Tear Down Tuesday: Popcorn

Picture courtesy of seattlepi.com. It's actually from an article talking about negatives in the popcorn industry, but that's for another today.

Today, Tear Down Tuesday resumes! I want to keep it simple with popcorn. I'm not talking about butter laden, or chocolate covered, or caramel drenched when I discuss the nutritional benefits. So please keep that in mind. I'm talking about just plain popcorn. HOWEVER, I will be talking about those kinds when I tell you the most delicious ways to eat popcorn.

About three cups of popcorn should give you a serving of whole grains-grains containing the entire kernel, and thus all the health benefits...read more HERE. So, you are getting some fiber, protein, and B vitamins all for around 30-40 calories a cup. Lightly buttered you say? No worries, that will only set you back about 100 kcals more. As you can see, if you have a munching habit, as many of us do, the calories are low for the high quantities you can eat. This is good. I don't want this to sound like a weight loss tip, but it's just something to point out. If you are one of those people who HAS to have snacks with your AT HOME movies, movie theater popcorn is a whole other story, then you would be much better with some plain pop corn, even lightly buttered, in your hand than a bag of potato chips. Watching mindless munching is just something to do to make sure you can enjoy fantastic meals and treats and maintain your health.

I've been studying cardiovascular disease the past couple days. It's stressing me a bit. Not so much for my health, as uppity as this sounds, but more for a lot of the people I love the most. You know who you are pop-tart, hot dog, and pizza person. So yes, mindless muching? Not enjoyable, and neither are the effects later on. We should do what we can to tame it.

Oh my...

So how to make popcorn tasty? Well, to keep with the low calorie mindless munching try a LITTLE Parmesan cheese, some spray butter, or any other seasoning you can come up with. To add some more nutrients, what about adding pumpkin seeds, walnuts, soy nuts, or a little dried fruit? Just watch all of these, as the calories will creep up fast.

Now, in the mood for delicious? Here's one idea: my sister and her boyfriend the other night made popcorn and placed in the bottom of a dish. Then they cut jumbo marshmallows in half and laid on top of pop corn and then put chocolate chips and butterscotch on top and put in the oven at about 250 until the chocolate melted and the marshmallows browned. Oh. My. Gosh.

Want some other ideas for popcorn recipes or more information about this fun little food in general? Check out the Popcorn Board website HERE. So cute, so informative, and great recipes to boot.

Did you know the USDA has a nutrition database? Well they do. Check it out HERE. And HERE are the calorieking results for popcorn.

Finally, HERE are the foodnetwork search results for popcorn. Disregard some of the miscellaneous things that show up, popcorn shrimp?, because the recipes that have to do with our little kernel are amazing.

Enjoy!

NAOmni