Week 8: Easy Microwave Popcorn

My boyfriend lovessss popcorn at the movies. I do too, with a Diet Coke. There is something great about watching a movie and eating popcorn. We have been watching more movies at home with Netflix and we were just missing the popcorn that we would get at the movies. Scott came across a simple easy recipe to make popcorn in the microwave. As a kid we had an air popper or used to buy that tin-foil type that you put over the stove burner and it would pop up like crazy!! I don’t have room for another kitchen appliance and those tin-foil type poppers take a little bit of work on my part, so this microwave popcorn recipe is simple, easy, and inexpensive.

I know this may seem pretty simple to make popcorn, just buy a bag from the store and stick it in the microwave and you are done, right? But, have you seen the price difference between buying a 6-pack box of popcorn vs. just a plain bag of unpopped popcorn kernels. The price difference is staggering, okay a few dollar difference, but is Orville’s popcorn worth a 10x difference in price? You are certainly paying for the convenience of a sealed bag of popcorn with processed ingredients? Here is a simple way to make popcorn in the same amount of time as the pre-packed stuff and add the flavorings you want to the popcorn. Nice, natural, and a little hillbilly.

Microwave Popcorn:

• ½ cup unpopped popcorn


• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil


• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
  

Special items needed: brown paper bag

Step 1: Mix together the unpopped popcorn and oil in a bowl. Use your hands, it’s fun and a good way to get messy. Now that your unpopped popcorn is nice and greasy, pour it into a brown paper lunch pag, and sprinkle in some salt. Fold the top of the bag over twice to seal. Make sure you have it standing upright. Don’t need to lay it down like the store bought sealed bags.

Step 2: Cook in the microwave at full power for 2 ½ to 3 minutes, or until you hear pauses of about 2 seconds between pops. Carefully open the bag to avoid steam, and pour into a serving bowl. Don’t get greedy and try and pop all the kernels, popcorn is cheap, stop popping when you hear time between pops. The last thing you want is a house filled with burnt popcorn smell. Yuck!

Experiment with different types of oils, olive, walnut oil, etc. to add different flavors and try flavored salts to add an interesting taste. I have truffle salt, vanilla salt, and lavender salt that I am going to try next. Yeah, that is it. Inexpensive, healthy, and a quick snack. Enjoy!

Recipe credit to: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Microwave-Popcorn/Detail.aspx