One of the biggest struggles I hear from the men and women in my free healthy eating facebook community on trying to eat healthy is snacking.
Snacking too late. Snacking too much. Snacking on the wrong foods. Snacking on too many good foods. Not knowing what to snack on. And so on.
Now, I’m all about snacking, too. It’s a fun pastime for me, really.
I tend to have 2-3 snacks each day in between my meals. Snacks are events I enjoy tremendously. Because, frankly, I like food. And snacking is food in little bits and pieces.
My favorite kinda snack is a crunchy and salty snack, though I also enjoy sweet snacks.
I’ve recently started making my own popcorn and seasoning it myself so I can control the ingredients and flavors.
Have you ever made your own popcorn on the stove? It’s ah-MAZE-ing! Every time, without fail, the little kid in me gets all giddy when I hear the first pop.
I think I get more excited than my kiddos…
I would have never thought how easy is is to make your own popcorn. It’s so dang simple — it’s kinda sad I never thought of it before.
Popcorn + coconut oil + heat = popcorn. Duh, right?
I’ve made several different toppings so far, like cinnamon and coconut sugar, cilantro and lime, and this parmesan and sea salt popcorn. The flavor is so fresh and vibrant — SO different than your typical microwaveable popcorn.
Plus, you can add in whole, clean foods to flavor the popcorn, as opposed to highly processed, artificial flavors and salts.
Overall, this is a big win for us snackers looking for healthy snacks.
Happy snacking!
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2/3 cup popcorn kernels divided
- 1-2 tsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup finely chopped italian parsley
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Heat a heavy-bottom pot with a lid over medium high heat. I use my Dutch oven, but any big pot will do.
- Add the coconut oil plus just 4 popcorn kernels into the pot.
- Cover and cook for 4-6 minutes, or until all 4 of the kernels have popped - you’ll be able to hear them pop.
- Remove the lid once the 4 kernels have popped and take out the popped popcorn. Doing this ensures the temperature is perfect when you add the rest of the kernels.
- Add the remaining kernels.
- Cover the pot and cook, shaking frequently, for 2-5 minutes or until the popping dies down quite a bit.
- Once you can only hear just a pop or so every second, remove the pot from heat and take off the lid. This will allow the popcorn to dry out a little from releasing the moisture.
- Take 4 cups of the freshly popped popcorn and toss with the olive oil, finely chopped italian parsley, grated parmesan, and 1/2 tsp. sea salt.
- Store in an airtight container.
Recipe Video
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This is such a great snack.