Delicious and Easy Microwave Popcorn

      Microwave popcorn is not a new idea and is something most people are familiar with. It is not very healthy though. There are usually many unpronounceable ingredients and chemicals listed on the packages. It is not that great to always be ingesting these. It is possible to have delicious, quick, and easy to make popcorn that does not come with ingredient lists that look like they are in another language. While looking through Not Your Mother's Microwave Cookbook by Beth Hensperger I came across a simple way to make popcorn. She calls it "Brown Bag Popcorn" and it is on page 47 of the aforementioned book. All you need is popping corn, and a brown paper lunch bag, salt and butter are optional. I like this method much better than buying bags of popcorn to pop because it tastes great and you actually know what you are eating. It is a much healthier alternative to what everyone thinks of being  "normal" microwave popcorn. To start put about 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl and heat it in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. Then you will need to measure a third of a
cup of popping corn and then pour that into your brown bag. Fold the top of the bag down and make sure it is securely closed. Do not use tape, staples, or paperclips though to close it. Folding the bag  down a few times and then turning the corners in should do the trick. Once it is tightly closed put it in the microwave to cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the popping has slowed and there are 2 to 4 seconds between each pop. Then add the butter and salt if you wish (Hensperger 47).
      On the following pages in her book Hensperger then gives seven recipes for types of popcorn such as  "Maggie's Parmesan and Garlic Popcorn and Bombay Curried Popcorn".
       There are also many recipes on Pinterest. The one that I chose to make was Oreo or Cookies and Cream Popcorn. I loosely followed this recipe, http://cincyshopper.com/oreo-popcorn/. I started by making the popcorn using the brown bag method. Then I adjusted the measurements for the oreo popcorn so they suited the amount I wanted to make. I took my white chocolate chips and melted them. Then I put a few oreos in a zip lock bag and sealed it. I proceeded to break up the oreo pieces by pressing on them through the bag. The directions said to use a food processor but I don't that it is realistic for college students to have them. The zip lock bag method worked  well
though, all it was for was to crumble the oreos. I put my popped kernels into a bowl and then drizzled the white chocolate over. The next step was adding the oreo pieces and mixing it all up. After that it was time to eat. This worked well but the one thing I would do differently next time would be to separate the unpopped kernels from the popped kernels. They ended up sticking together and it was not fun to have to pick them out after the chocolate was on them. Nevertheless it was a nice sweet treat. Not very healthy but it's okay sometimes. Everything in moderation.

Hover over the picture. I'm pin-able!

Bonus!

My roommate and I were a bit hungry one night, and as it was very close to the end of the semester we had a limited amount of food left in our room. There is a vending machine in our building that I had never used before and never wanted to use before. That night I had decided that I was going to get some Wheat Thins but of course the machine was not working. We decided to make popcorn but were not sure if it would fill us up enough if it was plain. One of the few other edible things in the room was Goldfish. They are not the healthiest thing in the world but they are baked and not fried. They do not have much trans fat or sugar and there is no cholesterol. They come in whole grain as well and these do have fiber. We were not sure if popcorn and Goldfish together would turn out well but we tried it anyway. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And we found out that combining Goldfish with popcorn is not half bad! Since the popcorn did not really have salt on it the Goldfish added some nice flavor and more "crunch". I think of it as being similar to the concept of a trailmix.