Togarashi Collard Chips

It’s inevitable: the boat will get rocked. Things will get crazy, routines will get scrambled, normalcy will be temporarily forgotten. But when the boat gets rocked, it will eventually rock itself out and back to it’s usual state. The sun will come out and things will get back on track.

My boat recently got pretty rocked with an intense work deadline. I paused a lot of my personal routines to focus on making the deadline and once I reemerged from the rocky waters, I could tell it took some kind of toll. I stopped working out, I ate out more than I normally do, I made some food choices more often than my normal ones, and I visited the work kitchen a little too often when the murmurs of treats in the kitchen filtered through the cubes. On a bigger scale, I also haven’t been checking in my fullness enough and have been eating more than my body needed at the time.

As I raise the sails to keep forging on in the waters, I’ve brought some of my better habits back to into focus. I’m back to working out daily, making more conscious food choices, listening to my hunger, and bringing healthier snacks to work to avoid the office kitchen.

I’m an equal opportunity snacker. I can be in the mood for a sweet snack one time and a savory one the next. When the sweet mood hits, I’ll grab some dates or a banana. When a savory mood hits, I like to go for greens chips. They have the crunch and salt of a potato chip or cracker, but without the grains. And you can never have enough greens! Kale chips are becoming more ubiquitous, but the baked leafy greens don’t have to stop with kale.

Collards are also a great option for a greens chip, are slightly easier to prep than kale, and are packed with great vitamins and minerals that keep you going through the day and not put you into a slump like some other snacks.

For these chips I added a kick with togarashi, a Japanese pepper and spice blend. It’s not too hot, but if you’re sensitive to heat I would recommend trying a bit before covering your greens with them. You can get togarashi in a Japanese/international grocery store or in the ethnic aisles of your grocery store.

One bunch of collards should last one person a few snacking sessions, but if your table is a little bigger, you may want to double the recipe. They may not taste like potato chips, but they’re just as irresistible.

Want more collard green dishes from this series? You can find them here:
Nutrition DL: Collard Greens
Spicy Sauteed Collard Greens

This recipe is part of a series called Nutrition DL. Nutrition DL gives you the download on seasonal fruits, vegetables, or pantry staples. Once you learn about the basics of the featured ingredient, I share a four recipes over four weeks to inspire and feed you with this great seasonal food. Check out other foods I’ve covered here.