Whenever I see those "you've been doing it all wrong" posts, I'm a little skeptical. Really? Have I really been doing it wrong? Or have I just been doing it MY way?

Then I started clicking on certain links, and I've realized what a wonderful resource these types of posts can be! Usually they save me time and money, or at least they make my kids totally excited.

Popcorn

If you're like me, you grew up with Orville's Bags of Toxins (I'm kidding, love you Orville). Many radical health food nuts have denounced microwave popcorn as "dangerous" and "cancer-causing." Everything we do and eat pretty much causes cancer, so you won't get any judgement from me if you want to fill your face with perfluorooctanoic (PFOA) - a chemical coating on the bags that breaks down when heated. Or diacetyl, the stuff that makes the popcorn taste like butter.

But what if I told you there was a better way, that's just as easy?

What's awesome about microwave popcorn is that it's an easy snack. Throw it in the microwave, beep, beep, beep, and out comes a steamy bag of delicious popcorn for movie night.

Our family version of popcorn is almost exactly the same, but leaves out the chemicals and additives. Here's how you can do it:

Go out and buy a package of brown paper bags ($2)
Go to your bulk food store and buy plain popping corn (we like the white-ish variety, as the yellow variety has a hard outer shell that sticks in your teeth). If you want to get really consumer-conscious here, find some non-GMO organic popping corn (I bought some last year at Picard's but I'm sure you could find a local source)
Place 1/4 cup of popping corn in the brown paper bag, and fold over the top of the bag 2-3 times (don't fold too much - your popcorn needs some space)
Place in microwave, and cook on High for 2 minutes (warning!! This will be different for every microwave. You might find you need more or less time. Apologies if you have a couple of burnt bags of popcorn before you figure it out)
Take the popcorn out, and place a small bowl with 2 tsps butter back in. Cook just until melted.
Pour the butter over your popcorn, and salt to taste

And voila! Super yummy popcorn at a fraction of the cost and 10x the healthiness. Dress it up with whatever spices you'd like (or maybe one night you'll get really daring and make caramel sauce!)