Popcorn plain or dressed up great for snacking

 Do you enjoy a bucket of popcorn when you go to the movies?? How about when you need a quick snack?? Popcorn in many ways can be a healthy snack alternative. Popcorn is rich in fiber and without adding tons of butter or salt is a much better choice of snack than other items like potato chips. Popcorn is also high in antioxidants, lower in calories and fat and free of sugar. However, while popcorn by itself is a rather good choice it is what we decide to add to the popcorn when we eat it that makes it more of a difficult choice. 

There are many ways you can dress up your popcorn, so it is both healthy and tasty.

(1) chili powder can both lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease as well as improve circulation. Simply adding a 1/4 tsp of chili powder to your popcorn will offer a kick of spice and make it a bit healthier as well. 

(2) cinnamon is another simple way to change taste of popcorn a bit. Cinnamon adds anti-oxidants as well as anti-inflammatory with no calories being added. 

 (3) simply adding some seeds, nuts, cheese or chocolate chips and mixing with popcorn offers you aot u bit of different taste and will seem like a treat 

For all counting calories popcorn may seem like the perfect snack as well. Having approx. only 30 calories per cup you can get filled and not use all of the day's calories. Keep in mind though that ts the extra toppings that add the extra calories. Microwave popcorn may seem the easiest but looks can be deceiving. Microwave popcorn often has more salt than needed, flavors are often artificial, and the bag is often too big of portion. However, in defense in Microwave popcorn the consumer has to be the judge and make sure what they are buying there are alternatives that are better than others. 

Adding butter is something else that is often done by the fans of popcorn. First of all that is not always good for the body and you may like the taste you may not like what it does to the body. Extra butter at the movie theater should be totally avoided. Like wise to much butter added to popcorn is not good, the best choice is an average of 3 Spoonfuls. Kettle corn is often a bad alternative as well adding to much butter and sodium.

Easy Tasty Popcorn recipe

1 cup broken up freeze dried apples

5 cups popped popcorn

1 cup pecan halves

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

sprinkling salt to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Mix apple pieces, popcorn, and nuts on a large rimmed baking sheet. In a small bowl combine coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract, and nutmeg. Drizzle the cinnamon sauce over the popcorn mix, stirring well. Spread out evenly on the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Check that apples are golden. If they are, remove from oven. If not golden yet, give the popcorn mix a stir and bake another 5-10 minutes. recipe resource

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