Shelter from the Storm…
/Hello Fellow Non-Travelers!
The world sure has changed an awful lot since my last week’s post. Many across the country are experiencing “Shelter in Place” orders, or “Essential Travel Only”…only to find that when you get to the store, many store shelves have been picked clean and retailers are doing the best they can to keep shelves stocked, while trying to keep an unsettled public fed and happy.
When last week’s post came out, we had already been house bound for several days.
We did a lot of cleaning and organizing those first few days, then settled into catching up on a good book, as well as catching up with some good friends and family by phone.
By week two, we had enjoyed some great home cooked meals and had started catching up on some movies/series on Netflix….But what to snack on while watching these? If you are at our house, it’s POPCORN
Wait!!....I thought this was a cheese blog??.....So where’s the cheese!??
Did you really think that I wasn’t going to mention cheese??
Popcorn has been the “go-to” snack of choice for my daughter, Haley since she could crawl. Our home has gone through more home popping machines than the local movie theatre!
Our current favorite popcorn popper can be found here. We like this one because it is made of glass, microwavable, and is ready in minutes…not to mention a super easy clean up.
So in today’s blog, I thought I would share some of our current cheesy popcorn favorites!
Popcorn with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Fresh Rosemary. This one is just as easy (and delicious) as it sounds. Fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, with fresh picked Rosemary from our garden, tossed with a good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and lightly salted with Mediterranean Sea Salt…. Delizioso!!
Need another?...How about a French style…
Popcorn with Blue Cheese and Cranberries. We use Rogue Creamery® Blue Heaven, Blue cheese powder, dried cranberries, a few generous crumbles of Société® Roquefort and toss in Président® Butter… très magnifique!!
…and just like in every holiday tin of popcorn, we needed a Popcorn with Cheddar Cheese.
Since I did not want to just buy cheddar cheese powder off of the shelf, we will go ahead and make it ourselves. This recipe is really a “two-fer” (meaning a two-for-one). The recipe will start by making cheddar cheeses crisps.
I found this recipe for Cheddar Cheese Crisps and they were simple to make and really delicious…I had to stay focused and remember that these were for the homemade cheese powder I was making. I patted them with paper towels to collect as much of the oil and moisture before moving them to the freezer to make them as brittle as possible. Once frozen, it was into the Vitamix until I had cheese dust. Time to assemble my next creation: Popcorn with Cheddar and Crispy Jalapenos!
Once the popcorn was popped, I lightly tossed the popcorn in Avocado Oil, then added in the cheese powder, crispy jalapenos, and a dash of salt…Yee Haw!
With these three creations, Haley and I were ready to binge watch Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat which is a wonderful 4-part documentary series on Netflix starring Chef Samin Nosrat of the famed Bay Area restaurant, Chez Panisse.
Stay safe, dear reader…This life is so dear, so precious, and as we are learning…so fragile.
To close out this week’s post, I am reminded by the lyrics of the Rolling Stones classic song, Gimme Shelter:
“Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away”
Until next week,
Trevor
