The season turned to fall this week, which means it’s officially time to break out the pumpkin pie spice! The blogosphere is usually a little like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby… it seems we are often several months ahead of appropriate when it comes to bringing things out for the season. Michaels has even had their Christmas decorations out for a month or two now. Are there really people out there already preparing for Christmas? (Please don’t answer that… I don’t think I really want to know). I love the holidays, and I absolutely LOVE Christmas, but I’m a “take things one day at a time” kind of gal and also usually a few steps behind. This is why it is only now that I’m sharing my first pumpkin pie spice recipe of the season, after fall has already begun.

Don’t get me wrong… I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Pumpkin Spiced Lattes at Starbucks since they came back in August and have maybe even worn my brown fall boots once or twice already, even though it has been in the 80’s still here. I love Fall and am so excited for it to be pumpkin season! I hope you are too!…

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Today is National Popcorn Day…who knew, right?

When I first started blogging, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. I’d do my blog posts each time it is a National Food day. Oblivious as I was to the fact that every single day is a “national food day” of some sort. Of course, as an over zealous new blogger, I’m sure I figured blogging every single day about whatever star food of the day was would be a cinch. Riiiiigggghhhhttt…. You all know my lack of consistency with posting well enough to guess the outcome.

My dreams of being the “National Food Day” blogger extraordinaire never happened and instead I just hop on the National Food Day bandwagon whenever it is convenient for me, which happened to be today with National Popcorn Day. My kids love popcorn and we make variations of stove top popcorn all the time. That’s what I like about popcorn… you can just pile on whatever you like most (for me, that always includes at least butter) and have a new type of treat each day. Like most of the popcorn we make around here, this isn’t really a recipe. It is just one of the variations of sweet and salty we love.

I hope you had a very happy National Popcorn Day. Let’s celebrate again in a couple days, shall we? I hear it’s national cheese day! Enjoy!

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Recipe: Buttery Brown Sugar Popcorn

A buttery brown sugar popcorn perfect for snacking!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 1 cup unpopped popcorn
• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 250°
• Pop un-popped popcorn using this method
• Pour popped popcorn onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
• In the meantime, melt the butter in the skillet. Pour melted butter onto the baking sheet over the popped popcorn. Stir until evenly distributed.
• Sprinkle salt and brown sugar over the popcorn. Bake for 10 minutes. (Baking isn't totally necessary, but it helps the brown sugar, butter mixture adhere to the popcorn better). Pour into a big bowl and enjoy!

If you are on the lookout for another popcorn recipe, check these ones out from around the web:

• Perfect Stovetop Popcorn from Simply Recipes
• Homemade Kettle Corn from Tastes Lovely
• Chocolate Popcorn with Sea Salt from Celebrating Sweets

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I remember the moments well… our family squashed in among the crowds of people anxiously awaiting the Kansas City Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony. I was young, so could usually be found either hiding behind the backs of strangers, desperately trying to peek my head around them for a view or precariously sitting atop my dad’s shoulders, shivering as the cold, Kansas wind would hit my face.

It never failed. As the countdown to the lighting began, my heart would flutter with excitement. The moment… 5-4-3-2….and 1… was always so magical. No matter where you were standing, who you were nestled between, the sudden brightness of the beautiful light display would take your breath away.

After the ceremony we’d walk through the plaza, deciding where our dessert stop would be. The ice cream shop under the brightly lit star (with bubblegum ice cream) always won out, but after eating ice cream I longed to stop at the cute little popcorn shop with the long line of people wrapped all the away around the corner. “We aren’t waiting in a line that long for popcorn, Kristen.” Begrudgingly, I’d move on, but I was always so envious of the folks walking out of Topsy’s with the giant tins of popcorn in their hands.

Fast forward many years later and I’ve been lucky enough to have experienced Topsy’s popcorn many, many times. When my mom became a school teacher, Topsy’s popcorn tins were a common gift from her students. As I grew up and moved into a professional, office role, clients were often adorning my office space with tins of popcorn. I never tired of Topsy’s popcorn.

My friends at Topsy’s gifted our family with a big tin of popcorn this week. As my 5 year old was eating it she exclaimed “When I grow up, I’m going to buy twenty-five hundred of these every year.” Needless to say, we are all fans.

