After resolving last week to fill out my Recipe Index with more of my favorite quick weeknight dinners, I noticed another woefully empty blog category here at flavorrd: snacks! (!!!)
I’m definitely a snacker. I fully respect mindful eating, but there’s also nothing I love more after a long work week than a fully-stocked Netflix queue and a big bowl of something crunchy. And if you choose the right snack, there’s nothing wrong with that!
It may not be my foodie-est inclination, but I’ve always loved BBQ-flavored potato chips and I always will.
After figuring out how to recreate that salty-spicy-sweet flavor, though, I can save my junk food cravings for other guilty pleasures. This super simple 4-ingredient spice mix gives all the same BBQ-style seasoning to any food that’s fortunate enough to find itself under your spice shaker.
And while I’m sure it would be great on all kinds of foods, in my house it’s all about POPCORN. TheΒ air-popperΒ is an essential appliance in my kitchen – I don’t make room for a lot of uni-tasker gadgets, but for me, this one is worth it. It makes the crunchiest, tastiest popcorn, and we eat it like it’s going out of style. It’s a snack you can feel good about eating; not everyone realizes this, but popcorn is a whole grain! So it’s rich in fiber, micronutrients like magnesium and phosporus, and even a little protein.
If you’re a regular reader, you know I don’t normally provide calories or other nutrition information. Honestly, I do nutrition analysis for a living and this blog would be a much less fun use of my free time if it were more about crunching numbers than making and sharing good food. I’m also not a calorie counter at all; I prefer to just focus on eating plenty of real, nutrient-dense food. BUT, I thought this may be a good opportunity to illustrate just that concept: when you stick to the simple, real foods, nutrition is a no-brainer.
The following values compare 1 oz. of BBQ potato chips vs. 1 cup of my BBQ PopcornΒ to give comparable volumes of snack (although the serving size is 4 times that amount – just another one of the perks of eating healthy foods!)
CALORIES: 160 vs. 50
FAT: 10 g vs. 2 g
SATURATED FAT: 1.5 g vs. 0 g
CARBOHYDRATES: 15 g vs. 7 g
FIBER: 1 g vs. 1 g
SUGAR: 2 g vs. 1 g
PROTEIN: 2 g vs. 1 g
SODIUM: 150 mg vs. 60 mg
Not to mention, 18 ingredients versus my 6! All the better for accompanying your Netflix, right? What will you be watching with your snack?
Combine all of the BBQ seasoning ingredients in a small jar or spice shaker and mix well. You will have plenty of leftovers to use in future batches.
Drizzle half of the olive oil over the warm popcorn (or use an oil sprayer!) and sprinkle with 1 tsp. of BBQ seasoning. Mix well and top with the other half of the olive oil, and another teaspoon of seasoning.
https://flavorrd.com/2014/09/bbq-popcorn/