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Crispy Kale Chips Recipe: Made Better With Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt

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Kale and Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt
Kale, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sea Salt
1 head kale, washed
2 tablespoons olive oil
Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt (or regular sea salt), for sprinkling

{Directions Below….}

Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt

  1. Pre-Heat the oven to 275 degrees.
  2. Wash (and dry) the kale. You want to make sure it’s thoroughly dry or it won’t get as crispy as you want it to.
  3. Cut the ribs away and discard. Cut the kale leaves into 1 1/2-inch pieces.
  4. Place in a bowl (or directly on a large baking sheet) and drizzle with the EVOO and Sea Salt. If you can get your mitts on Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt, do so. It adds a little extra flavor and, if you’ll allow me to be all girly for a minute… it’s pretty.
  5. Be sure each piece is coated with the oil and sea salt. Bake on a large cookie sheet until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, for about 20 minutes. If, after 20 minutes, they aren’t as crisp as you prefer, put them back for a few more minutes. Just be sure you don’t put them back and walk away – they’ll turn on you fast.
  6. Enjoy as a healthy, crunchy snack!

Be sure your cookie sheet is large enough for a single layer of kale chips. If they have to ride on one another’s backs, they won’t get nice and crunchy.

Kale Chips

Three Ingredient Cheese Logs: Perfect for UK Basketball or Football Games

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Cheese Log

I’d meant to add quite a few more Kentucky Recipes by now, but my days have been kind of crazy lately. I’ll be adding them regularly now, I think I’ve gotten the upper hand in the craziness!

These cheese logs are highly customizable. You can use just about any cheese you can shred or soften (or find shredded or softened) and you can use almonds, walnuts, or (my favorite) pecans.

While I prefer cheese balls and cheese logs covered in chopped pecans, I do love the flavor (and look) of using sliced almonds, so that’s what I went with this time.

One of the things I love most about cheese logs and cheese balls is the fact that, in addition to being delicious, even husbands can’t make much of a mess with them. Easy cleanup!

Cheese Log with Gluten Free Crackers

You can even lightly “toast” the nuts in the oven or in a skillet for a little more flavor – but it isn’t at all necessary. I’ve seen people make these without any nuts at all, but unless you have a nut allergy, I wouldn’t go that route.

They add so much flavor and crunch.

Cheeses for Cheese Logs

Simple Steps

The recipe below makes either two cheese logs or two cheese balls. I took a picture, below – with a spoon for scale –  to show you the length of the rolls. If you only want one log or one ball, simply half the recipe.

You’ll need 2 8-0z packages Cream Cheese (softened), 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese and 1/2-1 cup sliced almonds (or chopped pecans or walnuts).

  1. Combine the cheeses – get in there with your hands!
  2. Form the mixture into balls or logs.
  3. Roll the cheese creation in the nuts, patting them firmly into the sides.
  4. Wrap securely in plastic wrap and either serve immediately or put into the refrigerator.
  5. Serve with crackers or by themselves!

Cheese Logs without Almonds

These cheese logs/cheese balls are ideal for game-day snacks as well as appetizers for special days and holidays. They’re especially beautiful on Easter and Christmas buffets.

The first time I EVER made cheese logs was during a UK Football game – so, in spite of myself, I always think of that game (it was not a win) when I make them!

Cheese Logs

Fried Eggs with Browned Butter

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Fried Eggs with Browned Butter
Kentucky Recipe: Eggs with Browned Butter
I am something of an egg fanatic. There’s something about breakfast food that just seems (and tastes) so right.  I recently happened upon something that has become a total obsession: Fried Eggs with Browned Butter.

I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious they are.

I came across the idea for this Kentucky Recipe in a little cookbook from 1940. The recipe was for poached eggs with browned butter but, if we’re being honest, I don’t like poached eggs as well as fried eggs – so I went with my preferred egg approach.

Having said (and done!) that, make no mistake about it, poached eggs with browned butter would be equally delicious I’m sure.

Fried Eggs
First up, my “go to” method for frying eggs:

  1. I use a smaller skillet because I’m kind of crazy about the way two eggs become one while they’re frying.
  2. I start things off with a little butter and olive oil in the skillet. When the butter is nearly all the way melted, I add the eggs and cook them over medium until the edges begin to set.
  3. I add salt, pepper, and parsley flakes as the eggs are cooking. If I’m not adding browned butter, I also add Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (a favorite resident in my seasonings and spices cabinet).
  4. Sometimes I’ll flip the eggs over for an “over easy” approach, other times I’ll go with eggs “Sunny Side Up.”  When I’m adding a sauce, I flip them over and actually go a little bit past “over easy” simply because I don’t want the sauce and yolk fighting for attention.

