nutritious junk

I love popcorn.  Whether it’s sweet, sour, cheddar, chocolate, or burnt I’ll eat it all.  When I moved to LA two things happened; I was introduced to Kettle Corn at Venice Beach and I absolutely fell in love with it, and I bought a microwave that just wouldn’t let me make popcorn.  I’d use my air popper but it always seemed like more kernels ended up on the floor and the counter than in the bowl and it was just really frustrating.  So for a while I’ve gone without my beloved popcorn except for at the movies or when I feel like cleaning up…ugh.  But I decided to give my microwave another chance at proving itself at being the popcorn popping receptacle I knew it could be.  I picked up Act II new 100 calorie bags of kettle corn and stuck it in the microwave.  I was so excited when I started hearing the pop, pop coming from it.  The smell was just like the smell of the kettle corn that I would get at Venice Beach.  The size was perfect because even though popcorn is pretty healthy (of course not the ones covered in chocolate or cheese), regular sized bags are just too big unless you’re sharing. And popcorn goes stale so quickly that it’s not really practical to put the rest of the bag away for later.  Even though these are mini bags it makes a lot of popcorn.  Enough to leave you satisfied and amazed that your hand keeps reaching in the bag and comes out with more kernels.  The taste was right on, sweet and slightly salty with no aftertaste. It was enough to satisfy a sweets craving without making you feel like you’ve just eaten a couple spoonfuls of sugar.  I liked how the taste was subtle and didn’t overwhelm.  The popcorn was crunchy and very popcornesque, meaning it came out as popcorn should come out, texture wise.  Even though the box says 100 calories, the nutrition info says 90.  There are 2.5g of fat, 290mg of sodium, 4g of fiber and 3g of protein.  It’s great all the way around and because of the bags small size its perfect to sneak into the movie theatre.  I just wish more good movies would come out so I had more opportunities to snack on this stuff.