Popcorn - A Healthier Microwave Option!

I love a nice bowl of hot popcorn when I settle down for a movie.  I love the buttery-salty goodness and I crave it every so often.  What I didn’t know was that while the microwave popcorn bought at the grocery store tasted delicious, the bags were coated using PFCs.  Wouldn't you know it .... another good thing down the drain (sigh.).  But there is hope - keep reading!

  

Perfluorochemicals (or PFCs for short), are a class of compounds that are resistant to chemicals and heat.  PFCs are used in everything from coating cookware (remember the Teflon scare?) to upholstery and are found in food packaging, clothing, floor wax and shampoos.  The use of PFCs is popular because they have the ability to repel grease and oils.  They also take years to find their way out of our bodies and can take hundreds of years before they eventually break down in the environment.  

All this in my delicious little bag of microwave popcorn.  Yuk!  OK, enough of all the science stuff.  Let's get to the healthier option!

By pulling together a few items from your kitchen you can enjoy microwave popcorn on a much healthier note (unless of course, you add in that butter and salt of which I am totally guilty!).  

You will need:

• brown paper lunch bag
• stapler
• ¼ cup of popcorn kernels (I prefer Orville Redenbacher)
• butter or hard margarine (optional)

Directions:

• Measure ¼ cup of popcorn kernels and add to the paper bag 
•  Add butter or margarine (unmelted) to the bag, or melt some after to pour over after popping
•  Fold over the top opening of the bag and staple using a single staple (don’t worry about the staple in the microwave, it is so small it won’t cause sparking)
• Heat for 1.5 – 2.5 minutes, stopping the microwave when there is a lapse of 5 seconds between kernel pops (in my microwave, it is 1 ½ minutes exactly)

Now that you have your delicious popcorn snack, all you have to do is rent that movie you have been dying to see and settle back and enjoy the show!

- Kristin -

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