Stove-popped thyme popcorn*
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 9:37PM 
You may have read about how standing at the dairy display, struggling over my weekly yogurt purchase, was giving me sweaty palms but the news today is that the time I am spending in the snack aisle lately is making me just plain old mad. A few months ago I made a decision. No more high fructose corn syrup in this house. No more. And then I decided that it would be nice to have a few child-friendly snacks around for a play date we had coming up.
What I discovered is that if you would like to buy a cracker with no high fructose corn syrup, you are going to have to settle for one with enough sodium to make your child float in the bathtub or one containing enough saturated fat to warrant your starting a bypass surgery trust fund in his name.
Twenty minutes and a headache later, I realized that the convenience of these boxes of snacks is not all that convenient. I could have whipped up something corn-syrup-free at home and slipped it into the oven by the time I resigned myself to the futility of finding a whole-grain, low-fat, low-sodium package of snacks free from artificial colors and high fructose corn syrup that cost less that four dollars a box.
I think there is a whole series here. In this year of taking things a little more slowly, the next item on my list of problems that need creative solutions is this: Snack Food.
Partly because our microwave was broken for over a year and partly because of my attempts at eliminating the instant from our diet, lately I have been popping popcorn. Old school. On the stove. In a pot. I know that popcorn is not a Superfood and I hope to offer you some nutrient-packed, homemade and convenient snack options soon, but since the idea for this post grew out of my struggle to purchase the perfect cracker, this crunchy, savory, classic snack food seems as good a place as any to begin.
Have you ever cooked popcorn on the stove? It is incredibly easy. And a bag of popping corn is much less expensive than a box of the microwave variety. I follow the directions on the bag almost exactly. It calls for three tablespoons of oil but I have found that if you use a small pot, you can get away with much less. I use about a tablespoon of canola oil along with a third of a cup of popping corn. Since one batch easily feeds four people, each one of us is getting less than a teaspoon of the oil. Most dietary recommendations of late suggest at least two teaspoons of heart healthy oils like canola a day so this is one fantastic way of getting in these healthy fats.
When the popcorn is popped, I sprinkle it very lightly with olive oil and even more lightly with kosher salt. Finally, I add about a pinch, or several hearty shakes, of dried thyme. Delicious. And I am in control of all of the ingredients. Have I mentioned yet how wonderful the house smells after preparing a batch? What a way to greet your guests.
Quick brainstorming about ways to vary the approach to this easy snack solution brought me to a few combinations I am hoping to try. How about using a very light drizzle of sesame oil and some black pepper? Or flaxseed oil and some Pecorino Romano cheese? Or you could make it spicy with some fresh cilantro and chili powder or cumin.
Any other ideas?
*This blog post is part of SteadyMom’s 30-Minute Blog Post Challenge. This challenge stems out of her recent blogging resolutions and her attempts at reminding the rest of us who blog about all things family to put down the laptops and be preset to our children. SteadyMom challenged us to complete an entire post, start to publish, in 30 minutes today. I must confess that I downloaded and formatted my photos in a separate session while I was doing photos for work but I am considering that the trade off for the fact that while I was writing, my lovely niece called to quiz us on our ability to name all 50 states for a school project. It was a little hard to focus on writing while listening to my husband chanting, “North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, South Carolina…” If you haven’t checked out SteadyMom.com yet, do so now. You will love her.
Reader Comments (18)
i can't stand microwave popcorn. mainly because growing up, we always popped it on the stove. also, because i like really salty popcorn, and they just don't make it that way. i however, do not make mine remotely healthy. have always made it in a small pot with little bit of oil and a 1/2c of kernels (i pretty much just gestimate now, but growing up it was always a 1/2c).. butter, salt, and then because i don't like garlic powder to flavor, i use garlic salt on mine. yummy yum. makes me kind of sad that i'm pretty much out of popcorn and can't make any tonight. i don't buy a lot of snacks, so popcorn is the one snacky thing i try to keep stocked. cause nothing is better than curling up with a good book and a bowl of popcorn..
I've been popping my popcorn on the stove for a while now--very easy, thanks to Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.
I prefer just kosher salt and fresh black pepper...shake in a paper bag to get every piece flavored. Or, I sometimes mix raisins and sliced almonds in...the oils from the almonds and the sweet stickiness of the raisins rub off on the popcorn when tossed in a bag...or a big enough bowl.
