I sort of just discovered popcorn. I myself have eaten plenty of it in my life, of course, but until a few weeks ago, I had never served it to my chicks. To begin with, I have a fear of kids choking. In some ways, I'm a laid-back parent: I fully support things like jumping on my bed, writing on oneself with (washable) marker, and dressing in wildly mismatched outfits. But in other ways, I'm wholly un-laid-back, and my fear of choking falls in this realm.So the chicks had never eaten popcorn until we went to a birthday party recently, and my friend served popcorn as a snack. After the chicks made it through the party and did not, in fact, choke, I started to think that perhaps I should make popcorn. In the past I had only ever made microwave popcorn, but I haven't had a microwave since my last one caught on fire eight years ago. I was on the phone with a friend and heard static, and upon walking into the kitchen I saw that there were sparks and flames in the microwave flashing about according to the sound pattern of the static in my ear. Needless to say, I'm a little disturbed by microwaves.
For some reason I was under the impression that making popcorn without a microwave is hard. And it turns out that it's pretty much one of the easiest things you can cook. How did I not know this? So now that I've discovered popcorn, I can't stop serving it. So far, we've only eaten it sprinkled with nutritional yeast, a favorite in our home. I'd like to branch out though, so I've looked around online for some popcorn ideas. Here's what I found:
**butter, parmesan, and rosemary
**Sesame Ginger Popcorn: This recipe calls for way too much sugar (not to mention corn syrup), but I'd like to revise it for a healthier version--ginger on popcorn sounds delicious.
**variations on a cracker-jack type thing: Again, most of these recipes require too much sugar, but what I like about this is the addition of nuts which elevates popcorn to a more substantial snack. I'm thinking of something like a cracker-jack/trail mix hybrid.
It turns out that popcorn is also (slightly) healthier than I had imagined. I always thought it was sort of a "nothing" food (plain popcorn, that is), but it does contain fiber and protein. And when paired with something like nutritional yeast, it becomes more purposeful.
So perhaps I'll be posting some fun popcorn recipes soon if the chicks don't tire of it or if I don't fall into the trap of overusing it.
How do you eat your popcorn?
6 comments:
I LOVE popcorn with nutritional yeast. And I know what you mean about the choking thing. My bank gives out free popcorn (all hydrogenated awfulness) on Fridays. And last time we were there the kids got some and hopped back in the bike trailer onbly to get a huge lecture from me on Chewing Very Slowly and if your sibling looks wierd shout out to me immediately. Oh, is that awful?
Yea for fast, easy, cheap snacks! I usually just serve with salt, but for Halloween made popcorn balls using this recipe: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,161,145184-241192,00.html yum!
I've never tasted nutritional yeast; I think I need to! My grandpa always had popcorn in the house, and growing up I ate it like cold cereal with milk and a little sugar!
As good as it is to be safe, I'm always struck by how much fear we mothers are taught. Did you ever read or look at the book What To Expect When You Are Expecting? It's a book of possible problems, there's no celebration or beauty in it. I gave that book right back to the used book store and found myself Birthing From Within. Wow, what a difference!
I'm glad you and the chicks have discovered popcorn as a snack. I also love that you categorized it as "healthy eating"! It actually is in its pure form. It would be a good gluten-free snack for us. As a child we had a popcorn maker and I always thought that you need one to make popcorn, but as J. recently told me, you just need a pot.
Did you see the post on making popcorn balls on the Imagine Childhood blog? They made a whole edible solar system out of popcorn. There's a science unit for you!!! :) E.
Popcorn is my mom's favorite food and we ate it in my house growing up ALL THE TIME. It was a light dinner, a snack or dessert. I have so many memories of being up in my room and hearing the popcorn popper fire up (a dull humming noise) and soon my brother, sister and I were all gathered around the bowl waiting for it to be ready. My mom would usually make it with butter, yeast and "Spike" (an herb mix). My mom called the yeast "brersjest" and I was in high school by the time I realized this was "brewer's yeast." (My cousin's had the same problem, as their mom made popcorn the same way and they even tried to go to a store once to try to buy "brersjest" without much success). I recently bought an air popper too, and have been making a lot of popcorn since then.
Funny, in all of my 'make it from scratch' frenzy I've yet to make homemade popcorn. The hubby still makes those microwavable bags (ack!) I'm more afraid of those bags than I am of the choking. Do you buy organic corn?
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