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Compared to most snack foods, popcorn is low in calories. Air-popped popcorn has only 30 calories per cup. If you oil-pop it the calorie count is 55/cup. Even lightly drizzled with butter, it's only 90-120 calories per cup. Popcorn is also a source of high-
quality carbohydrates and high in fiber (or, put simply, it takes longer to chew and makes you feel full longer!). So - go ahead - treat yourself (guilt free) to a bowl of popcorn.
And when you're looking for a special treat - make popcorn balls! There's a few more calories but, oh my, they do taste good!
~ Caramel Popcorn Balls ~
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
10 cups popped popcorn
Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add corn syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir & bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add popcorn & mix in. Put waxed paper on your countertop. Form popcorn balls and lay on wax paper to harden. Makes about a dozen balls.
These stay fairly soft (a little easier on the teeth!).
~ Popcorn Balls ~
10 cups popped popcorn
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup molasses
1 tsp. vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbs. butter or margarine
Put sugar, water, molasses, vinegar and salt into a pot. Heat & stir until it starts to boil. Boil gently, without stirring, until it reaches the hard ball stage. Remove from heat. Add
butter/margarine. Pour over popcorn in a large bowl. Mix until popcorn is coated with syrup. Form into balls. Makes 12 - 15 popcorn balls.
Hard ball stage is 270F or when you drop a bit in cold water and it forms a hard ball.
~ Colored Popcorn Balls ~
12 cups popped popcorn
1.5 oz flavored gelatin (any color jello powder)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Put gelatin, sugar & syrup into a pot. Heat & stir to dissolve. Bring to a rolling boil. Pour over popcorn in a large bowl (you can lightly salt popcorn first if you like). Stir until all popcorn is coated. Form into balls with lightly buttered hands (I spray with Pam!). Makes about a dozen popcorn balls.
Use whatever color suits the occasion. For Halloween use orange jello. You can put `faces' on your popcorn balls with candy. For Christmas make a bowl full of red & green
balls. For Easter use pastel colors.
While there are many reasons for teaching kids to cook -- less expensive than eating out, preserves family heritage, etc, the most important
reason is that by teaching your child to cook, you're giving him a better chance to be a healthy grown-up. Enabling your child with the ability
to appreciate freshness and to transform ingredients into tasty foods opens their eyes to making wiser choices about what to eat...