Kale in the Air Fryer

We love kale chips and I thought the air fryer might be a good option instead of heating up the big oven.

They were amazing cooked in the air fryer. They were very light, crunchy and not greasy at all.

Kale Cooked in Air Fryer

The fresh kale was washed, stem/spines removed and dried in the salad spinner. I tore the larger pieces into smaller pieces, put them in a large bowl, tossed with a bit of olive oil and added my favorite cajun spice - Slap Ya Mama. The air fryer was preheated at 390° and then the kale was cooked for about 8 minutes.

Perfect!

Small Cake in the Air Fryer

With there being just two of us, and with us trying to eat healthy, I had given up on making cakes or pies because we would either eat the whole thing or we'd throw half of it out, neither of which is a good idea.

A while back, I started making small cakes which are just single layers and baked in a 4-1/2" pan. My favorite pan is a 4-1/2" spring form pan because it's very easy to remove the cake from the pan.

The basic recipe I use for a small cake is this:

Small Cake Recipe:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 large egg
3/4 cup flour
1 scant tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 - 3/4 cup buttermilk (You can substitute whole milk but use 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cream butter and sugar together.
3. Beat in egg.
4. Mix flour, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl. Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture.
5. Start by adding 1/2 cup buttermilk and add more if needed to get a smooth batter.
6. Add vanilla extract.
7. Pour into greased and floured pan. (I use Baker's Joy.)
8. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

With this cake, you can add any variety of items but adjust the buttermilk if you're adding something with liquid/juice.

I have added (not at all at the same time):

• Maraschino cherries (chopped)
• Fresh peaches
• Bananas (mashed) and chopped walnuts
• Chocolate Chips
• Strawberries (cut into small pieces)

I figured I could make this in the air fryer without heating up the big oven.

Make sure that the pan you plan to use will fit down in the air fryer.

Preheat the cooker at about 310°.

Place the cake in the cooker and cook until a toothpick comes out clean. Start testing after about 20 minutes.

Removing the pan from the tray may be a bit tricky. I used two pairs of tongs and grabbed the pan on opposite sides and lifted it right out.

Once the cake is completely cooled, ice with your favorite icing. I usually mix up just a bit of melted butter, powdered sugar and milk. Depending on what I've added to the cake, I might add almond extract or lemon extract or sprinkle a few chocolate chips or shavings over the icing.

It really is about a perfect size for two. Above, two slices had been cut. This will last us several days, which is as long as any cake needs to be around here.

Bacon in the Air Fryer

In the Amazon review area, questions had been asked about cooking bacon in the air fryer and the general consensus was that there was too much fat and it would smoke and possible be a fire hazard. I have tried every way I know to cook bacon without it being messy. I am not a fan of the microwave. In fact, we have one but it's in the laundry room. I tried cooking bacon in the oven but for just the two of is, it seems like a waste to heat up the oven for that, and worse - I store a lot of cast iron cookware in the oven so that all has to come out before cooking bacon. I always go back to cooking it in a skillet on top of the stove. Even with a tall sided skillet and a lid, I end up with bacon grease splattering on the stove.

I figured the worst that could happen was that the fryer would create a lot of smoke but I would watch it carefully and try to cook bacon in there.

Bacon Cooked in Air Fryer

The bacon strips were cut in half. The temp on the fryer was turned down to 330°. I set the timer for about 15 minutes but after 6 minutes, I was seeing a bit of white smoke so I turned the fryer off and let it cool down for a few minutes, then turned it back on and flopped the bacon over. After 5 more minutes, it was perfectly cooked. There was barely any grease left on the bacon.

I would not recommend leaving the fryer unattended while cooking bacon and I would recommend buying a lower fat bacon, for health reasons as well as for cooking in the fryer but I suppose talking about eating healthy and eating bacon do not fit well together.

Bacon Grease

The photo above shows how much grease was drained from the pan after frying 4 whole slices of bacon.

This will definitely be our new method for cooking bacon.

Philips Air Fryer

A friend has been posting on Facebook about how much she loves her air fryer. For several months, I've almost ordered one but reading the reviews on Amazon, I kept reading "It's just a convection oven". There are too many gadgets in our small house so I kept convincing myself that I didn't need an air fryer until finally, I said "What the heck! Just get it!" I ordered the Philips HD 9220/26 model.

There is also a digital model but there's only the timer that has to be manually set because I almost always leave it on 390°. I figured for the difference in price, and hopefully less to go wrong, I'd order the manual model. Also, there's an XL version but for the two of us, we've not had the need for anything larger than the size I'm using.