Pizza Popcorn

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 2 Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains Dish: Pizza Popcorn I'm running a little late to post for day 2 of this week's marathon. It has been a busy weekend with back to back Navratri dinners on Friday and Saturday, so couldn't find time to make this dish until today. Luckily I made the pizza spice mix couple of days ago, so all I had to do today was to pop the corn and mix with the spice blend.
Sending this over to Kalyani's Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole Grains (an event started by Valli). Popcorn is a whole grain food that is very low in calories and a good source of fiber. But those buttered or artificially flavored popcorn is not the way to go. It is best to pop your own corn and then flavor it as needed.
I found this pizza flavored popcorn recipe on Food Network site and wanted to try it for my kids who love both pizza and popcorn (universal kid favorites!!!!). Pizza flavoring comes from a tomato based spice mix made with tomato paste, parmesan cheese, oregano and garlic -- the usual pizza ingredients. The spice mix stays fresh for about a week and can be mixed with popped corn any time you have a popcorn craving. Below picture is self explanatory about how the kids liked the popcorn :-)
Recipe from Food Network: Ingredients: Serves 4~6 Popcorn kernels - ½cup
Tomato Paste - 6oz. can
Parmesan cheese - 2tbsp
Dried Oregano - 1tbsp
Garlic powder - 1tsp
Red pepper flakes - 1tsp (more or less as per taste)
Salt - to taste
Method:

• Make the Pizza flavored Mix: Preheat oven to 200°F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the tomato paste into a thin layer using a spatula as evenly and as thin as possible. Bake for 2 hours or until there are no shiny spots on the tomato -- texture of the tomatoes will be like fruit leather at this stage.
• Remove from the oven and cool completely. Break off the tomato into a spice blender and blend to a powder.
• Add parmesan cheese, dried oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt. Grind again to form a smooth powder.
• Make Popcorn: In a large saucepan, heat ½tbsp oil and couple of corn kernels. Cover and once the corn in the pan starts to pop, add the remaining corn, cover and let all of the corn pop. Turn off the heat once the popping subsides, remove the popcorn into a large mixing bowl.
• Add 1tbsp melted butter and 2 heaping tablespoons of pizza spice, toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 57.