Way back in 2009, I read a glorious post from The Little Foodie about Homemade Microwave Popcorn. Today we finally made it ourselves. Either I’ve been spending way too much time thinking about and preparing high-maintenance snacks (I blame the cold New England winter.), or this is the quickest, easiest, cheapest, simplest snack on the planet. There’s not much there as far as nutrition goes unfortunately, but at least it’s homemade.
Of course, the kids gobbled it all up and were very happy. An added bonus is that we could play around with flavorings if we felt like it. I’m thinking a dash of smoked paprika or cheese powder with Italian Seasoning will be in order sometime soon. Today we took the simple route with a touch of butter and salt.
One small paper lunch bag (ours was 11 x 5 x 3″)
2 tablespoons popcorn kernels
1/4 teaspoon butter
Small pinch salt (only if your butter is unsalted)
Place kernels in paper bag and fold closed two or three times. Microwave on high for approximately 1 minutes 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Ours was ready at 1 minute 40 seconds. Stop the microwave as soon as the flurry of popping is starting to ebb. When the pops start to space themselves out with a second or two, it is done. Take it out even if there is a a little bit of popping still happening. Better a few unpopped kernels than burnt popcorn.
Remove bag from microwave. Open bag and drop in the butter. Sprinkle on the salt as well. Close up the bag and shake it for a minute or two to allow the butter to melt. Serve.
Note: Obviously, this isn’t a snack for little ones who are still required to stay far away from choking hazards. Mine are officially old enough now and I’ve quickly forgotten all the rules.
Yield: 1 1/2 – 2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
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Not too long ago, Serious Eats was kind enough to share a recipe from Thomas Keller’s cookbook Ad Hoc at Home. I have been looking at roasted nuts recipes for a while now and was feeling a little overwhelmed. But Keller’s recipe for Candied Pecans is everything I was looking for. These nuts have perfect balance of crispy, sweet and salty going on. They are also flakey and buttery. If I close my eyes, it feels like I’m eating a croissant. ‘Nough said.
1 1/2 cup raw pecans
1-1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon salt, plus more to finish
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spread nuts out on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Transfer warm nuts to a medium bowl. Quickly drizzle the honey and salt over the nuts and stir until they are well coated.
Return the coated nuts to the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, rotating once. I took them out of the oven when it smelled like the honey was starting to caramelize – a tiny bit smokey.
Remove the nuts from the oven, sprinkle on a pinch of salt, and quickly separate any clumps as the honey will harden as the nuts cool. Allow to cool completely and serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups nuts (easily doubled)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Bake time: 1 1/2 hours
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My first-grader has her 100th day of school coming up. The teachers turn the day into one big party about the number 100. So I thought we could do our part at home and make a snack in honor of the day. We happened to have some chocolate candies, raisins, pretzels and Os cereal. We got them all out and counted out 100 pieces of each ingredient (give or take).
At school, they’re also doing some work with measurements in Math. So we chatted briefly about which ingredient would make the longest row and so on. But mostly it was fun to gather it all up. I think I’ve got school snack covered for next week now!
I can’t stop eating these. They remind me of BBQ potato chips, which I have a complete weakness for. The secret ingredient is smoked paprika which I’ve seen a few food bloggers going ga-ga over lately.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, paprika, salt, and garlic powder. Add beans and stir to coat. Transfer beans to a rimmed baking sheet (a.k.a jelly roll pan). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until beans begin to appear dry. Allow to cool and serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Yield: 2 cups
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 25 minutes
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This snack idea is from Gastrokids. I’m just starting to warm up to snack mixes for kids as my youngest recently turned three and is supposedly clear to eat popcorn, whole nuts and the like. More importantly, she is extremely likely to pick all the sweet bits out and leave the rest. But, in this case, at least it’s cranberries and not chocolates. Pepitas are a new favorite thing of mine too.
1/2 cup pepitas
1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
Mix and serve.
Yield: 3/4 cup
Prep time: 2 minutes
