Michele's Totally Awesome Gourmet Popcorn Review

It's official. I am now a quarter of a century. And I had an awesome time of it. Really...the only other gift I'd ask for at this point? MORE of Michele's Totally Awesome Gourmet Popcorn!

This is not my first time talking about this utterly amazing popcorn on here. Essentially the thing is: I was introduced to Michele's popcorn when I was on location in Maine filming a movie. I became fully addicted (like...to a real degree. Ask anyone who was on that set.) And now when I know that I want some super delicious, homemade, totally awesome popcorn-I call up Michele's!

Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn, one of my personal favorites.

SO...when I decided to whip up some caramel corn chocolate chip cookies...I gave my old friend Michele a little email...and begged for some caramel corn.

And she very sweetly obliged. And sent me a couple other kinds because she knows how deep my love for her popcorn is.

Michael's fave--Maple Bacon Caramel Corn!! I couldn't find this variety on their website, perhaps it's coming soon?

Michele's popcorn is good because it is hand-made in small batches with fresh, quality ingredients! You can definitely taste that this popcorn is real-no processed stuff here! PLUS they have SO MANY DIFFERENT AMAZING FLAVORS-savory and sweet and anything in between (like the above maple bacon)! My favorites are pretty much all the ones involving chocolate. DUH.

Fun fact, though: Michele's isn't just about popcorn! They also make a variety of other treats (pretzel sticks...oreo's....STUFFED oreo's....oh yeah) and even PUPcorn for your pooches!

The classic-Caramel Corn.

So, obviously...you need to try some of Michele's Gourmet Popcorn for yourself!

Visit their website.

Like their facebook.

Follow them on twitter.

Or send 'em an email: questions [at] michelesweetshoppe.com

Disclaimer: Michele's Totally Awesome Gourmet Popcorn provided me with samples of product to review, and I was under no obligation to review if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product. My opinions, as always, are all my own.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Popcorn-Guest Post with A Zesty Bite

(Side note: Today is mine and Michael's 5 year anniversary!! Yay! <3 <3 <3)

This is it! The final "ahh I'm moving and planning a wedding and need help" guest post! I am so grateful to all the wonderful ladies I had helping me out and am already so behind on making, photographing, and wirint for the blog...so I can only imagine the mess I would be in if it weren't for these posts! Today's post is courtesy of the adorable, talented, wonderful Meagan of A Zesty Bite! I actually guest posted for Meagan a while back, so I was so excited when she said she'd return the favor! Meagan is so incredibly sweet and has the most adorable little toddler (*sob* she's not a babyyyy anymoooore!) She is also probably the only person who ever made me consider moving to Texas (no offense to TX, it seems cool and all!) And her photography skills are amazing, her site is adorbs, and her recipes are all mouthwatering.

Like this one, for instance...

Hi, Cooking Actress readers!  When Kayle contacted me to help out since she would be busy moving and planning a wedding I was absolutely thrilled to help out my friend.  We have never met but I feel like Kayle is a close friend of mine and I would LOVE if she would move to Texas.  For those of you who don't know me my name is Meagan and I'm over at A Zesty Bite.  I'm a stay at home mom to a busy little toddler girl who is 19 months old.  My website consists of easy and delicious meals that anyone can make whether you cook a lot or have never cooked before.  My recipes range from healthy to complete and satisfying comfort food.
I also like to cover travel and lifestyle posts about our busy little family.

Popcorn is my all time favorite snack!  It's quick to make, healthy to eat and just fun to add different flavors to it.  Now you can't go wrong with lightly salted popcorn but this recipe with cinnamon toast crunch will have you craving more.
Totally…..
Now I have to admit that I like plain non-frosted, non-sugary cereal but for this recipe I needed the extra sugar and there was no glass of milk included.  My little one LOVES popcorn just as much as me and I couldn't wait to share this fun afternoon "special" treat with her.

If you have left over popcorn just store it in an air-tight container.

ENJOY ~ Meagan

Microwave Caramel Popcorn

Caramel corn is super duper delish. It's portable, it's addictive, it's crunchy, it's sweet and salty and just....YUM!

