I think I mentioned before that I’m a part-time nanny (20-30 hours/week) for 2 darling kids. Basically, we have a blast. The 2 year old is asserting his independence and loves to make choices and do things “all by himself.” Still, he loves to cuddle (which I love too) and he loves his role as “big brother.” Baby Girl loves her brother too – he makes her laugh so hard! She scoots around on the floor like a semi-pro lately, though she still hasn’t figured out how to move forward … rather, she pivots in circles and scoots backward. She can’t talk but has no problem making her needs known, and she always wakes up from her naps in a wonderful mood. As if that weren’t all awesome enough, I love that the mom and dad share my love for Real Food. We’re going in together (with another guy) to buy a local grassfed cow, and when I joined our CSA yesterday I knew I had someone to tell about it who would be JUST as excited as I was. Of course she was and wanted the information to join too. In a world of convenience cooks, it’s definitely awesome to know someone in real life (bloggers are great, but … you know) who cooks with and eats food and spices, not ingredients or mixes.

Check out this fortune!  A while ago I realized that I had way too much paper stuff that I had “saved” including probably every fortune from every fortune cookie I’d ever eaten. So when hubs and I went to a Chinese place here (the worst Chinese place we’ve ever eaten at, EVER, by the way – Hanford Chinese Kitchen. Do not go there!) and I loved my fortune, I snapped a photo of it with my phone. I kind of wish I had the actual fortune now! I would frame it and put it in the baby’s room. Our lives are definitely getting more exciting!

So if you stuck with me this long, I’ll reward you with this Recipe for Kale Chips.

They’re really not “chips” in that they’re not very substantial – you couldn’t scoop dip with them. They’re really fragile. But! They are delicious, addictive, and very light. You can sit down with a whole bowl of them and pop ‘em like popcorn during a movie. But instead of greasy fingers and zero nutrients, you’ll get tons of Vitamins K, A, and C. Awesome, right?

So here’s how you do it.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. You really want to dehydrate them more than bake them. They’ll burn if you use a too-high temp.
2. Rip up kale.
3. Massage with evoo and a LITTLE salt (I used too much. It really gets concentrated when they shrink).
4. Spread on baking sheets and bake till totally crispy, stirring/flipping every 5-10 minutes. (20-40 min or so total).
5. Let cool.
6. Then eat.

You can also add vinegar to them (in step 3) , or other spices. I bet they’d be good with some lime juice and chili powder.

Also, a quick note… usually I take photos with my awesome camera, then download them onto my computer each week or so, edit the bunch, upload to flickr, and then use them to write my posts. Lately it’s been so much easier and quicker for me to just snap some with my iPhone, upload them directly to my blog (via the WordPress iPhone app), then write the blog entry. This means my posts might be less “finished” and beautiful than before, but you will probably see more of me than you would if I tried to keep up my old standards during this tiring time! So I hope you forgive me and stick around! Hopefully later on I’ll post pretty pictures again, but for now, at least I’m posting!