I hear nutritional yeast is good too, but I haven't been brave enough to try it.
We recently starting popping popcorn on the stove top too. My kids had a blast watching the "jumping" kernels through the glass lid. So it can be both entertaining and healthy! Thanks for the flavor ideas. I'd like to perfect a cinnamon version, but haven't found the optimal blend yet.
Emily, your new banner is steller and it looks great. I'm a popcorn fan and I enjoyed our post.
we always had stove popped corn growing up. now i do air popped. i don't like the fake microwave stuff. my brother loves to try new popcorn recipes. i will pass this on to him!
nicola
http://whichanme.blogspot.com
I love love LOVE stove popped popcorn with just a bit of melted butter. Nothing better than that on a Friday movie night!
Have you ever seen these? Technically they are for toddlers but they are quite tasty... I think as long as you took them out of the package so the kids didn't realize they are a "baby" food they'd probably scarf them down. I think as far as processed snacks go they're pretty good. I can't go to the Gerber page to find the product site with the nutritional info because I'm not a US resident (how weird is that!) but here's the amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Graduates-Crunchies-Veggie-1-48-Ounce/dp/B000MXJR68/ref=pd_sbs_gro_3
No added sugar, 1.5 g of fat per 16 pieces (my can doesn't break that down) - a little high on the sodium (what isn't) - but at 50mg per 16 pieces, I think they're better than a lot of snacks out there.
I'm one of those people who burn things on the stove... so microwave popcorn it is for me. I can set the timer and let it be :)
As as kid we ALWAYS jus had microwave popcorn. My husband got me started with REAL popcorn though. We make it in an an air popper that he got for Christmas one year. Put a little butter and salt on it and it's amazing.
The whole snack issue has been bothering me lately too. I just made up a batch of homemade graham crackers yesterday and boy are we loving them.
Thanks for the great post!
Greta,
Homemade graham crackers sound wonderful. Did you post your recipe?
Emily
I am not brave enough to try popping my own popcorn, but we do have an airpopper that I love. It's healthy and green (no extra packaging to throw out). I bet my kids would love to play with the flavors, though - especially raisins and almonds (and cranberries!).
I just recently resurrected the air popper because we were - gasp - out of microwave popcorn packages. Next time I went to the store I bought more plain old popcorn. A friend pointed out that it is a good fiber source if nothing else. We aren't too creative with the flavor - a little butter and salt go a long way. A friend of ours had a popcorn party and asked people to bring different flavors to top it all. We had some really creative options. The cheese toppings seemed most popular.
We moved to Africa two and half years ago and moved away from pre-packaged foods. And although, when we visit the US, we will eat our share of gold fish and cheerios and other things we can't get, I have really enjoyed being forced to rethink snacks and meals in general. So, here, I do pop my corn on the stove. I also find that home made crutons made from leftover baguettes make my little ones happy. Or just a slice of home made bread. Or even better, we snack on apples and bananas throughout the day. I love this post and the 30 minute challenge. So cool!
so much is better taken slow... the world races, to what end? thank you for the reminder this morning emily. and for visiting my blog. bless you, e.
I just made some popcorn for a snack last night (I admit it was one of the low fat microwave kinds)... I gave it a quick quirt of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and then thought of your blog post. I went ahead and added some smoked paprika to the popcorn too. It was delicious! I can't wait to have it again tonight!
We eat stove-popped popcorn almost every single day. and somedays, it-- and a ltitle heap of leftovers-- is what's for dinner. We like it plain, or with a little salt, although we've been known to to garlic it, cumin it, and just about every other spice in our rack has made its way, at some point, into the bowl:) Do your kids like granola? That's another easy-to-make HFC-free snack:)
Oh, granola! Great idea!
I love popcorn! I make mine with peanut oil....just delish! Another great snack idea is homemade granola with almonds and pecans. It's one of those snacks that you can keep in the cookie jar and just grab a handful whenever you feel the munchies coming on :) I appreciate your honesty here. I have a rough time in the snack aisle myself. My feeling is that moderation is best. A few little cracker/pretzel type snacks won't hurt, but I'm not going to spend more than a few dollars in that aisle.