Recipes

If you live near a Whole Foods, Sprouts, or similar store, you have probably see the bulk Veggie Chips – sweet potatoes, green beans, taro, carrots, beets, and loads of other veggies – made crispy and delicious, BUT covered in oil and normally about $8.99 per pound. Yes, I love them, but if I am going to spend $9 on chips and countless calories, I will always choose 3 bags of Cape Cod Russet Kettle Cooked Potato Chips. (Don’t try them, you will dream about them.) However, I really do love these veggie chips and have always wondered how to make a healthier version. I have tried numerous oven baked recipes, but I usually only like the results for kale and beet chips. Everything else burns before it gets crispy enough.

Enter my new favorite appliance, the dehydrator. Recently I have learned you can make all sorts of incredible veggie chips (and jerky) with a dehydrator. You control the amount of oil and the spices, so the options are endless. After reading some reviews on dehydrators I learned it is important to always choose a dehydrator with temperature and time control, as well ample space since everything is generally sliced thin. I went for the Excalibur 9 Tray Dehydrator, which was a bit of a splurge but based on reviews seems to be the best out there. I read that there are also very good mid range models as well from Nesco. You also may want to invest in a mandoline to slice things very thin if you don’t have one already. A vegetable peeler can also work. I have already experimented with lots of things, but here is one of my new favorites – yummy veggie chips. The recipe and photo today are courtesy of Urban Veganista. My camera wasn’t working right and I lost patience.

Weight Watchers Veggie Chips
Points: 1 Weight Watchers PointsPlus
Servings: 2
Serving Size: 1/2 recipe
Nutritional Info: 48.7 calories, 2.3 g of fat, 7.1 of carbohydrates, 2.5 g of fiber 1.2 g of protein

Ingredients
2 zucchini
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Instructions
1. Using a mandolin, slice the zucchini thinly and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.

2. Lay out on the dehydrator without Teflex or parchment to make sure they get nice and crispy.

3. Dehydrate for four hours at 140 degrees. Enjoy!