Tuesday's Tip: Microwave Popcorn

So I gotta apologize up front for the poor picture quality in this post.  As I mentioned yesterday, my husband has run off somewhere with the camera again.  My cell phone does not have a flash.  It was night time.

Anyway, we ran out of microwave popcorn.  I know--hard to believe such a thing is possible, considering that 67% of my children sell the stuff every fall.  But, somehow it happened.  The children were appalled--aghast, even, that I would allow this to happen.  At the same time, we had some popping corn that someone had given us a couple of years ago, but that we had never popped because we don't have an air popper, and popping it on the stove seems like too much work (all that shaking). 

 So this microwave popcorn shortage gave me the perfect excuse to try out a fun little trick to make popcorn in the microwave. 

All you do is put about 1/4 cup of popping corn in the bottom of a regular paper lunch bag. Fold the top down twice and put it in the microwave.

Set the microwave to cook at high power for 4 minutes, but just like with regular microwave popcorn, to prevent scorching, stand by, and stop the microwave when the popping slows to 1-2 seconds between pops.

 Next, season as desired, and enjoy!  So far, we've only tried melted butter and salt, but you could try commercially available popcorn seasonings, or I've heard dry ranch dressing mix, taco seasoning mix, or cinnamon/sugar is good.

(like our popcorn bowl?  We got ours here)

You can even save the bag to use again next time! 

Popcorn is a delicious, whole grain treat and making it this way is not only less expensive than buying commercially available microwave popcorn, it's also better for you, and you're not consuming a bunch of unpronounceable ingredients.

The first time Hubby saw me do this, he was amazed.  He just couldn't get over the fact that all I had to do was put some popcorn in a bag and the bag in the microwave.  Try it--it works!