Best... Popcorn... Ever...

I've never made popcorn the old-fashioned way.  Ever.  Throw the bag in the microwave, push the "Popcorn" button, then dig in; that's been my strategy for, well, ever.  Knowing that the microwave stuff is terribly unhealthy, and since I'm on this health kick right now, I decided to try making a healthy popcorn.  I can confidently say that I'll never ever open a bag of irradiated popcorn again.

First of all, it was ridiculously easy to make.  Pour just enough oil (I used canola) to cover the bottom of a large saucepan.  Toss in 4 or 5 single kernels of corn, turn on the heat, then wait for those kernels to pop.

Once that has happened, throw in 1/2 tablespoon of butter and some salt, then 1/4 cup of popcorn.  Cover loosely (I used a skillet, turned upside down).  As the popcorn begins to pop, shake the pan back and forth over the hot burner.  Continue until the popping has stopped, then immediately dump the popcorn into a bowl and start eating!

Seriously, this was the best popcorn I think I've ever had.  Certainly better than the microwave stuff, without the extra crap that comes with it.

Also, consider this; Act II Butter Lover's Microwave Popcorn weighs in at 170 calories per serving.  How big is a serving?  Two tablespoons of unpopped popcorn, or 1/2 of the 1/4 cup that I popped (which was split between two people).  According to MyFitnessPal, the popcorn that I made amounted to 40 calories, for the same sized serving.  I've had the Butter Lover's popcorn, there's a partial box in the pantry right now.  The homemade stuff was better, by a long shot.

Here's the recipe that I started with, but I cut the butter way down, and I used slightly less popcorn:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/