What Do You Call Someone Else's Popcorn?
A Hot Corny Dance
The Answer is....."Nacho' Popcorn!"
Popcorn was a constant snack in our home. We were always experimenting with a different flavor, and I had to fight to keep the kids from feeding it to the dog if it turned out not to be their favorite.
One of our foster girls, 13 year old Kris, was a real "wise.... uh, cracker." She was widely known from shore to shore of running cute phrases into the ground. We didn't dare grin at a funny one because it would be re-played until you wanted to rip her tongue out. She thought if once was funny, 400,001 was hysterical. And, it was, for her. She LOVED to make you wanna die.
Remember the "Nacho' Momma?" or "Not the Momma?" Kris made everyone in our house and fifty more miles hate that as well as many other slang one-time favorites. This "Nacho' Popcorn" was a snack the kids asked for, but in whispers.
Right now might be a good place to put in the comment that it is the rare foster child that is grateful to be in a good, safe, normal home. To them, "normal" is just the setting on the clothes dryer.
Food was the bribery of choice for me. Judge me if you will, but sanity had to come from somewhere. A stuffed mouth and a full stomach put out many fires from hell.
Temporarily. Many times in the middle of disagreements with kids, I started popping pocorn. It was legal, smackin' them across the whatever, was not. In the battlefield of foster parenting, we had to use what we could.
This slightly hot and spicy popcorn was my weapon of choice. The meaner the kid, the more cayenne. It was of little use, actually. They got wise and even used to the heat; they were always 4 steps ahead of me. I use double the hair coloring now because of it. I should name it Kris-py Brown. The hair color, not the popcorn.
Walking Down Memory Lane, I give to you, the recipe of "Nacho' Popcorn:"
Ingredients:
- 3 qts POPPED Jolly Time Pop Corn (don't put it in the oven un-popped, that's another story!! You think that's a no-brainer? Trust me, kids will do anything...)
- 2 cups corn chips
- 1/4 c butter
- 1 1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning, with a pinch more of cayenne, depending on how mad you are
- 3/4 c shredded taco cheese
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 300F. Spread popped popcorn and corn chips in shallow baking pan lined with foil. Melt butter in small pan and stir in the Mexican seasoning, DON'T FORGET THE CAYENNE!! Revenge is sweet.
- Pour over popcorn mixture and toss well.
- Sprinkle with cheese and toss to mix. Bake 5 min or so, until cheese is melted. Serve immediately - provide a lot of napkins, it IS messy and may stain furniture. In my house, it always did, since kids thought rules were made to be broken.
Hide the Dog. The rest of you are on your own.
I'm not bitter.
More 5 ingredient Recipes. And, excellent information about growing corn and where to get it for popping as well, here.
Comments
Spanking or spicy popcorn, it's tears and runny noses for my kids either way. But I will try it for myself. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Chef!! No gummy popcorn for us in the US, we like it fresh!! I can't imagine eating it stale!1 YUck. LOL thanks for visiting, as always!!
Hi Penmanzee!! You're right, no spicy popcorn for the little ones...best go with plain cheese, no cayenne! =0 -- thanks for visiting, as always!!
OMG -- GREAT recipe that I plan to try. My arteries are hardening just reading through it, but it sounds yummy. Thanks for another fun hub!
So, as an ignorant European Marisue, i think you'd better tell me how to pop the popcorn. Chef Jeff is right. We get ours in bags, ready popped.... or "stale" to use your terminology.
aww sorry cj, we americans can be very stuffy over our fresh made on the "stove" "stuff" -- actually canned pre-popped pop corn is especially popular here around the holidays. I don't know the age of it, but I suspect it's not very fresh either. the cans are all decorated with different scenery....about 4 - 5 lbs of flavored or plain salty popcorn...it's all over Wal-Mart and other stores. About $4.00 for the big can. We should send you some!! =)) I'll put up a hub on poppin' popcorn - just for you!!
Hi NYLady !! this is really good escpecially with a dash of the powdered cayenne...if you like it hot....and if not, leave that part out. =)) popcorn poppin' instructions coming up!
Marisue, I love the way you play with words. It took me a little too long to figure out "Nacho Popcorn"...finally, I remembered the writer's tool of saying the words out loud, and then I got it. I love how you do that.
This popcorn creation sounds like a great big mess of delicious stuff. No cayenne when I make the batch, but then, I don't have any kids at home I want to torture!
Thumbs up!
Food was the bribery of choice for me. Judge me if you will, but sanity had to come from somewhere. A stuffed mouth and a full stomach put out many fires from hell.
That remark should be penned into history.
It certainly worked for us.
Forgot to say Val loves popcorn and I do not.
She makes it and sits in front of me gloating, attempting to bribe me with the aroma. the best part of Popcorn
Hi Sally! What I'm even doing online I don't know...I just got in from double duty today and still have reports to do...and here I am talkin' "Pop" LOL
yeah, if I'm poppin for me, just give me the saltshaker. haha but I keep the cayenne handy. good to see youuuuu!!=))
Hi Marmalade!! the older I get, the better popcorn and coffee smell and less they taste. -- I agree, and if you burn either....yikes! You know what my husband, as a cop, used to burn in a house to cover the smell of death ? This is gross, sorry folks, but he would put coffee grounds on the stove, and turn the burner on low -- it would help kill the smell once they had already completed that part of their investigation.
coffee grounds....who knew?
Popcorn is good stuff! Espcecially when you fix a batch of that old boiled frosting chocolate fudge to go with it. I did that every Saturday night for over 24 years.
As for how someone else's popcorn tastes, it would depend on where that popcorn was. If it was hauled out from under a sofa or chair cushion, count me out. [grin]
As for that smell of death (the smell you never forget once it's happended to you), Vicks VapoRum up the nostrils helps ... does not eliminate, but it helps.
Hi NJog...yes, I remember Lynn talking about the vicks too, you're right!!
chocolate fudge yummmm I'm glad the holidays are coming...a good excuse to increase my intake of chocolate. =)) good to see you!!
Good hub, M. I'm one of those freaks of nature that doesn't like popcorn - yeah, I know! - but this actually sounds really good.
Love popcorn , but only with golden syrup or toffee on it, don't fancy spicey popcorn or the savoury version.
Hi constant!! I think popcorn is hard to digest...I can only eat a little.
Hii misty!! most of my kids like the flavored, but I tend to like Kettle corn, which is both sweet and salty. Very rich, though!
Fun and yummy recipe. You should have answered the hub request for the hubmom on this one because it meets that catergory :).
Did just on 1,400 post mortems one year and we always used the Vicks. As many time the stench ws unbelievable.
Did not drink much coffee in those days, I imbibed in 1956
you poor thing...reality is a hard knock! thanks for reading and sharing your bit of history, it's a good thing people do the hard things. I'm a chicken, myself.
Tasty Hub!…My microwave’s gonna get marching orders and Sergeant Orval® will be AWOL for a long time while this recipe isa popp'n!
Hi Paulie, I'm thinking we're all going to be doing things the old fashioned way in many areas of life, in the near future. I hope giving up my microwave is not one of them, tho' - however, poppin' pop corn in a pan is a fun thing to do. My dad had a knack for being the best shaker with just the right hip move that was guaranteed to get giggles from me, and not a burnt kernel among 'em! =)
Chef Jeff 3 years ago
I love popcorn! I even tried to show how we make it here in the U.S. when I was in Europe, but they didn't like it because it tasted different. Duh! It was fresh popped when I made it, and it hadn't been sitting in a plastic bag for weeks on end!
Oh well, guess it's hard to break old habits!