Snack recipes, both delicious and healthy!

[KaleidoskopicVision]

So, while eating a handful of this ridiculously good vegan popcorn I make from time to time I thought "I don't see too many threads with food ideas and recipes, why not make one?". I love good food and I enjoy preparing good food even more. But I know many people aren't too big on the preparatory part, so I decided to opt for a snack thread. I'll start off by sharing this recipe for the popcorn I am currently enjoying a little too much
I'll also post a recipe for the raw version of the popcorn made with cauliflower, which I have not tried yet because I despise that vegetable, but if you're raw and don't share my peculiar vegetable prejudices, go for it!

The main ingredient for this popcorn is a little powdered substance that normally goes by the name Brewers Yeast. You can usually find it in most health food stores at around $10 a can. It has all kinds of cooking utility not confined to this popcorn (though you may find yourself using it only for that) and the nutritional content is incredible so it's a decent small investment even if you are on a budget. It's mainly used as a supplement for its high B vitamin complex content as well as high chromium and selenium content. It's also rich in amino acids.

Get some popcorn kernels. I suggest the organic white (preferred over yellow) because they taste slightly better but if cash is the bigger issue just go with a generic store brand bag of kernels. You can find kernels at any supermarket in the dry foods section. I recommend you avoid buying bulk kernels from dispensers because those tend to be months old and will just brown instead of popping.

Get some olive oil or your preferred favorite oil. It will be used to cook the popcorn in if you don't have a popcorn popper and it will be used to hold the other ingredients to the popcorn. Personally I like grapeseed oil and peanut oil can make things interesting too but olive oil is usually everyones favorite.

Get some herbs and spices to season your popcorn. I like finding little herbal blends and using those but herbs like dill, lemongrass and basil also work. For spices, cayenne pepper is great if you like spicy food. Get creative, experiment with small batches and find the spice combination that works for you. My favorite is a dill/lemongrass blend with cayenne pepper and a bit of salt.

Pop your popcorn either via popcorn popper or in a large frying pan, pour a thin layer of oil and pour some kernels in (not too much, just covering the pan floor will produce enough popcorn to feed a bushel of humans). I've not had the time to do specific measurements of cups of kernels to cups of popcorn so I apologize for ambiguity here. Once your kernels are in the pain, turn the heat up to full power (or half power if you have particularly virile stovetop burners, mine are a bit limp wristed) and wait patiently like a tiger waiting for passing antelope for the first kernel to pop. Once it pops, shake the living daylights out of the pan while endeavoring to make sure the bottom never parts from the stovetop. Failure to obey that last part will most likely cause catastrophic injury and embarrassment. Kernels will begin popping rapidly and if you're alarmed by sudden noises try not to pee yourself. Keep shaking that pan, you're doing that so the popcorn does not sit too long in one place and burn. Pretty soon the lid on the pan should be coming off, or the pops will slow to about 1 pop every 30 seconds. Then you're done.

Take ye freshly made popcorn and place it in a sizable mixing bowl. If you can't fit your head in it, it's too small and popcorn, herbs and brewers yeast is going to get everywhere. Mix in the oil, yeast and appropriate spices (make sure to measure out a small portion of popcorn if you want to experiment. No sense in ruining the entire batch).

Now is the most important part. Enjoy your fresh and corny snack! I actually didn't care for the popcorn when I first tried it, but when my body recognized the B vitamin content I found myself slightly addicted to the stuff. Don't let this happen to you. Make sure to get plenty of B vitamins in your diet.

And on to the raw popcorn recipe.

This is basically a variation of the above recipe, only using cauliflower instead of corn kernels. Dehydrating is optional. Get a head of cauliflower, chop it up into bite sized pieces (I'll let you be the judge of what is bite sized and what isn't. Maybe you can unhinge your jaw, I don't know) then place the chopped cauliflower inside a ziplock bag, add the other ingredients and then just shake it up. If you want, you can throw it into a dehydrator, but it takes a really long time to fully dehydrate. I got this recipe from raw food enthusiast Kevin Gianni's youtube show and his interview with some raw guy named Philip.

Aforementioned youtube vid.
YouTube - Philip's Raw Food Recipe for Popcorn! #312

Enjoy your popcorn and post your tasty snack recipes!