DELICIOUS (AND ORGANIC) STOVE TOP POPCORN!

If you are still eating bags of popcorn from your microwave, I beg you to stop! Not only are you consuming some of the worst fats, salts and preservatives with every handful you eat, but you're getting a dose of hardcore radiation from your microwave while doing it!

Many folks may believe that making popcorn on the stove the old-fashioned way is time consuming and dry. NOT TRUE!! It takes just a few minutes longer and it's sooooo much healthier for you, not to mention soooo delicious!!! I have pretty much mastered our own popcorn at home...the way we like it for ourselves, but I want to share with you the simplicity of it and the benefits behind it just briefly. I tried using just an oil for a while and just couldn't get the taste or texture I wanted. I tried using just butter for a while, but never got it right either. I used too much, I used too little. FINALLY, I tried a mix of coconut oil, grass-fed butter and sea salt (I'll share the particulars for you to make your own in just a minute) and I had nailed it!! Salty, buttery, crunchy and healthy!

Okay, so real quick let's review the healthy part of all of this...aside from the fact that there are no preservatives, chemicals, etc used here. PLEASE STICK WITH ME ON THIS AND I PROMISE THE POPCORN INFO IS COMING. There's such a controversy around saturated fats. Are they good for us or not? Well, let me put it this way. 50% of our brain is comprised of it, 45% of breastmilk is and 50% of our entire cell membrane structure...yep, I'd say we need it! Now, there are good saturated fats and toxic ones.  Coconut oil and grass-fed butter (from cows only grass-fed and not given hormones and antibiotics) are amazing saturated fats! They actually LOWER cholesterol, increase metabolism, actually aid in weight loss, strengthen your immune system, heal digestive issues, give you energy and so much more. Good fats aren't stored, they are made into energy...unlike toxic fats like margarine, canola oil and even sugar which become nothing but stored fats. I could go on and on about the health benefits of coconut oil and even grass-fed butter, but I'll do that another time. If you want more info now though, you can head over to Organic Facts and check out more great things about it or just Google "health benefits of coconut oil" and you'll see for yourself!

Now for the popcorn as promised! So I don't do exact measurements on this one because I'm always making different sized batches (sorry folks who desperately need an exact recipe). I will however, give you the basics and images to help you determine for yourself what you need!

STOVETOP POPCORN "RECIPE"

For a basic batch of popcorn for at least two adults in a MEDIUM TO LARGE POT:

1/4 cup of Dr. Bronners - Magic Fresh-pressed Virgin Coconut Oil

About 2 Tbsp of Grass-fed butter (I like the Kerry Gold brand and you can find it at Kroger)

Organic popcorn - We get our Blue popcorn locally, but you can also get some HERE!

Once those have melted in the pot I don't really measure the popcorn I put it, I just keeping adding it by hand until the bottom of the pot is covered in one layer of popcorn and there's still just a tad of butter and oil around the top of it. Then I give a thin layer of sea salt over that just before putting the lid on (you can start small with the salt and add more later if you're not sure). 

Let it sit on the medium -high burner until you begin to hear it popping. Give it a good shake off the burner every 5 or so seconds just so it doesn't burn. Bring the heat down a bit after a minute or two and once you barely hear any popping take it off the burner. Voile'! Delicious stovetop popcorn!!

Now, put it all in a nice big bowl (I love using my great-grandmother's old kitchen bowl), go curl up with someone for a movie or just grab a good magazine, a cozy blanket and enjoy!