Thursday, February 16, 2012

Neglecting my blog & Best way to make a good healthy snack aka popcorn

First off.. Sorry blog. I've been a bad blog owner. In between the move to SoCal - Hermosa Beach, finally healing up from surgery, then getting the Gardasil or HPV vaccine and having severe repercussions... and just LIFE. But hey! Enough about that. 2011 sucked. 2012 I'm getting into the best shape of my life, running a marathon, entering in a NPC bikini contest, getting closer to God, being a better friend, girlfriend, daughter and just being a better me. Not a New Years Resolution... more so making up for lost time and feeling more motivated then ever before.

So why am I back? I want to share how to make a healthy snack that is not only filling but helps me also combat cravings for other more guilty things. For some reason lately I have been on a sugar craving kick.. and I'm not usually a sweets kind of person.

Microwave popcorn is not only expensive but not usually not very healthy either and usually had a ton of kernels left over. But homemade popcorn seems like such a mystery to some or creating the perfect homemade popcorn seems like a craft.

Here is homemade popcorn demystified. Whole Foods has kernels for super cheap in the bulk bins. But you can find just kernels almost anywhere.

What you need is:

-3qt saucepan 
-about 3 TB oil (canola, peanut, grapeseed - has to have a high smoke point) 
-1/3 cup kernels 
-salt and then whatever you would like to add for me this case it was cinnamon. 
But you can add: nutritional yeast, shredded parmesan, cayenne, chili powder, curry powder, cumin etc!

(Note: I put the salt in the oil first as it distributes it nicely - just go easy you can always add but not subtract) Now here's the trick - heat the oil on med/high heat and throw in 2-3 kernels, when they pop evenly layer the 1/3 cup and REMOVE FROM THE HEAT and count to 30 then place it back on the heat and they will rapidly pop, try to shake the pan back and forth but also try and let the steam escape so they get nice and crunchy and then remove from the heat when you hear a couple seconds in between pops! Quickly place into a bowl and add whatcha want! I did a few shakes of cinnamon and it was so yummy!! It gave me my sweets fix, with my crunch fix, with my snack fix haha.



Just a quick little snack to get back into the blog but more to come!



1 comment:

  1. I LOVE popcorn… I was just flirting with the idea of making a bag but decided against it since the babe is asleep. Thanks for the tip! I love how cinnamon can curb a sweet craving without actually consuming any sugar. Yum!!

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