RECIPE: poppin' kernels

Looking for a healthy snack?  How does olive oil popcorn with rosemary garlic salt sound to you?  Sounded pretty good to me too.  You're probably wondering where you might procure such a thing.  As it turns out, from your kitchen, because popcorn is super easy to make!  Who knew?!  Not me.

On our grocery list last week, Pancake added a jar of popcorn kernels.  No flavors.  No additives.  Just the kernels.  I thought....hold on, you can buy just the kernels?  Yup.  Once I saw the jar, I started thinking creative popcorn thoughts.  I always prefer savory to sweet, so I headed to our spice cabinet for inspiration.  A few minutes later, I had olive oil popcorn with rosemary garlic salt.  Here's how to do it:

In a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder) put:

1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Then just grind away until you have a powder.

Now for the popcorn.

In a flat-bottom pan pour *2 tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil*.  Turn the heat to medium high and put one kernel of corn in the pan.

When that lonely little kernel pops, add 1/3 cup (or more) of kernels to the pan and cover (but make sure to only go one kernel deep).  The kernels will start popping immediately.  Shake the pan to move the kernels around.  They'll all pop in around a minute or so.

Once all your kernels pop, congratulations, you've made popcorn!  It doesn't really taste that great yet though (kind of like salad before you add the dressing).  In a bowl, add 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Now just add some popcorn to the bowl, mix it into the olive oil, and then sprinkle your rosemary garlic salt on top.  Taste it.  If it's delicious, then keep eating.  If not, add more seasoning.

It took very little of the seasoning to flavor the popcorn, so I have a bunch left over.  That means that the next time I want to have olive oil popcorn with rosemary garlic salt, it will take about the same amount of time as putting one of those bags in the microwave.

As an added bonus, this was a great project to do with Stinky Face.  She really liked pouring the kernels into the pan and seeing them pop.  Plus, she was proud that she "made" the popcorn.

Happy popping!

Bye for now,
TJ

***Note:  I've been toying with removing the canola oil all together, and popping in a dry pan.  I've done it a half dozen times or so, and it's worked out great.  Give it a try, and let me know in the comments if it works for you
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