But...ugh. It is a hassle to make! That is why this recipe is AWESOME! So much quicker and so much easier, it's a gift from the caramel corn gods!

Now, I will say, when it comes down to it: I still prefer my old favorite caramel corn recipe. BUT, like I said-a hassle. This recipe is my new go-to when I have a hankering and I just want to be able to whip up some caramel corn quickly and easily and without such a big mess and with A LOT less dishes! (woot! wooooot!)

Hey-when you say "caramel corn" do people ever think you mean candy corn? This has been a mixup that's happened a couple times in my life recently. It's like...nono I know candy corn is awful. I'm talking about CARAMEL corn...you know...popcorn....coated in caramel. Like from the circus or a fair or just that super cute gourmet popcorn kiosk in the mall?

Anyway. So. Here's what we've got: pop some popcorn in a brown bag (which we've talked about before), mix up some caramel in the microwave (surprisingly simple!), then-now, prepare yourself, this COULD get messy, make sure your brown paper bag is sturdy!-you pour that caramel in the bag with the popcorn and shake it until it's all coated, THEN microwave, THEEEN shake it, THENTHENTHEN microwave it some more. Then shake it again. Then lay it out and let it cool and harden. TA-DAAAA (or, as the little girl I babysit says "DAAAAAA!") you have caramel corn!!! It's going to be crunchy, but still a little sticky (so be prepared to find delicious leftover morsels in your teeth for the next couple hours :P). 

And there you have it: simple! Gotta love a microwave.

Browned Butter Popcorn

I interrupt your popcorn fantasies to bring to you some sad news:

Me and savory popcorn are broken up.

I know! I know. No one's sadder than me. But we had a good run. I used to eat microwaved popcorn daily (or at least weekly). I was known to scarf down a large bucket of the buttery stuff at the movies. I literally purchased a new microwave in my first apartment because the one that came with the place wasn't large enough to pop popcorn. But in the past few years...we've grown apart. I already had to give up movie popcorn after I got sick more than a couple times from it. I lost my craving for the microwave kind (even after I found a way to do it homemade). I found a new popcorn love...sweet popcorns. Chocolate and caramel corns, those have been bringing me nothing but joy. But when I heard of browned butter on popcorn...I knew I had to try to rekindle mine and savory popcorn's love. But alas...it was not to be. After a couple (delectable) bites...I no longer wanted any more. And my stomach protested the entire thing. I had a headache and was nauseous for the rest of the night.

I don't know why, but this same thing happened with eggs. I ate too much of a thing and now..it makes me sick. I don't know why. But I have to accept my sad fate. Because let's face it...if browned butter popcorn can't fix it....nothing can.

Anyway...my stupid palate/belly aside. Let's discuss.

BROWNED BUTTER POPCORN, people!!!

I mean...how did this never occur to me until now? It's so genius! Maybe I got sick later, but those first couple bites...mmm they were buttery, nutty, heavenly popcorn goodness.

"Snickers" Peanut Butter Caramel Corn

I love sweets.

I love popcorn.

I love chocolate.

I love peanut butter.

I LOVE CARAMEL CORN!

So like...I know Thanksgiving is this week, and I don't really know if caramel corn is a particularly Thanksgiving kinda thing but...I mean...corn was a big deal at the time, with the natives and such, ya know? So...yeah. That makes sense.

My beloved Kristina (from Whipped) shared this recipe around Halloween time. Because it's like candy. But somehow low-cal? I think it's because of the popcorn, I don't know. All I know is I wasted pretty much no time to get this in Michael's and my bellies. We were pretty darned excited. And it was delicious. And we ate it. A lot. And before we knew it...it was gone. Because popcorn is addictive like that.

I'm not gonna lie...this recipe is difficult...I think? I'm not 100% sure if making caramel corn is hard or if I just suck at it, but all I know is I can never evenly coat all the popcorn and the caramel is hot and I burn myself and I can't make it all sit on the pan evenly and when I try to mix it I make a mess and...yeah. But then all those annoyances fade away when I take the first bite. Kinda like how moms supposedly forget the pain of childbirth once they hold their baby in their arms (is that true? I sure hope so). You know? But yeah. You should make this. It's popcorn (popped in a big pot which is way more fun than I realized...heheeee all the lil kernels go "pop! pop! pop!"), a peanut butter caramel, and a yummalicious chocolate drizzle on top of it all. Oh yeah and peanuts. Sweet...salty....nummy.

