We all need a store of little snacks to add to our lunch boxes for when the kids need something extra to munch on after they have eaten their sandwiches, fruit or dairy etc.  However, we need to try and keep these snacks relatively healthy.  This week, because our cupboards were bare come Tuesday after our trip, I made popcorn.  Not the microwave variety, real, popped-it-myself popcorn.  Air-popped popcorn is the healthiest, but I don’t currently own a popcorn machine so I made it on the stove with 1 Tbl. spoon of olive oil.

Just follow the directions on the pack, but basically you heat the oil in a saucepan on the stove.  To test the oil, drop a kernel into the pan and if it spins around, the oil is hot enough.  Tip your popcorn into the pan, cover with the lid and pop away.  I hold the lid on my pan while I carefully move it back and forth over the stove burner so the popcorn moves around a little and the bottom pieces don’t burn.  When the popping begins to slow down, remove the pan, leaving the lid on until all popping has stopped.  And wulla!….You have made your own popcorn!  It’s also extremely cheap.  I like to serve it in these coloured plastic cups on Movie Night.

One cup of popcorn (11g) contains 5g of carbohydrates so it is a good occasional snack for my Type 1 Diabetic child.