Best popcorn recipe for healthy diet

Pour moderate amount of good oil (no coconut oil or palm oil, please) into a thick-bottomed pot,
add a pinch of salt,
distribute corn kernels evenly in a single layer,
add another pinch of fine salt.
Cover the pot and put heat under the pot on high.
Once you hear few pops in a row, wait for 15 seconds and turn the heat off.
Wait till popping subsides.
Open the lid and empty the pot into some suitable bowl.
Enjoy in place of supper with plenty of water. 

Kettle popcorn & corn cob butterer

To be brutally honest, kettle popcorn tastes better than naked microwave popcorn. Take a dutch oven or a wide stock pot with thick bottom, put on high heat and pour high smoke point oil generously. 

Salt the oil. The finer the salt the better. The oil will eventually stick to popped corn and so will the salt. Spread 2 (max 3) tablespoons of corn kernels at the bottom. The kernels should be leveled and should form a single layer.

Close the lid. Lids with steam holes are the best. You may use a steamer from steamer set as a lid. The purpose of the lid is to contain popping corn but allowing water that is produced as a result of the process to evaporate is essential.

After you hear the very first few pops, set your timer on 1 minute - 1 minute 30 seconds (this is art). In 1-1:30 minutes take the pot from the heat, let it rest for 15 sec and then remove the lid and let popcorn dry for another 15 sec. Put in a serving bowl. The whole process will take you 5 minutes max.

Enjoy! And don't forget to have plenty of liquids and fruit with your popcorn and soup for dinner.

Pop your corn, eat your fruit

Actually, popping your own corn in a microwave in a bigger brown bag can be a good idea. You can reuse a bag multiple times. You can get these bags at places like Au Bon Pan with your breakfast croissant. Which is fine as long as you follow the rules. Talking of popcorn bags. They are sold cheap, cheap as in 500 bags for 13 bucks (while supply lasts, amazon.com). Customer confessions: NICE & MULTIPURPOSE I love these bags. I purchased a box for my sons carnival style birthday party and they were perfect. In addition, they served multiple purposes during the birthday party, for instance we cut them to use as french fry and soft pretzel holders. The are so nice that instead of using our bowls for popcorn during family movie night, we use these bags. CHEAP At three cents per bag (popcorn not included), this is pretty cheap fun these days. FUNCTIONAL, CHEAP, WILL BUY AGAIN Honestly, there's not much to say about popcorn bags. These were by far the least expensive I could find, and they did they job just fine. I would buy them again.

Don't forget you fluids: water.
Don't forget you fruit: apples any time, citrus according to the season. Stay away from commercially made orange juice. Unless you squeeze it yourself or your SO does it for you, don't trust this juice. It's sugar and it's carbs. It's close to Coka-Cola. There are juices worse than orange juice: that be grape juice which is by far the worst or apple juice. But I suppose you are serious about your diet and quit drinking those long time back. See for yourself.

Austerity party

If it need to be an austerity party, let it be really festive and frugal at the same time.


I won't be the one suggesting to dilute ethanol with water and mix it with cheap strawberry  jam.  I like to drink quality stuff.  And there are ways to have it and to stay within budget limits. But I'm not sharing my secret. Not yet.



So let's move to food.

Popcorn. Make kettle popcorn with good oil: grape seed, olive oil.  This will add party flavour.
Season it with chilli pepper flakes.
With garlic. With Jalapeño peppers. With Cajun spices.
In short, use your imagination.

Make few butches of home-made flavoured cream-cheese.  Sour cream, salt, flavour - mix it, let it drain in colander overnight.
Flavours:  fresh chopped dill; red pepper;  small amount of blue cheese; tarama (fish roe) - this will make taramasalata rather than cream-cheese; olives; scallions.  For vegans use tofu sour cream substitute.

Make canapés with rye bread, pumpernickel, rye crisps, small white toasts, serve tartlets made with puff pastry.

