Homemade Popcorn Made Easy
Conspicuously reaching for my bag of chips during class, I reach down silently and pull it out. Right before I am about to celebrate my triumph, I take my first bite into the perfectly seasoned salt and vinegar flavored chip, and suddenly I have stolen the students attention away from the professor. All eyes are on me watching as I munch away, all my hard work in for meticulous about my quiet snack operation had been undone with just one bite.
Needless to say potato chips do not fall under the approved list of quiet snacks to have during class, movies, meetings, etc. But you know what is?..POPCORN! Even quieter and significantly cheaper than prepackaged popcorn is homemade popcorn that you can ration off in individual ziplock bags, eliminating the crackling of typical store-bought packaging.
The beauty of making you own popcorn is how affordable it is. You can go to Trader Joe’s and buy a bag of organic popcorn kernels for $2.99. Lets just say I make popcorn at least once a week and I still have a quarter of my bag left that I bought it two months ago. It is the equivalent of the Mary Poppins handbag, where the joy just keeps coming out.
Firstly, it is significantly healthier than store-bought popcorn because you are moderating all the ingredients that are added. Second and most importantly, you can make different flavored popcorn. My favorite type is herbed popcorn, which I add cilantro, basil, and thyme. All the seasonings you would like to add are most likely already in your cupboard or refrigerator. You can even make sweet popcorn by adding caramel, cinnamon, allspice, or drizzling some hot chocolate once it is popped. Most of the time, I add the ingredients before the kernels have even popped but you can also add additional toppings once popped such as grated parmesan, hot sauce, or melted butter. You can layer the bottom of the pot with olive oil, but there are guilty times that after I have fried bacon, I use the grease pop the kernels for a little bacon flavored action!
Since I have discovered the ease and joy of popping my favorite snack, I have saved lots of money and most importantly, I have saved myself from countless embarrassing snack episodes in quiet rooms.