Spiced Popcorn

This original recipe post is from a favorite blog of mine, Food, Wine, & Pod Podge.  I highly suggest giving her a visit.
Start by popping 1/2 cup popcorn in the way that you like. We sometimes do air popped popcorn, but for this recipe, we decided to use Alton Brown's Perfect Popcornpreparation method.

We used 1/2 cup popcorn with 2 tbs peanut oil.




Toss to coat the kernels in oil, and quickly cover tightly with aluminum foil.



Poke a few holes in the top to allow the steam to vent.



Keep it constantly moving so the kernels don't settle. It will start to pop fairly quickly. Don't stop shaking the bowl until all kernels are popped, approximately 3 minutes. Then remove from heat and set aside.

Now grab the ingredients for the spiced topping.



- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder (the recipe calls for cayenne, but I couldn't find our cayenne so I substituted it with the chipotle powder)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons salt

And of course, we can't forget the most important ingredient of all...



Butter! The recipe calls for 4 tbs, or 1/2 stick.

Melt the butter, and then add the dry ingredients and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the ingredients have melded together.



Now go back to your big bowl of popcorn, and very slowly drizzle about 1/4 of the spice mixture on top. Toss the popcorn, and add 1/4 more, then toss, 1/4 more, toss, the last 1/4, and toss again. The goal is even coverage of the popcorn, so however it works for you!



Now dig in! This is an awesome salty-savory-sweet popcorn, and it goes great with a Corona on a lazy Saturday afternoon! Enjoy!

Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups

Recipe courtesy of DisneyFamily.com- 2010

Fruit rolls are a big 'kid favorite' and very easy to pop into lunches or backpacks for kids on the go. These rolls are 100% fruit with no sugar or artificial anything added. They're also cheaper than their boxed counterparts, coming in at just 17 cents each. If you don't want to roll them, the fruit leather is just as good cut into squares or other shapes.

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 8 hours and 40 minutes
Yield: 12 roll-ups
Cost Per Serving: $0.17

Ingredients

8 ounces dried apricots or other dried fruit1 1/2 cups water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Line a 12x15 inch baking sheet with aluminum foil; coat foil with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Combine apricots or other dried fruit with water in a heavy saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes or until fruit is very soft.
4. Drain excess liquid and pour fruit into a blender. Puree until very smooth.
5. Pour fruit onto prepared foil and spread evenly, making sure there are no holes.
6. Place sheet into oven for 25 minutes. Without opening oven, turn heat off and leave oven door shut for 8 hours.
7. Remove baking sheet from oven and gently peel fruit from foil. Set on waxed paper, right-side down, and press down.
8. Cut into 12 even strips, lengthwise. Roll each strip with the paper side out and store in plastic bags until ready to eat.