I was in the mood for a healthy snack and in my endeavour to have a lighter January, I reached for the popcorn maker.
Many people think popcorn isn’t a healthy snack and they be right and wrong. The popcorn itself is full of fiber and if air-popped it’s virtually like eating air.
What kills it is the fat it can be popped in, then the toppings. From toffee, chocolate, even cheesy nowadays – they all make it not quite so virtuous.
I would totally recommend buying your own popcorn machine if you haven’t got one. You pop in the kernels and out they pop all cosy and fluffy, waiting to be devoured.
I still fancied cheesy popcorn though and settled for parmesan. Did you know that parmesan is lower in fat than a lot of other cheeses? 1 tablespoon actually has only 22 calories and 1 gram of fat! Plus I added some unsweetened desiccated coconut as I thought this would be a great flavor combo, but go gently on this as it’s not quite so low in fat.
To get the parmesan and coconut to stick, I grabbed one of those low-fat butter sprays that you can get in the supermarket. A few spritz of this and then toss in the topping and you are ready to snack away!
Ingredients:50 grams of popcorn kernelsLow-cal butter spray2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
Method:Pop the kernels into a bowl and spray a few times with the low-cal butter spray. Sprinkle over the parmesan and coconut and toss until it begins to stick. Add a few more spritz of butter spray if you need to.
It’s as simple as that. The coconut and the parmesan go really well together, sort of sweet and savoury at the same time. Plus you are good in the knowledge that this snack isn’t going to ruin that post-Christmas diet. Happy snacking!