{Browned Butter Eggs Recipe Continued Below…}

Eggs with Browned Butter and Bacon
Eggs Without Bacon? I Don’t Think So.
While the eggs are cooking (and while the bacon is finishing up), I melt a few tablespoons of butter in a small skillet. You will be tempted to stop it from cooking too early, but you have to resist the urge to take it off of the heat. The flavor magic happens when it browns and you have to leave it there in order for this to happen. You need to simmer the butter for a few minutes in the pan, then add a little bit of fresh parsley or sprinkling of dried parsley flakes.

After you’ve put your fried eggs onto your plate, drizzle browned butter on top.  The flavor will kind of catch you off guard – it’s phenomenal.

Browned Butter
The Flavor of Browned Butter is Magical
Browned butter has more flavor than you can even imagine. Mind you, butter is a superstar all by itself, but when it “tans,” it is outrageously delicious.

Browned butter is also great on mashed potatoes, rice, and pasta. If (like us) you love to mash or “rice” cauliflower, you’ll find that it and browned butter are meant for one another.  Browned butter is also perfect with just about any roasted vegetable you can think of.

Granted, browned butter on eggs may not win any beauty pageants, but the flavor is mind-blowing. Trust me – this is something you’ll want to try asap.

As if the flavorful recipe needs a bonus – here’s a great one. Breakfast meals are incredibly cheap and Bacon and Eggs with Browned Butter is about as inexpensive as it gets.

 

Eggs with Browned Butter and Bacon

GENUINE Kentucky Recipes

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Pepper Relish on Hamburgers

Hamburgers with Pepper Relish

Ever have an idea that was “a long time coming,” as our grandparents would say? One that was so perfect and so seemingly meant to be that you kick yourself for not thinking of it sooner?

That’s where I am right now.

FACTS:

  1. I am an avid cook and have been since I was 19 years old. Growing up, I was a spoiled only child (yep, one of those) who never had to do laundry, help with cooking, help with chores, etc. All that was asked of me was to get good grades in school, feed our cats and dogs, play softball, and look cute.  Okay, so the last wasn’t actually asked of me, I just figured it couldn’t hurt, you know? When I got married at 19, I had to learn how to cook, like, immediately. There were no Food Network, YouTube videos, or Google to turn to. Just me and an artillery of confusing-looking (to me, anyway) pots, pans, gizmos, and gadgets that had been given to me at our shower. I tried to act like I knew what was going on at the shower, itself, but have to confess – when one of my mom’s co-workers gave me a set of kitchen tools that included a mallet, I asked, “What’s this weapon?” They laughed. They did the same when I combed my hair with the pasta lifter. Good times, good times. Anyway – I not only taught myself to cook, I fell head over heals in love with the process. I just wanted to cook all the time. Other wives would be complaining about “having to cook” and wanting to “go out to cook so someone else does all the work,” and I’d be like, “Pfft, my food tastes better and it’s so FUN to CREATE!”
  2. We raised three beautiful daughters on home-cooking and I never fell out of love with the process. We home-schooled our girls all the way through school, so they were always front and center when meals were coming together. During their high-school grades, I decided it would be really fun to create a website where I could accumulate my recipes, cooking tips, and so forth for my girls as well as other cooks.  I have published a food blog since and it’s one of my greatest joys.
  3. I collect cookbooks and have a collection numbering in the hundreds. Occasionally I even follow the recipes as written! However, my favorite thing to do is to take the recipes and put my own spin on them. My most treasured cookbooks are the really, really old ones – my “antique cookbooks,” as I call them.  Due to the fact that they were written so long ago, putting my spin on them isn’t just fun, it’s necessary. Measurements, ingredients, ovens, etc are often a world apart, so I often have to really play with and tweak the recipes sometimes – which, as you’d imagine is pure joy for me.
  4. I am all about my state of Kentucky! Born here, raised here, live here… never want to live anywhere. Well, until Heaven that is – and I read once that Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place, so we’re good.  In addition to my food blog, another of my favorite blogs is the one you’re on now… my Kentucky blog. Since many of my antique cookbooks are by Kentucky cooks (and, yes, I have to confess that they’re my favorites), two of my greatest passions collide and it’s perfectly delicious.

