Quick Caramel Popcorn!

Ok, so I lied, I did not get my tree up. Yeah, well my kids were mad too. We just ran out of time and so to make it up to them, I promised to make them caramel popcorn. Well, when I realized it was already after 7pm, I knew I had to come up with a quick way to make caramel popcorn (my recipe takes an hour to bake) since I had already been a huge letdown when I ran out of time to decorate the tree. 

I remembered that I saw a quickie popcorn recipe in Cooking Light, so I looked it up to see if I could make it work for the kids.  Well, it worked a little too well!  I have made this recipe 3 times in the past two days! I like that this is not sickening sweet or too chewy. Since we are decorating the tree tonight, I am making another larger batch for festive snacking.

Quick Caramel Popcorn

(adapted from Cooking Light)

8 cups air popped popcorn

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 TBSP maple syrup

1 TBSP Smart Balance Light

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil sprayed with cooking spray.

In a small pot over medium heat, add sugar, syrup, Smart Balance and salt stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil. Allow to boil for 2 minutes without stirring. When the sugar mixture is done boiling, pour it evenly over the popcorn and stir to coat. Pour the popcorn mixture in the prepared pan and lay in a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool (if you can).

Last night was really busy since we went to Max's chorus concert. I love the sound of children singing. It is just so darn sweet. Since we were running around like crazy people, it was a quick dinner. The boys had chili cheese hash browns. If I had some Daiya, I would have done the same.

However, Caitlin posted her hummus sandwich yesterday and I immediately started craving it. That is the down side to blogging about food or the upside...you make the call. 

Sometimes you see things and you HAVE to HAVE them! Luckily, I had everything it took to make a huge egg white hummus waffle sandwich!

Can you tell I loved it!  

I am entering the popcorn in the Gluten Free Homemakers Wednesday Carnival.