Brown Bag Microwave Popcorn

Popcorn and I have had a very intense relationship over the years-we've had a lot of ups and downs.

For some reason, up until the 2nd grade-I thought I didn't like popcorn. Then, when I tried some, I realized I LOVED popcorn! I began to eat it a lot-a movie theaters, but especially microwave popcorn at my house. Eventually I was up to eating 1 bag of microwave popcorn PER DAY! I was very picky about what kind as well. Act II Butter Lover's Popcorn was the only popcorn for me. In high school, when I was worrying about my weight a bit more, I cut back to only a few bags of popcorn a week. This kept up through my first year of college. Then, in the midst of my 2nd year...something happened. I sort of started to get over it. I began to eat popcorn less and less. I realized movie theater popcorn made me sick, and I was sort of microwave-popcorn'd out. So, me and popcorn took a break. 

While I was shooting in Maine and discovered Michele's popcorn, my love was reawakened, but in a new form, now I'm more into the occasional sweet popcorn (such as caramel corn). 

Recently, I learned that microwave popcorn bags are lined with all kinds of stuff that is bad for you (yeesh I wish I'd known that as a kid). I don't have an air popper. Using oil/skillet/etc. seems messy and complicated.  So I was VERY excited when I learned there's a safe, easy, fat-free way to make popcorn in my own microwave! It's so seriously simple: Take a brown paper bag, put the kernels in (you don't even need oil!), tape it shut, microwave and VOILA! YOU HAVE POPCORN!!

So cool. Just....so cool. 

Michele's Totally Awesome Gourmet Popcorn!

Boy was I excited to arrive home to this box...

Michele's Totally Awesome Gourmet Popcorn began when the wonderful Michele decided to start selling her beloved whoopie pies...yes...whoopie pies. She began to research how to run such a business. During this time she was also sharing some amazing white chocolate popcorn, and enough people raved about it and told her that she should sell it that...well..she did! She decided to set aside the whoopie pie idea and focus on gourmet popcorn. A family run business, Michele's is run by Michele, her husband, and her 3 children in New Hampshire. All of the flavors are hand-crafted in small batches with quality ingredients and always fresh! You can order their savory and sweet popcorn varieties online, in select stores, and they've recently opened their own store-front in New Hampshire! They've even been selected for the official SWAG bags of the Daytime and Sports Emmy's of 2010, and the 2012 Kid's Choice Awards!

Caramel Corn-Take 2: Holiday Recipe Exchange: Week 14 (Holiday Entertaining)

When you think about nostalgic, classic images of Christmas-one that pops into my head is of people decorating their trees with apples and pine cones and strands of popcorn. Something about popcorn just goes with the holidays (and...admittedly....I just love popcorn always. But I digress.) Up until recently, I wasn't a huge fan of caramel corn. I'm unsure why. I think because I'm generally not a caramel fan, so I assumed. But last summer, while I was filming You Can't Kill Stephen King in Maine, we were provided with free popcorn by Michele's Totally Awesome Gourmet Popcorn. I became an addict. So, when I recently saw this recipe on Sing for Your Supper, I knew it was time to try my hand at making some on my own. It was so amazing I can't even say. Michael had his work friends impressed and he and I couldn't stop munching on this stuff! This is also perfect for holiday entertaining-put out a bowl of this caramel corn, at any party really, and that bowl will disappear within moments. Now go! Make this and do some holiday stuff. I'm currently watching some of my favorite Christmas movies (on right now is a TV movie-"Once Upon A Christmas"). :)

(Holiday Recipe Exchange posts: Week 1 Parts 1 and 2, Week 3, Week Six, Week Seven, Week Nine , and Week 10 Parts 1 and 2,Week 11 Parts 1 and 2, Week 12 Part 1 and 2 and Week 14 Part 1)