So, there are the facts. A Kentucky cook who gets pure, boundless joy from cooking and experimenting and perfecting old Kentucky recipes.

How have I not had a “Kentucky Recipes” section on Genuine Kentucky before now??!! Wait, I know, I know… too busy taking pictures of animals, birds, and trees. Let’s just be honest.

Well, it has occurred to me that I can still pamper my obsessions AND add Kentucky Recipes to the website – so that’s where we’ere headed here.  I will be regularly adding (amid the Kentucky events, reviews, birds, animals, and trees) my favorite Genuine Kentucky Recipes and I am really  anxious to see the collection grow.  

When I post a recipe, you can know with 100 percent certainty that I have, personally, tried, tested, and tweaked the recipe. It will be my own take on a genuinely old Kentucky recipe. You’ll be able to see that I’ve made it, myself, by the pictures. So, if I’m making the recipe, you can bet your bottom dollar (and anyone else’s you get your paws on) that there will be no possum, bison, elk, squirrel, rabbit, or pigeon recipes. I have actually come across recipes for these beautiful animals and make a sour puss face each and every time.

No. Thank. You!

What You Can Expect from the Genuine Kentucky Recipes:

  1. I have to eat gluten-free (health reasons), so all of my recipes here will be gluten-free. This is a very healthy way to eat whether you have a health condition or not, so I hope you’ll give them a go. Eating gluten-free doesn’t involve putting anything strange or different into your recipes – it simply means leaving them out or replacing them with gluten-free options. For example, when frying fish or chicken, I use Rice Flour instead of wheat flour. You don’t taste the difference.
  2. Speaking of “healthy” eating, I use a LOT of vegetables and other healthy ingredients when I cook for my family – so you’ll a lot of Kentucky Recipes here that aren’t just good… they’re good for you. I’m kind of obsessed with working healthy veggies into as many meals as possible – it helps you reach your daily requirement goals for vegetables and it kicks up the layers of flavor in your meals, which is always a great thing.
  3. As expected, you’ll see my personal favorite foods and ingredients fairly often – eggs, peppers, shallots, parsley, chives, Gouda cheese, green onions, broccoli, seasoned salt, paprika, vanilla extract, fresh black pepper, Monterrey Jack cheese, white cheddar cheese, spinach, limes, bacon, thyme, grass-fed ground beef, citrus fruit zest, cumin, kale, grits, basil, bacon, fish.. these are just some of the foods I love and find a way to work them in regularly.
  4. Given my great passion for Kentucky products, you can bet I’ll highlight as many of them as possible. Kentucky food, coffee, spices, seasonings, etc. will be highlighted regularly. 

Pictured At the Top: Hamburgers with Pepper Relish

As I said above, peppers of all shapes and sizes are a particular obsession of mine. They’re colorful, delicious, and good for you – what’s not to love?!?

Due to the fact that I had to start eating gluten-free a few years back, I began eating my hamburgers off of buns. While gluten-free bread IS available, my favorite way to eat hamburgers is either on a plate or wrapped up in a lettuce leaf blanket. I love to experiment with different toppings and sauces for burgers and, pictured here, is a simple Pepper Relish I made by adding colorful mini sweet peppers, a little Kosher salt, and a half of a jalapeno to the food processor and giving it a quick pulse. Delicious… and downright pretty, too.

Pictured Below: Fried Eggs, Bacon, Grits with Smoked Gouda Cheese

This Grits with Smoked Gouda Cheese recipe can be found on my food blog by clicking the link.  Just add fried eggs, bacon, green peppers, and grape tomatoes and you’ll have a bowl of insane deliciousness.

For the first entry in the Kentucky Recipes Collection, see Fried Eggs with Browned Butter (can you tell that I’m all about eggs???)

Other Recipes: (added as they’re published)

Cheese Logs (or Cheese Balls)

Crispy Kale Chips (With Bourbon-Smoked Sea Salt OR Regular Sea Salt)

Smoked Gouda Grits with Bacon and Fried Eggs

"When reading about a Kentucky event, please be sure you check the date. Old events are not always deleted from the website. If you have an event you'd like to see on Genuine Kentucky or a 'Made in Kentucky' food or product you'd like reviewed, please contact us! " ~ Joi ("Joy")

Flowering Tree in Bowling Green
Fraley Music Festival
Maddox