I’ve been a bad, bad girl. I’ve been eating like crazy lately. In my house I’m famous for saying “I’m busy eating my feelings” and lately my feelings are on overdrive. One thing I’ve noticed with feelings is that cravings are usually directly related to them. For example: wanting soft, creamy food goes along with loneliness or sadness. Chewiness helps boredom and crunchy food gets out all that stress.
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So my need for constant crunching these last few weeks goes right along with the anxious, stressful energy I’ve been carrying around (and clearly dealing very well with). And these cravings know no end – they’re sweet crunchy, salt crunchy, spicy crunchy…they’re like a crunch monster living inside my belly.
I’ve got to come up with a way to deal with this -other than eating myself into oblivion – but in the meantime it would be good if I could find some kind of snack that would satisfy the monster without taking me up a pant size. I have an idea. Popcorn. It’s got the crunch, and is totally versatile for me to play it up the way I want it. And there’s built-in portion control when you pop it yourself. Here’s some ideas:
Spice Monster: Kickin’ Corn
Sprinkle 1/2 tsp Paprika, 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin, 1/2 tsp Chili Powder and a little bit of Sea Salt on 2 cups popped Popcorn. If you want to take it a step further, squeeze some fresh lime on it.
Salt Monster: Buttered
Like vanilla ice cream, sometimes you just gotta go with the classic.
Sweet Monster: Cinnamon Chocolate Popcporn
Combine 1/4 confectioner sugar, 2 tbsp ground chocolate chips, 1.5 tsp cocoa powder, and sprinkle cinnamon to taste in a container that can be tightly sealed. Add 2-4 cups popcorn and drizzle a little butter. Seal container and shake to coat.
Salty/Sweet Monster: Honey Popcorn Balls
Preheat oven to 325. In a saucepan, melt and stir together 1/3 cup butter and 1/3 cup honey with 1/2 tsp Sea Salt and a splash of vanilla extract.
Put approx 6 cups popped popcorn in a casserole dish and pour the melty mixture evenly over the top. Bake the mixture until it’s golden and thick, stir about every 5 minutes.
Let the mixture cool just enough so that you can handle it and form into bite size balls. Yum.
