simply eat. snacks // maple cinnamon popcorn

I simply love popcorn but I know the cinema or shop bought stuff is usually so bad for you, plus the cinema stuff is wildly overpriced! £3+ for a small?! Plus I can never figure out why they cook popcorn in so much fat and then top it with extra butter, sugar etc... The plain stuff is pretty sin free but also pretty boring and I don't expect you to eat it that way! But by making it yourself you at least guarantee that you know exactly whats gone into this tasty snack.

There are a variety of ways to 'pop' your popcorn, the traditional in a pan, air pop or microwave. If you air pop or microwave then you don't need to add any additional fat in the cooking which is great, so you are left with a healthy wholegrain snack!

• Traditional - Heat 1tsp of vegetable/plain oil (around 36kcals)in a large pan with a lid, preferably glass. Once the oil is warm add in enough corn to just cover the bottom of your pan, toss to coat in the oil and leave to heat up. Once the kernels start popping shake occasionally to make sure the unpopped kernels fall to the bottom to get more heat. Keep doing this until the 'pops' become 4-5sec apart.
• Air Pop - This requires a special machine that just heats the kernels with hot air so just follow the instructions for your machine!
• Microwave - I have yet to try this technique but apparently you just put the kernels into a brown paper bag, fold over tightly and chuck in the microwave like the ones you buy! Check out this blog post here for more info...

So now you have your popcorn let's get down to flavouring those tasty little nuggets! Now the amount of topping you add is totally up to you and depends on how much popcorn you have popped...

• Add 2-3tbsp Maple Syrup and 1/2-1tsp Cinnamon, add gradually and taste in between, it shouldn't be overly sweet. (If you're interested 1tbsp of Maple Syrup = around 45kcals)
• Toss well to coat and then tip onto a large baking sheet. 
• Pop into a warm oven (100c ish?) and cook for 10mins, turn out the oven and leave to cool. This stops the popcorn going soggy and keeps it lovely and crisp.
• Scoff!! Although I didn't need to tell you that did I...

This is just one of probably hundreds of different recipes out there and now you have the basics go experiment with your own weird and wonderful flavour combos! Just let me know if you come across a good one...

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simply eat. snacks // roasted chickpeas

image copyright simply eat

So...in my last post I said I was going to try roasting chickpeas. This was inspired by a Pin I came across for THIS recipe...I know what you're thinking, it is a bit weird! But my curiosity won over and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised...they tasted kind of like peanut brittle, the chickpeas really go crunchy which I wasn't expecting! If you fancy giving these a go then here's what you need to do...

Ingredients

• 200g Can Chickpeas in water (this is a small half can size so if you want to make the recipe with a normal sized can just double the rest of the ingredients.)
• 1 tsp Honey
• 1/4 tsp Sesame Seeds
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Simply...

• Drain the chickpeas really well and dry the excess off with a paper towel. I then removed the outer skin on the chickpea, these can be a bit tough so it's worth taking the time to do this.
• Then place on a baking tray on some greaseproof and roast for 45-50 minutes at 180c. 
• They will go golden brown and when you taste one they should be crunchy all the way through.
• In a bowl combine your Honey, Sesame seeds and Cinnamon. (If your honey was the set variety like mine then just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen up.)
• Tip in your chickpeas and stir to coat well, tip back on the greaseproof tray and pop back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
• Once done leave to cool to let the honey harden slightly...that's if you can resist the temptation to try this weird and wonderful snack!
• Keep in an airtight container. These should last for a few days but they are best on the day.

image copyright simply eat

I would love to know if you give these a try! If honey sesame isn't your thing then pop over to the site I got the idea from HERE as they had other flavour combos such as Garlic Parmesan or Smoky Spice...

ps - Apologies for the crappy photos, it was the evening and artificial light never quite makes up for the real thing!

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