Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was filled with sleeping in, hitting the gym and hanging out with my sister who is home for Thanksgiving. I'm ready for a short holiday week ahead, how about you?!
This is my first month participating in the Secret Recipe Club and I was completely thrilled when I got The Yummy Life as my blog for this round. I love Monica's blog because her recipes look simply fantastic and she is extremely thorough with her recipe instructions. I love that when trying new dishes! When I saw her recipe for Red Hot Popcorn Party Mix, I knew I had to give it a try.
Not only does the recipe look fantastic, but Monica is clearly a girl after my own heart in that she creates food based on her favorite sports team! Though she created this popcorn in honor of the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals, I adapted it just a bit to follow my own favorite sports team...the New York Giants!
And since we're a two team household (with Shaun rooting for the Jets), I thought it was only fair to make a batch honoring the Jets as well.
I really only adapted a couple of things from the original recipe. First of all, I didn't use Red Hots because I am not really into the hot cinnamon flavor. Instead, I used pretzel M&M's for a more sweet & salty flavor. I also need more colors than just red, and the M&M's made this easy peasy.
NY Giants & Jets Popcorn Party Mix
*Adapted from The Yummy Life
8 cups popped corn (I use air-popped without oil or salt)
1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts
1 bag pretzel M&M's for your colors of choice (I used a holiday bag for red & green, and a regular bag for the blue)
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 tsp canola oil
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
decorating sprinkles (red/white/blue/green coarse sugar, nonpareils, or similar)
Pop your popcorn. I have a fresh popcorn machine, but you can easily make fresh popcorn on the stovetop or in the microwave. Lay out the popcorn on a large baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Pour on half of the peanuts, sprinkles and M&M's. (At this junction, I just did one half with the red and blue M&M's and sprinkles, and the other half with green and white to delineate Giants and Jets). Mix the white chocolate and oil together and melt in the microwave...but don't overmelt it!
Drizzle the white chocolate evenly over the popcorn and immediately top with the sea salt and remaining M&M's, peanuts and sprinkles. Let harden completely and break up. Serve in bowls or individual baking cups.
Don't you want to just eat that up?! We did!
So there you have it. My little twist on The Yummy Life's Red Hot Popcorn Party Mix. I love this whole idea and just think it's so fun! Thanks Monica for this great recipe!
Questions of the Day:
Have you ever made sports-themed food?
What did you do this weekend?