Orville's Dirty Little Secret
I'm not exactly what you would call "crunchy," unless we're talking about potato chips or candy bars, in which case, BRING ON THE CRUNCH! Um, yeah. I mean, I care about ingredients and I do prefer that I can actually pronounce everything that goes into our food, but I'm not exactly diligent about it.
(As if to prove my point, Alexis is, at this very moment, eating some yogurt that is so full of artificial crap that I think it would glow in the dark. ::sigh::)
However.
If I let myself think about it, I find myself banning things from our house. We don't do frozen pre-packaged meals. I'd rather make desserts from scratch than buy something from the aisles of a local grocery store. And microwave popcorn is on my list of Evil Things.
Have you read the ingredients? Trust me, you shouldn't. We've been doing stove top popcorn around here for the past few years. Not only did it allow me to banish the evil-sounding ingredients, but it meant I had a lot more control over the calories and fat in the popcorn. It's supposed to be a "healthy" snack, but some microwave popcorn is VERY VERY far from healthy. (BTW, if you're thinking I'm wrong, check the serving sizes on microwave popcorn. They're kind of ridiculous.) (I better not be the only person on earth who can eat an entire bag in one sitting, which is why "one cup popped" makes my head explode.) (Lie to me if I'm the only one who eats that much in one sitting.)
The stove top method works well for us, but now I've come across an even easier way. I think I first saw it on Lifehacker, but it seems like everybody is talking about it now. Just in case I wasn't the last person on earth to know that microwave popcorn could be super cheap and easy, I'm sharing. Buckle up!
All you need is popcorn kernels and a paper bag. Seriously.
I do 1/3 cup popcorn. That makes about 3 decent-sized bowls once popped, which is plenty for us. On the days that it's not, I just make more. Easy enough!
Pour the popcorn into the bag.
Fold the top of the bag over two or three times and then stick it in the microwave. Cook the popcorn until it stops making noise, which for me is about 3 minutes.
THAT'S IT.
It costs something like 10 cents to make popcorn this way, and I think most of that cost is for the actual bag. It's like magic, or something!
Once I add a little a little salt, Alexis is a happy camper.
However, my body is a finely tuned machine accustomed to much junk, artificial flavor, and tons of sodium. I make sure the popcorn doesn't cause me to go into convulsions by making it ranch-flavored.
I just sprinkle the Ranch dip mix over the cooked popcorn in place of salt. It's a happy thing.
If you already knew microwave popcorn could be so easy? I'M MAD AT YOU FOR NOT TELLING ME. If you didn't know? You're welcome.
Psst....more life-changing recipes and such are over at Rachel's place.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
