You know how you go to an amusement park and suddenly the smell of hot, delicious popcorn served in boxes hits and you know you are in for a good day? Or you’re minding your own business, walking down the street NOT thinking of popcorn when the buttery, salty scent wafts out the doors of a movie theater, into your nose and you are now obsessed with getting some, whatever the cost?  Popcorn has been making my day as far back as I can remember. I’d go to the movies with my sister and question how people could possibly be going to their seats without popcorn? Were they just going to watch a movie empty handed? Crazy!

Growing up in the ‘70s my family had the obligatory yellow and black Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper (this is not an affiliated sponsor – although if they wanted to send me free popcorn poppers for life I wouldn’t argue). You’d fill the bottom with oil and popcorn, place the plastic cover on and add slabs of butter to the top so it could melt evenly on the popcorn. Ingenious! Oh my gosh I loved this thing! No more need to GO to the movies to get the buttery deliciousness, we could even have it while we watched from home. So convenient.

In the blink of an eye it was time for me to go to college – one must have for my first apartment? Yep – Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper. I lived on (now – unbuttered) popcorn and whatever fruit I had for weeks at a time (well and beer, it was college after all). To this day I swear I could live on popcorn and fruit and be happy forever. 

Fast forward 10 years and I’ve got my own kiddos running around looking for treats. Walking through Target one day I spotted a lone Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper on a shelf – marked down to $29.99. You can bet I grabbed that sucker and practically skipped home. For the next 10 years that wonderful machine made so many people happy: family, neighbors, parties, girl scouts on a campout – you name it I brought popcorn. It was perfect – gluten free, no nuts, no dairy (I’ve stuck with no butter over the years) made it an easy snack to bring that everyone would be able to enjoy, whatever the dietary restrictions. My kids’ friends would even fight over who got to bring any extra home. Weird? Maybe, but as someone who doesn’t love to cook I was more than happy to be the “popcorn mom”.

Somewhere in the years between finding my bargain popper and now, other people have caught on to the brilliance of the Stir Crazy Popper and prices are absolutely nuts. So when we made our big move a year and a half ago and my Stir Crazy popped its last corn, I thought I was outta luck and would have to resort to buying grocery store popcorn (the horror) or waiting until I went to another amusement park. Luckily the wonderful folks at Stir Crazy have made a new model and while at first I wasn’t a fan (I just like the classics and that’s all) – after seasoning it with a few batches to get the “new” taste out of the machine, I am pleased to report the popcorn is as delicious as ever. A bonus is the new one has an on and off switch as opposed to the original where the cord plugged into the machine, so it’s easier to control.

In honor of my happy purchase, today I would like to share my recipe for popcorn good enough to fight over:

1. Clearly I will not use anything but the Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper – so get one of those, they sell them all over online.
2. Grab some olive oil – cover the bottom (if you don’t use butter you need a little more oil to get the salt to stick).
3. Time for the kernels – I am ride or die Orville Redenbacher yellow popping corn all the way (you do you). You want to get a good layer of kernels covering the entire bottom area (will it overflow sometimes? Yes, but that’s a risk we should all be willing to take).
4. Now it’s time to let the machine work its magic. As soon as the popping slows down to 1-2 seconds between pops, turn off the machine, put the top on and flip over right away – burnt kernels are no one’s friend. 
5. Now comes the good part – salt! You want to do this right away so that when you stir it together (I use 2 table knives) the oil gets stirred around to keep the salt on the kernels. I use regular salt most often, however, when I find popcorn salt I always buy it. Then I just use the salt to taste. My mom used to say it’s easier to put more salt on than to take salt off and I agree. Except in this case. While you CAN add more salt later, it just doesn’t stick as well and is less amazing.
6. Enjoy! I’ve eaten it up to 3 days later when sealed in container, still fabulous.

In case anyone is delusional enough to tell you that you shouldn’t eat so much popcorn, here are some fun facts about popcorn’s health benefits. I found all of these on the internet so they must be true right? That being said I am not any sort of healthcare professional who should be telling you anything about nutrition, so take all of this with a grain of salt (and maybe some melted butter):

• As long as you stick to the appropriate serving size, which is about one cup, plain popcorn is a much better choice than junk food, such as potato chips and cheese crackers. And even if you eat three times the serving size, you’ll still clock in at only 96 calories. ~ https://universityhealthnews.com
• Healthy whole grains like brown rice, whole grain bread, oatmeal and even popcorn contain fibres and vitamins that improve blood flow throughout the brain and help memory function. They also improve blood-sugar stability, which can curb study-interrupting cravings. ~https://www.seek.com.au 
• Because of popcorn’s high fiber content, its low calorie count and its low energy density, popcorn is considered to be a food that can aid in weight loss. For example, popcorn has been shown to make people feel fuller than a similar calorie amount of potato chips. ~ https://www.heart.org
• Popcorn is a whole grain, and increasing the whole grains in your diet is an effective constipation remedy. ~ https://www.everydayhealth.com › 

And a final few more kernels from Prevention.com :

• Yellow popcorn is rich in carotenoid antioxidants, including lutein and zeaxanthin, which not only helps in protecting eye health, and may guard against age-related macular degeneration, but they also work to combat system-wide inflammation, which may underlie a number of chronic diseases.
• Popcorn is rich in vitamin B, including vitamin B3, B6, folate, and pantothenic acid. Vitamin B is essential for regulating bodily processes across multiple systems. The two examples of these are the production of energy and the metabolism of various nutrients.
• Vitamin B3 present in Popcorn, also known as niacin, has been studied for its potential to help naturally ease depression, making popcorn a “comfort food” in the literal sense.
• Popcorn contains phosphorus, a mineral that aids in supporting healthy bone function, as well as the function of many types of cells throughout the body. Manganese is another mineral found in popcorn which also support healthy bones,
• Popcorn acts as anti aging agent. Free radicals do a lot more damage than cancer. They have been closely linked to age-related symptoms like wrinkles, age spots, macular degeneration and blindness, muscle weakness, cognitive decline, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, hair loss, and a wide variety of other things which becomes prominent with aging. Popcorn can make a person feel healthy and happy well into their old age because of the powerful antioxidants that combat these effects of free radicals.
• According to the USDA, 28 grams of popcorn contains 0.9 mg of iron. This number might seem small, but adult men require only 8 mg of iron in their diet each day. Adult women, on the other hand, need 18 mg per day because of the blood they lose during menstruation. According to some surveys, almost 10% of women are iron deficient. Hence having popcorn in one’s diet provides the body with enough iron and helps to keep away problems like anaemia.

Now go forth and feast!