Currently cooking out of Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass.

This was one of the first recipes I marked out of this book. Besides the novelty of making my own popcorn (Wait! Popcorn doesn’t grow in microwave bags?), I love caramel popcorn. My family has a caramel popcorn recipe that we’ve been making since I was a little girl. It is gooey and good and maybe, someday, I’ll post it here.

But this recipe called for almonds. And, if you haven’t heard, I love almonds.

So, my first task was to figure out how to make popcorn. From scratch with no air popper. I know it can be done, because I’ve seen Alton Brown do it. Sass’ method of making popcorn involves tossing the kernels with a bit of oil, dumping them into a paper bag and microwaving them. It sounded easy. It sounded too easy and I was suspicious. Besides, Sass warns that some microwave manufacturers advise against popping popcorn in the microwave. What? I thought that’s what microwaves were made for. Oh my God. Was I going to blow the house up? Would I forever smell of burnt popcorn?

It was time to step back from the recipe and eat some chocolate. Which I did, for several days while contemplating the enormity of my task.

Finally, I decided I was being a dork and I just needed to do this. So I tossed the kernels in oil, plopped them in the paper bag and set the bag in the microwave. I hit the start button and ran to the other side of the room, mentally reviewing where the fire extinguisher was, the location of the nearest exit and whether or not I should warn Bryan that catastrophe was imminent.

Then I heard the first kernel pop. Followed by a second, then a bunch of pops, and the smell of popcorn filled the air. When the popping had mostly stopped, I stopped the microwave and gingerly moved the greasy, hot paper bag to the counter. After a few deep breaths, I carefully opened the bag and . . . I had popcorn. Real, fresh popcorn that tasted like corn instead of chemicals. It wasn’t stale or too salty. It was good. It was so good that I almost ate all the popcorn right then and there.

But, I had a recipe to make, so I dutifully made caramel, tossed it with the popcorn and almonds and scooped it into balls. Yeah, balls of dentistry horror. These puppies darn near wrecked a year’s worth of dental work that Bryan and I just finished. I think I let the caramel cook too long, because they had an odd burnt taste. Bryan and I each ate a popcorn ball, then I pretty much picked the almonds out of the others. Next time, I’ll stick with the Crossley family caramel popcorn recipe and just add almonds.