Karen's Corn Salsa

Everybody has one or two dishes that are your go-to foods to bring somewhere.  If you're headed to a friend's lake house, having some friends over, or going to the neighborhood block party you'll whip it up.  Your friends know you'll bring it, and you hope it's one that people are excited you came and brought rather than a perpetual joke.  Ideally, it's something that takes little effort and can be done in advance so you don't have to time it well. For our next door neighbor it's a massive (store bought) chocolate cake that her son described as "seven pounds of deliciousness" with a mouthful of frosting.  It doesn't get much better than that.

For my mom, it's corn salsa.  She raised us that you never go anywhere empty handed.  Bring food or bring beer but don't show up expecting to eat their food and drink their beer without offering any of your own.  I remember my mom making this up for my brother to go hang out with his friends at the lake so he wouldn't be rude.  And he obviously never refused.  You can whip it up ahead of time, and requires only minimal chopping skills.  You can make it up early in the morning, and just set it in the fridge until you throw it in the cooler on a bed of nice cold beers. Not only does it taste awesome, but you also don't have the guilt of eating nothing but red hots, a bag of chips and french onion dip all day. It's hits that sweet spot of healthy and something you actually want to eat.

Stovetop Popcorn

This is another one of those super simple things that is totally worth making yourself.

I seriously love snacking.  Especially something both salty and crunchy. So popcorn is right up my alley.  Especially because it's actually good for you.  At least if you make it yourself, that is.  For one cup of just plain popcorn it has only 30 calories, 1.2 grams of fiber, over 4 grams of complex carbohydrates, and 1 gram of protein.  That's not a ton of any of those good categories, but it's little to no fats, simple sugars, or any of the bad stuff.  So if you're going to grab a bowl of something to snack on while you're curling up on the couch with Netflix it's about as good as it gets.

Keep in mind that's just the popcorn itself, so whatever you're cooking it in is what adds the less healthy stuff.  Which is why rather than opt for microwave popcorn which has all that mystery yellow stuff, I cook mine in a few tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and Old Bay seasoning.  But you can make it sweet, salty, spicy, or cinnamon-y all depending on what you're in the mood for.  And it's good for you!

You'll Need:

3 TB olive oil 

1/2 cup of popcorn kernels

Seasoning of your choice

Let's get started!

Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot with a top.  Put in a few kernels too so you can tell when the oil is getting hot.  Put the burner on medium heat.

Once those kernels pop, pour in your remaining kernels (about 1/2 a cup or so).

Shake it periodically.  Once you can count to two mississipi nice and slow without any pops in between remove your pot from the burner and take off the cover.

At this point you can season as much or as little as you want.  I shake some salt and Old Bay on mine, but you can drizzle a little melted butter, or shake some cinnamon and sugar over it for a sweeter variety.  It's easiest to mix it up well if you have a mixing bowl with a top you can shake it in.  1/2 cup of kernels makes about a medium sized mixing bowl.

And that's it!  Eat up you savvy snacker, you!