popcorn

Loaded Monster Cookies

November 19, 2015

Whole wheat pastry flour, nuts, raisins, popcorn, coconut and chocolate bits all combine to make one monster of a healthier cookie.

This post is sponsored by Lifetime’s production of Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow premiering Saturday, November 21, 2015.

These cookies. They’re so ugly, they’re crave-ingly cute. Just like Jim Henson’s classic puppeted creatures and those in the new holiday movie, Turkey Hollow, these Loaded Monster Cookies are destined to become classics.

When Lifetime asked if I’d like to preview their new Jim Henson movie and make a treat to eat along with it, I was all for it. I grew up with Jim Henson and his cast of characters. I know every line to Rainbow Connection. I can still sing the opening credits to the original Muppet Show TV series.

And as for Kermit and Miss Piggy? They’ll always be a the ultimate celebrity couple in my eyes. I’m just waiting for a reunion.

Until then…these cookies.

By using smart ingredients like whole wheat, heart-healthy nuts, raisins and oatmeal, not to mention that chocolate is good for you (here’s 10 reasons why!) these cookies pack a fortified punch. Your kids’ll never know you snuck in all that good stuff into these perfectly-imperfect, Henson-inspired cookies.

continue to the recipe… about Loaded Monster Cookies

The Best Chewy Caramel Corn Plus 5 More to Crunch On

October 21, 2015

Chewy bites of homemade caramel make this easy five ingredient caramel corn recipe a favorite snack or sweet treat for every age.

I think you’re going to find two camps on this one.

First camp: Chewy. Second camp: Crunchy. Count me on ~~Team Gwen~~ Team #1. Chewy all the way.

Just like my favorite granola bars, I favor a chewy, buttery bite to my caramel corn instead of a crack-the-crown-off-your-tooth type of caramel corn.

Call me crazy but my mom and dad didn’t spend all that money on these pearly whites for nothing. I need all my teeth!

continue to the recipe… about The Best Chewy Caramel Corn Plus 5 More to Crunch On

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn and Cashews

December 18, 2014

White chocolate, salty cashews, and refreshing peppermint oil make for a surprising trifecta of flavors for this festive popcorn you won’t be able to stop snacking on! It’s also perfect for stocking stuffers and gift giving.

December brings out the best in all of us with the bestest of intentions.

We overcommit. “Yes! We’d love to get together with friends we haven’t seen all year! I’ll host!”

We overindulge. “Oh why not? I already had one **___fill in the blank here___**, what’s the harm in just one more?”

And we overspend and overdo. “I just need to get a little something for the mailman, their teachers, my hairdresser, their coach, his clients, my Secret Santa, the neighbors, the dogwalker and the list never ends. never ends. never ends.”

At this stage of the gift giving game, your time to be a jolly old elf is slipping away like stealthy Santa and his reindeer-led sleigh. If you eschew gift cards (“they’re convenient but so lame!”) and Chia pets aren’t really your thing (Duck Dynasty, really?), jump into the DIY gift giving scene with an easy enough lesson from me.continue to the recipe… about White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn and Cashews

Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

February 12, 2013

Before making the change to a low-sodium diet, Jess Goldman Foung, the author of the popular blog Sodium Girl, was like a lot of Americans who ate fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, not nearly enough servings of vegetables and rarely strayed from her comfort zone of basic food groups.

With a degree from Stanford and a budding career as a Development Manager, Jess was becoming an expert at fundraising and grant writing, and loved it. Her body, however, did not.

“The autoimmune disease, Lupus, was aggresively attacking my brain and my kidneys and after three months of chemo, dialysis, and amazing medical care, I survived. My kidneys didn’t, ” she says.

After researching and educating herself, Jess realized she needed to take her health into her own hands, and she started with nutrition. “I swore I would do what I could with my own two hands to help stay strong and live a full life and that meant going on a strict low-sodium diet. But I also happened to be an extremely stubborn person, who refused to eat dull food or miss out on anything life had to offer. So that meant rewriting the low-sodium rules.”

“After a tough-love session with my mother, who asked, ‘Do you want to live five years or fifty years?” I realized I needed to quit my job and find a career that let me take care of myself,” Jess acknowledges. “It wasn’t until a fateful day when I watched two movies back-to-back —Julie and Julia and then Food, Inc.—that I realized what I should do: 1) blog and 2) write about the power of food.”

And that she does with the release of her new book Sodium Girl’s Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook.continue to the recipe… about Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Truffle Bacon Popcorn Plus 6 Savory Popcorn Recipes

January 16, 2013

There are three just-cooked scents that will put anyone’s flavor anttanae on high alert: Popcorn, bacon and chocolate chip cookies. You can smell ’em as soon as your foot hits the threshold and like a treat-obsessed dog of any size you go straight for the goods to sample a bite.

So what would it taste like to have all three of these in one taste treat delight? Sorry, but you won’t find out in this post.

What I will be sharing with you is the savory side of popcorn, the sultry side, the 50 Shades of Grey side of popcorn. Or is 50 Shades of Grey already a “so 2012” reference that I’ve shown my true behind-the-times colors?

Now, I’m assuming you’ve munched on popcorn: Caramel corn, movie-like-butter-flavor and maybe even chocolate. And you’ve savored bacon. Unless you’re vegan/vegetarian. And who doesn’t love the stinky cheese popcorn that’s delivered by corporate salesmen at the holidays to keep the entire staff satiated and happy? The kind that stains your popcorn-dipping fingers orange but you just can’t seem to say, “No thanks,” to.

But have you ever had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of truffle salt?

continue to the recipe… about Truffle Bacon Popcorn Plus 6 Savory Popcorn Recipes