Munchie Monday: Chili Lime Popcorn Cauliflower. Yes! Cauliflower Popcorn!

Our daughter sent this recipe to me some time ago.  I have made it three times now, and really like it.  This is not popcorn that you need to sit down and eat three bowls of with butter and salt to be satisfied.  This popcorn is something that you can put on your desk in a covered storage container and when you are beginning to think about food, and trying to hold off eating some bad-for-you food, you can open the container and pop a couple little pieces of tasty, really flavorful goodness into your mouth. I let it sit there for a while to enjoy the burst of deliciousness on my tongue, then eventually chew it up.  The desire for bad-for-you food leaves me and I continue on with work.  You might want to try it.

You will need: 

a dehydrator
a big head of cauliflower
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon chili powder (or more if you like that)
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 large bowl
1 good knife
a spoon

On a cutting board, cut up the cauliflower either into small-sized florets or into 1/4-inch slices.  Put into the large bowl.  Drizzle the olive oil over it and stir with a spoon until all the pieces are coated.  Squeeze the lime over the bowl ( I have a yellow lime/lemon squeezer that I love to use for this.  I squeeze the first side then the second side of each half and get plenty of lime juice.) then stir with the spoon until that is all over the cauliflower.  Next put into a small bowl the chili powder and salt and mix well.  Sprinkle over the cauliflower then stir well until all pieces are nicely coated.

Place on two or more racks in your dehydrator and set the temperature for 135 degrees F. and let dehydrate for 6-8 hours.  Take out and enjoy a few pieces.  Put the rest in a tightly covered container.  I cannot tell you how long this lasts because we have consumed it all.  This is the royal "we" here, though Dear One has been known to eat a bit.  Other people at a function found it went down very easily!

This is the leftover little bits of cauliflower that I suspected would dry up so small that they might fall through the spaces in the dehydrator sheets.  All right, if you must know, I was dying to have a taste.  I decided to call this bit "chili lime cauliflower salad" and ate it for breakfast along side of my oatmeal.   I ate them with a spoon.  So good.

One note:  as with all kitchen/cooking work, your hands should be freshly washed before you start, and washed many times while cooking.  In every instance where I stated up above to use a spoon to stir, well...I don't do that. I use clean hands. I feel like they do a better job and you have a better feel for the situation with the food.

Munchie Monday: Popcorn Treats!

Is there anyone who does not enjoy a rice krispie treat every once in a while?  I think not.  Especially when there are so many variations on the basic Rice Krispie Treat.  Well, I wanted to make some for our early morning crew but I did not have any Rice Krispies so I thought I would try them with popped corn.

This is what I did:

Popped corn to make 8 cups of fluffy popcorn.

Melted 4 Tablespoons of butter (Not margarine.  Go for the real thing.) in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-low heat.

Added 10 ounces marshmallows and stirred CONSTANTLY with a long-handled wooden spoon until the marshmallows were completely melted and smoothly incorporated into the melted butter.

Poured the hot syrup over the popped corn and stirred until all the kernels were covered in the sweet syrup.

Previously I had lined a 9 by 13 pan with parchment paper which I sprayed with a little non-stick spray.  When the popcorn was well mixed I pressed it into the pan and let it cool.

When completely cooled, I cut it into rectangles and put them on a plate for the early morning crowd, and went to bed.

Popcorn Treats ready to serve.

It turns out either 1.  there was no early morning crowd today, or 2.  they did not think they would be any good.  The plate appeared untouched.  So....since I did not dare have them in the house as I liked them just fine, I put them all in a package and delivered them to the grandchildren who, I feel certain, will like them very much.