Popcorn galore

Here at our humble little abode, we are fans of popcorn. We prefer to pop our own popcorn and season it ourselves. Once we tried it this way, we just couldn't go back to microwave popcorn. (Not to mention microwaves are bad and my good pal who informed me of this should really do a post on her new blog about that!!! HINT!)

We had been popping our little kernels in oil on the stove the old fashioned way, but one day we found ourselves a nifty little gadget at a rummage sale. Here it is: Presto Pop Lite. So for $2.00 we were able to pop our popcorn, without oil, which saved bundles on the calories and fat. (Which of course justifies being able to eat the whole bowl then) Since then, we've gotten creative with our use of toppings. I've come across some fun little recipes which I'll post below, so give 'em a try if you're ever in the mood for something new!

As far as buttering your popcorn goes, do keep in mind that you can use anything you want. It doesn't HAVE to be butter. As weird as it may sound, we have switched to drizzling extra virgin olive oil over our popcorn before seasoning. I use a lot of it in my cooking, so we are used to the flavor of it already, but if you're not used to it, it may take a few tries. But it's a much healthier alternative, because really all you need it something to help make the seasoning stick. Keep in mind these recipes are for 4 cups of popcorn, so you probably have to double the recipe. Oh and we usually used butter for these recipes if it specifically says to combine it with butter. NOM NOM NOM

Recipes:
Honey Pecan: Combine 2 T melted butter and 2 T honey, toss with 4 cups prepared unbuttered popcorn and 1/4 c chopped pecans.

Parmesan: Toss 1/4 c grated parm cheese and 1 t grated lemon zest with 4 cups buttered popcorn

Maple Vanilla: Stir 2 T maple syrup and 1/2 t vanilla extract into 2 T melted butter; toss with 4 cups prepared unbuttered popcorn.

Curry: Mix 1 T sugar, 1 t curry powder and 1/4 t ground cumin; toss with 4 cups buttered popcorn.

Smoky Chili: Toss 4 cups buttered popcorn with a mix of 1 t smoked paprika and 1 t chili powder.

**These next recipes don't say how much popcorn these mixes are good for, so just eyeball it and mix extra if needed.

Cocoa: 2 T of instant hot cocoa mix plus 1 c of peanut butter chips

Pumpkin pie: 2 T sugar and 1 t pumpkin-pie spice plus 1 c of toasted pumpkin seeds.

Cinnamon Harvest: 2 T of cinnamon-and-sugar plus 1 c of craisins.


Our favs are Maple Vanilla and Curry. We weren't terribly impressed with Honey Pecan and haven't tried the rest yet. If you try any, leave a comment and let us all know how it went!