Friday night is Movie Night at Recycla’s house. Her children put on their pajamas and pick out a good DVD. Recycla’s husband pops popcorn, because who can watch a movie without popcorn? This has been an important tradition for years in Recycla’s household, but a few years ago, it went through a significant change.
What changed and why?
Recycla found out that popcorn makes the Top 10 list of foods most often contaminated with pesticides and other chemicals.
Gulp.
After years of serving her children organic apples, strawberries, grapes, and other produce, it turns out Recycla had actually been serving up bowls of toxic treats.
Luckily, there are plenty of organic popcorn options out there.
For the microwave popcorn fans, Recycla highly recommends Newman’s Own Organics popcorn. This is the best microwave popcorn available, period. Instead of the usual greasy, salty microwave popcorn, NOO microwave popcorn is light, not greasy, and not too salty. NOO does not use partially hydrogenated oils or any trans fatty acids. Available in unsalted, lightly salted, and butter flavors.
For popcorn purists, microwave popcorn is not acceptable. They either pop their popcorn on the stove top or in a popper like the Stir Crazy. Per Enviro Girl’s suggestion, Recycla bought one for her family two years ago and they’ve never gone back to the microwave stuff. The flavor is just so. much. better. than microwave options.
There is one other type of popcorn that needs to be discussed and that is bags of pre-popped popcorn. Recycla would normally dismiss this snack option as expensive and not environmentally friendly, as she can just as easily pop popcorn herself. However, when Recycla tried making a batch specifically for a few days’ worth of snacks for her daughters, she learned that it gets stale quickly. Since her daughters have popcorn in their lunches (and the girls pack every day) instead of chips or cheese puffs, Recycla buys Half Naked Popcorn (With a Hint of Olive Oil) at Whole Foods. It’s light and yummy, with a hint of salt and a low fat content.
Tell the Eco Women: Are you a popcorn fan? Do you like yours salty and buttery or some other way?
I don’t care for it, but my family LOVES it. We buy popcorn grown & packaged in our Fair State (Koepsell’s) to toss in the Stir Crazy with a little oil, topped with real butter and salt. But Newman’s Own is a good brand, too and always pops up well.
It’s a darn cheap treat!
I’ve followed that same tradition since I was a little girl. Friday night and popcorn. Now, it’s going to change a little
I don’t buy much microwave popcorn (the kind in bags ready to be microwaved), but I do microwave my own. Years ago, I found a microwave popcorn popper at a garage sale. It’s like an air popper, basically, but you use it in the microwave. I just use regular popcorn in the bag, no oil or anything. I do follow it up with butter and salt. I have added lots of different toppings over the years, though, just to change it up, but our favorite is plain old butter and salt. We do a lot of Sunday night popcorn, along with apples and homemade cheese puffballs.
Homemade cheese puff balls? Are you willing to share that recipe???
lOVE my popcorn and agree Newman’s is great! I’ve been using my microwaver without oil and add my own butter and touch of salt, but I’ve been intrigued by the Stir Crazy and may just have to look into it.