Flavored Popcorn

I totally heart the library.

Yeah, I love it so much I heart it.

Not only do they have books with words for your brain, they have books with words for your belly.

In the past I've only looked at the grown up cook books. Little did I know, there are all kinds of fun kid's cook books! It was the Library's summer reading program for kids that got me interested in this new avenue for recipes.

One little gem Blockette and I discovered was Spongebob's Kitchen Mission by Nickelodeon.  We giggled our way through the whole book.  One great thing about the book is that it's spiral bound!  It lays nice and flat on the counter.  Why don't they make all cook books spiral bound?  It certainly would make preparing the recipes from the book a lot easier.

One of the recipes in the book was for flavored popcorn.  Well, neither Blockette, nor I could pass that up.

First we tested out the Italian flavored popcorn.   Blockette said it tasted like a lasagna dinner, in a good way.  Unfortunately, the cheese didn't stick to the popcorn. This may have been because I used the powdered stuff from the green can.  I thought the powder would adhere better than the real stuff shredded from the wheel.  Next time I think I'd just reduce the Parmesan cheese from 1/2 c to 1/4 c.  Blockette and I really enjoyed this popcorn.

Next we tried the sweet and spicy popcorn.  Blockette was put off by the title spicy.  She was afraid that it would be too hot for her liking.  I knew that none of the spices in the recipe contained any kind of heat.  Besides, would a mainstream cookbook targeted towards kids have something spicy in it?  No.  Not if it wanted to sell a lot of copies!  I told Blockette that the popcorn was going to be zippy and zesty, not hot.

Guess what?!

I was right!

She loved it!  We both agreed that it was the better out of the two popcorns.  (I think this is saying something for the sweet and spicy flavor because we both really liked the Italian popcorn!)  The brown sugar balances the spices nicely, so no one flavor is overpowering.  There's just layers of goodness all blended together.  Super yummy!

Here is how I made the popcorn, slightly adapted from Spongebob's Kitchen Mission by Nickelodeon.

1/4 c plus 2T popcorn kernels
2 brown paper lunch bags
3 T butter, melted

Topping choice 1: Italian
1/4c Parmesan cheese
2 t Italian seasoning
1/2 t garlic powder

Topping choice 2: Sweet 'n' zingy
1 T brown sugar
1 t smoked paprika
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t garlic powder

Divide kernels evenly into the brown paper bags. Fold the top of the bags down to prevent a popcorn disaster in your microwave.  Nuke each bag separately for 1-2 min or until popping almost stops.  (Ours needed 2 minutes and did not burn.)  Transfer popcorn to large bowl. Drizzle with butter and toss to coat.  Top with your choice of seasoning mix.  Toss well to coat.  Try to share with the rest of your family.