First Popcorn! (POTD 6/9)

I met Liz Hehman in Greenville, IL, when her husband assumed the Head Football Coach position at Greenville College. Liz introduced me to stove-top popped corn. Well, that is a misnomer - I had made stove-top popcorn before, but not regularly; mostly for when we were going to a picnic or a drive-in movie. At the time, my regular popcorn consumption came in the form of, yes (*gasp*), microwave popcorn.

I know, I know. But that was before I started trying to eat less processed food and more healthy stuff.

So anyway, Liz made the BEST popcorn on the stove. And since then, I've not only made popcorn on the stove about a million times (that's my rough estimate) and taught about a thousand people (that's a gross exaggeration) about how much better it is than microwave. The legacy of "real popcorn" is now a legend that stretches across the United States.

(incidentally, Liz is really an excellent photographer and has her own business: Liz Hehman Photography - if you live in OH, you should check her out!)

So - wow, this was a long time in getting to..... tonight I made my first pot of popcorn in the new apartment. And now my house officially feels like home.

Here is what you need to make the world's best popcorn (my special "Margarita Popcorn"):


Its pretty simple. You need 5 ingredients, a heavy pot with a lid, and hot pads.

I put about 3 Tbsp on the bottom of the pot, turn the fire on high and then pour in about 1/2 C. of popcorn. Put the lid on and let it heat up. Once it starts to pop, then shake the pot a little bit every 15 seconds or so. You can lift the lid up a teeny-tiny bit  every once in a while to let out some of the steam, too.

While that's cooking, melt about 1 Tbsp of butter.

Once it stops popping or slows down a lot, then turn off the heat and pour it into a bowl. It will look like this. Mouthwateringly delicious.....

Pour on some butter - but as you are pouring, toss the popcorn so that you don't end up with 20 buttery kernels and the rest totally dry. The goal with the butter is to put on just enough and shake it up just good enough that the salt and lime stick to the popcorn.

Tada! Done. I know, it just looks like plain popcorn. But trust me. After the butter sprinkle on a little salt and then some lime sprinkles and toss it up. Then add a little more salt to taste. The lime works as a salt substitute, so if you aren't careful, you can put too much salt on it - add a little salt at a time, toss, taste, repeat.

Then eat so much you are almost embarrassed for yourself. But if you can't eat all of it (or if you are convicted about how you shouldn't eat all of it) then put some press and seal wax paper or saran wrap on the top. The next day if you put it in the microwave for 30 seconds - it will be SUPER delicious as leftover.