Make humongous all-greens salad with sesame seeds &  sesame oil  or sunflower seeds  & sunflower oil or roasted unsalted peanuts and peanut oil or let your imagination loose and invent something already.  Like pine nuts. That be pretty far from idea of austerity but who cares.
Mind your guests allergies to avoid anaphylactic shock resulting from all these peanuts, nuts and seeds.

Add a hint of lime or a wedge of lemon to a pitcher of cool water.
Or add mint leaves. Or lemon and mint.
Make sure your party takes place in warm weather with spicy and salty food so people are rather thirsty than hungry.

Still, boil potatoes and serve whole with salt, garlic and a hint of oil.  Delicious.
Add herring and you have a balanced meal.

My winter austerity party deserves a separate entry.

Finish the evening with petit fours and tea / coffee. The former can be made really tiny but the latter (quality tea/coffee) is expensive. Brew second grade tea and most of your guests won't ask for seconds.


Advertisement: Tofutti Sour Cream (no, I don't like it, though I favoured Tofutti Cream Cheese for some time; but I'm not a vegan so I don't have to)
Advertisement: Tarama by Krinos  Tarama is delicate, pink, pure carp roe that is naturally cured and aged for over one year. It makes an attractive and delicious base for the traditional caviar-style spread, called taramosalata or taramosalata. Tarama also adds a subtle, seafood flavor to stews and soups.

 
Advertisement: La Madeleine Country French Bistro  :  positive experience with breakfast & lunch in Houston, TX; affordable too; I truly miss it. Remembered it in connection with brioches and petite pastries. 

Tired from popcorn? Not yet?

Popcon is incredibly economical.  Two table spoonfuls will yield you a meal (the one you skip 'cause you are filled with popped corn).

Don't forget to drink plenty of water. Well, if you choose to drink soda instead, you may as well not skip your meal and forget about following this particular way of losing weight. We can settle on some water and some tea. Even tea with sugar is much better than soda. See for yourself:  sugar content in soft drinks (never mind the acid, we are not talking about gastrointestinal health or dental health here).

Enjoy!

Pop your own corn (2)

My idea of dieting is simple and it works.
Fiber, fiber, water.
And if you consume the above in ample quantities then you can eat whatever you want as much as you want.

So pop your own corn 5 times a week: a handful of corn kernels will allow you to skip a meal. Do not overdo it. It's nice to skip one meal a day with the help of corn but not more than that. People are not designed to live on popped corn by any means. The nutrition vaue of naked popcorn is low, which is good and bad, so this tip has to be used in moderation.

Eat whole apples, buy fresh and tasty ones, so you can enjoy the process. Peel them only if you can't eat them whole.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Forget the cost, after all, these are apples, not some exotic or hard-to-find-out-of-season berries. Granny Smith, Golden Delicous, Mutsu, Jonatan, go with the season, go local, buy the best kind.
What's good for apple upside-down cake, is firm, tart, good for eating.
Too tart for you taste?
Pour some honey in a small dish and cut the apple and dip the wedges. As I promised, as long as you follow the rules, you can eat whatever you want. Honey allergy? Put some raw sugar in a dish instead.

Next time I ramble on the subject of healthy lifestyle, I will help you to diminish your desire to eat certain foods. So you can eat whatever you want but you won't crave what is not good or you. Please name 1-3 foods you believe are wrong for you but you can't remove from your life.

How to pop your corn

Like popcorn and don't like the mess? 
You can do it. 
Wanna lose weight?

Popcorn is great for this purpose. 

Remember:
- bought street/ movies popcorn is not good for you
- bought microwave popcorn in a bag is not good for you
- sugar and butter should be used in moderation.

Pretty good recipe for popping corn on stove top here (I omit the butter).

And there is an easier way: put a handful of kernels into a regular lunch brown bag along with a hint of fine salt. Roll the edge. Microwave for 2 - to 2 1/2 minutes. Do not add butter.

With homemade popcorn you get a low cost low calories product which will fill you up. Follow up with a glass of water or a large cup of tea to promote the passage of the fiber-rich meal through your digestive system. Use this meal as a substitute for one of your regular meals and don't snack between meals. Do it every other day for 10 days. You are likely to lose 5-10 pounds.