Quick Poppin' Post

This is just a quick post to tell you about the popcorn pin I saw on Pinterest that really works and you should try! I only tried this because my kids were begging for a different snack for their lunch boxes, and they suggested popcorn.  Now, they meant the super-ultra-buttery kind you pop in a red-and-white bag, of course, but I was willing to meet them halfway and give this post from One Good Thing By Jillee a try. All you need are a bowl (glass or ceramic), a plate (again, glass or ceramic), and some popcorn kernels.  No oil, no butter, no nothin'.  Oh, maybe a microwave, sorry.  My friend told me today that she learned in Kindergarten that inside each kernel of popcorn is a drop of moisture, which makes the kernel explode when it gets heated.  So why "They" try to sell us popped corn doused in butter, oils, and salt when none of those are needed to pop the corn is a mystery to me.

Microwaved popcorn ingredients: bowl, plate; kernels.

Here is all you need: a bowl, some popcorn kernels, and a plate that fits snugly on top of the bowl.  Cover the bottom of the bowl with a layer of kernels (some people try to give you a specific measurement—don't bother.  My microwave is tiny, so I used a small bowl.  Yours may be huge, and you may use a very large bowl.  Just experiment; it isn't difficult). Fit the plate on top (snugly).

Fit plate snugly on top of bowl

Set the timer on your microwave anywhere from 2 to 3 minutes.  Since my bowl was rather small, I worked in 2-minute increments.  Jillee says to microwave the kernels for 2 minutes, 45 seconds.  Since there isn't any oil in there, the kernels won't burn as quickly—although they WILL burn if left to go too long.  The end result is a nice bowl of tasty popcorn, sans oil, butter, salt, or fats. Yum!

Voilà! Popped corn!!

Easy, tasty, and totally possible to drizzle melted butter over if the mood strikes.  A bag of popcorn kernels is cheap ($2.50-ish for a 28-oz bag of organic kernels at Trader Joe's), takes up very little space, and will pop LOADS of popcorn.  Excellent snack for in kids' lunch boxes—especially if you keep it free of butters and salts.  Excellent snack for your own lunch box too!

So there you have it… my quick post about POPCORN.  Dirty microwave and all. =)
I have two more posts to write (but not tonight)—one about last night's dinner (slow cooker quinoa-red lentil soup), which was a big hit, and another one about tonight's dinner (goat cheese and leek pie) which was a HUGE hit.  However, you'll have to wait a while… I broke my arm/wrist and typing is laborious, especially at night (although I did get a pretty funky purple sparkly cast out of it).  It makes the blood rush into my hand, which is unpleasant. Sorry!