Healthy Snack Popcorn

I have a confession. I LOVE popcorn. I mean LOOOVE popcorn. Chris makes fun of  my popcorn habit at night but, I'm pretty sure I was raised on after dinner popcorn sessions. I'm not talking one bag for the whole family, oh no, we EACH had our own bag of Butter Lovers microwave popcorn. That's 400 calories right there, plus some chemicals and preservatives added in for good measure. The grandkids now know Grandma/Grandpa's house as the popcorn house. As soon as they get settled, no matter what time of day, the question inevitably comes, "can I have some popcorn?". It's cute and endearing, but not so healthy for us adults.

I have the snacking gene. I love to eat little finger foods full of crunchies so I had to find something that would fill this eating habit/motion/love. My sister showed me this neat trick of buying popcorn kernels, a brown bag and a microwave to get oil free, chemical free popcorn. Brilliant right?

Popping:
You'll need two things. 1. Brown Bag and 2. Popcorn Kernels. You can find a big bag of kernels in the grocery store for cheap in bulk. Buy the store brand. Making the popcorn is completely simple. You'll put two handfuls of kernels into the brown bag. Then, fold the top of the bag down one fold. Last step, place in microwave and press the popcorn regular button. That's it.

Seasonings:
My favorite is simple salt and cracked pepper, but you have so many options. Have fun.

• Spicy? Add cayenne and cracked red pepper
• Tangy? Add yellow pepper
• Mexican-y? Cumin and chili powder. 

Use your imagination and add you favorite toppings. 3 cups of popped popcorn with no calorie seasonings like the above suggested is about 100 calories. So, this is the perfect snacky food for you to munch on when you get the snacking bug or for your next movie night.