About 11 o'clock at night, my dad would put on his blue bathrobe, pop himself a big bowl of popcorn, and settle himself in front of the TV for the news or a snippet of a Laker game. He worked hard, rising at 5 for handball, running his own company, getting to all the sporting events of all 10 of us children, and keeping up with his leadership responsibilities at church. By 11 o'clock at night, he needed a snack and a break. Dad made his own popcorn on the stovetop, long before those oily yellow microwave packages were available.We were all supposed to be in bed, fast asleep, but when we'd smell homemade popcorn and hear the ping ping ping of the kernels exploding, we'd wander downstairs to try to spend a few minutes with Dad. This only worked if you came alone. If we came in twos, we'd get sent back to bed. You had to act fast if you wanted to be his one and only popcorn partner. Whoever came alone got some buttery handfuls and a few minutes with Pop. So, Dad, Happy Father's Day-and here's a pennywise tip for you, to keep you eating popcorn into the next few decades.
You can make homemade, from scratch microwave popcorn in minutes and for pennies-with no pot to clean and no harmful additives. All you need is a brown lunch bag, olive oil, and popcorn and a stapler. Oh, and a microwave of course. And salt and butter are always good.
Happy Father's Day, Big Stuff. No girl could have ever had a better dad.
Homemade Microwave Popcorn
Estimated Cost: 20 cents
Notes: The tiny staple will NOT cause sparks in the microwave. Be sure to remove it before you pour out the popcorn.
1/4 cup popcorn kernels1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pour 1/4 cup popcorn kernels into a brown paper lunch sack. Add olive oil and salt. Fold over and staple top of bag. Smooth bag to get rid of air, and rub kernels through bag to distribute oil. Pop for about 2 minutes, or until there are 3 seconds between pops. Pour into bowl and serve.
Yummy Variation:
Add 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary to bag. Toss popped popcorn with butter, parmesan and garlic powder.
Coming Tomorrow (Or Monday-we'll see...):
Food and Furthermore-Sending Out Blog Awards
9 comments:
Won't the staples cause sparks in the microwave?
oh my goodness. i am so excited to try this. i hate cleaning up the mess after popping my own corn . . . if i weren't so stuffed from dinner, i'd be doing it right now instead of commenting!
and i love the tender memory of your dad. he's an amazing man and i'm glad that i've had the chance to know him.
Dawn:
Suprisingly they don't cause sparks. Perhaps because it is such a tiny little piece of metal. Thanks for the great question-I'll go back and add that to my notes on the blog.
This is good to know. I just wanted to say that your Dad sounds like an amazing person. Seems as though you and your family are very blessed.
10 kids!! No wonder you learned to be frugal :)
What a great idea. I can't believe I've not thought to do this myself. I never make it in the pan anymore but I do remember loving when my mom did it that way when I was a kid.
I LOVE popcorn! I can't wait to try it like this and with rosemary and parmigiano too! I'm so impressed your blogging this weekend!
Great idea Prudy!Isn't popcorn the best? I once bought a special microwave pan to do them, it had a place in the bottom to put the kernels and cleanup was very easy. But doing it in the bag is more charming!
The parm and rosemary sounds delicious. 10 kids...wow! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Prudence, I got this idea from Alton Brown's show and it works like a charm! I even found popcorn salt which adheres better to the kernels...good find!
PS. For the 'fraidy-cats'...ensure the brown bag is not recycled and one little staple won't harm you at all.
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