Monday Must-Haves | When the Munchies “Pop” Up

Can we talk about my love of popcorn for a minute? It’s overwhelming + all-consuming. I would consider marrying it. It definitely makes me happier than a man does. It doesn’t ghost, cheat, lie or let you down! But popcorn’s always been one of my favorite snacks. When we’d go to the movies, my dad would make it at home because a) it’s WAY cheaper + b) I hate that fake chemical-y butter on my popcorn. We’d also eat it every Sunday with the Bears game. (You’ll soon find that so much of my life is centered around Chicago sports.) Of course at four I was trying to pick out the ones that had the most butter on them + eat those first. Now I rarely put butter on mine, but it’s still on hand when I need a crunchy pick-me-up!

If you open my snack drawer on any given day, you’ll find individual + microwavable bags of sea salt popcorn. My individual bags from Skinny Pop, Boom Chicka Pop or Smartfood are better as they’re all 100 calories or less, but sometimes, popcorn tastes best warm + fresh. Sure I’d love to have it at home cooked on the stove in coconut oil with sea salt, a recipe my cousin Mickie taught me in June when we were visiting them in Colorado (which I’ll share in a minute), but there isn’t a stove here at the office so I have to make due. Yes, I have “better” snacks like almonds + you’ve already heard about my RXBARs in my snack drawer, but this is my cheat snack + it’s not even really a cheat. It’s just good, reminds me of childhood + helps me focus until lunch.

Before I forget, let me share Mickie’s stove top popcorn recipe with you! It’s genius, it’s delicious + it travels well! We enjoyed it at my cousin’s baseball game in the hot Denver sun.

• Find a large, two-handled pot with a lid + place it over medium-high heat with two tea spoons of coconut oil.
• Drop in three popcorn kernels + place the lid on just slightly off kilter to get some air into the pot.
• When your three kernels pop, you know your oil is hot enough. I usually cover the bottom in one layer of kernels.
• If you’ve ever made popcorn on the stove, you know how important it is to make sure you shake your pot (with oven mitts on of course) so it doesn’t burn. If you’ve never made popcorn on the stove, please just take my word for it.
• When your kernels have popped, remove them from heat + pour them into a large bowl.
• Season with sea salt to taste.
• Enjoy!

I’m sure you’ve already guessed it, but this short + sweet post about my love for popcorn is brought to you by my 10:00 AM popcorn craving + my noon lunch break! Happy popping!

xo.