Topsy’s wants to share a 6.5 gallon tin with someone this year, and I thought we would do an “Acts of Kindness” type giveaway. Receiving a tin of popcorn is such a fun treat. This time around the giveaway is not going to you…but to someone YOU want to surprise! It’s your chance to pass on some holiday kindness on behalf of Topsy’s and Dine & Dish. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling me whose day you would want to brighten by sending a tin of Topsy’s popcorn. For additional entries:

• Tweet the following: ” I want to brighten someone’s day by sharing a tin of Topsy’s popcorn from Topsy’s & @dineanddish http://su.pr/2gwwHv ” Leave a separate comment on this post letting me know you did this.
• Visit Topsy’s website and leave a comment here letting me know which flavor or flavor combination of Topsy’s you would choose.

All entries must be received by midnight CST on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be notified via email (must have a valid email address).

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Topsy’s. All opinions expressed are my own.

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This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Jen at Three Little Piglets! Congrats, Jen and thanks to everyone who participated.

Are you ready for some Football?? I’ve mentioned before that I’m not as big of a football fan as I used to be. I enjoy watching the end of a great game (and Friday Night Lights, of course), but these days I find it hard to dedicate that much time to when there are so many other things that need done. That being said, I do enjoy the food that comes along with game day snacking!

My friends at Orville Redenbacher gave me a challenge to create a football themed gift basket to commemorate the start of football season and the new line of Orville Redenbacher’s Flavor Variety microwave popcorn. Of their three new varieties (White Cheddar, Extra Cheese and Sea Salt & Vinegar) I decided to build my basket with the Sea Salt & Vinegar variety in mind. We are big popcorn eaters at our house and loved the fact that with Orville Redenbacher’s new flavor variety, the flavor comes in a separate pouch. You can actually choose how much flavor you want based on your own individual tastes.

I created this basket with some friends in mind who live in the town I went to college at. They are constantly having people come in and stay over for football games. I thought it would be fun to add to their K-State paraphernalia and made the ultimate game day basket for them.

We all know game day isn’t really game day without delicious snacks on hand. 3 packages of Orville Redenbacher’s Sea Salt & Vinegar popcorn was a must.

Also included in the basket is:

• 1 K-State tote
• 2 K-State tumblers with lids and straws
• 1 K-State party banner, perfect at home or tailgaiting
• 1 K-State Sweatshirt Blanket…football weather is crisp and this comfy blanket is sure to keep our friends warm!
• 1 package of K-State cocktail napkins
• 1 K-State Pen and a K-State notepad (for taking down drink orders, gameday scores or friends orders for popcorn!)
• 1 K-State bottle opener
• 4 purple and silver pom-pom’s (It’s important to cheer on with style!)
• 1 K-State cookie cutter and some Wildcat logo decorated cookies
• 1 $10 iTunes gift card to download your favorite game day apps
• 1 football… there’s something about watching football that makes you want to toss a ball around
• 2 popcorn bowls
• 1 bowl with a lid and small spoon – for sprinkling the perfect amount of Orville Redenbacher flavoring on their popcorn

I hope our friends enjoy their special game day inspired gift basket! A special thanks for the Orville Redenbacher Team for the $150 gift card to create it. It was a lot of fun to shop for!

Now it’s your turn for the chance to win. One lucky Dine & Dish reader will win Football themed prize pack of their very own. The Orville Redenbacher team is creating a special surprise football themed gift basket just for you! A different 25 Dine & Dish readers can win a sample pack of Orville Redenbacher’s Flavors Variety popcorn. For the chance to win, simply provide your answer to this question in the comments section below:

Do you think you’ll snack on Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn more now that it comes in new flavors? Which flavors are you most excited to try?

All entries must be received no later than midnight, CST on Monday, October 10th, 2011. All entries require a valid email address. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be contacted immediately after the drawing.  Thanks and best of luck to you!

This is a sponsored post. I was compensated by Orville Redenbacher for my time as well as received a $150 gift card to create the football themed gift basket you see above. All opinions expressed are my own.

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I am one of those people who can go all day without eating, but by the time 5pm rolls around I am starving and eat everything in site. I’m quite the picture of health, aren’t I?

I need to lose what I still call “the baby weight”, although with an 18 month old now, I’m not so sure I can use that excuse anymore. I think I’ll lovingly refer to my extra pounds as the “I’m just too lazy and like food too much,weight”. I plan on officially joining Weight Watchers again in January as their POINTS system (which is new and now includes most fruits for 0 POINTs…have you heard?) combined with exercise and a focus on portion control really seems to work well for me.

I know that in order to be successful with any weight loss plan, I need to incorporate healthy snacking instead of end of day gorging into my life. We love popcorn around here because it is tasty, easy to make and filling. In addition, it is a great source of fiber and is often low in calories. I’m excited to learn more about popcorn and healthy snacking during the Twitter Girls Night Out party on Monday, December 6th. Hope you’ll join in!

In conjunction with Orville Redenbacher, Mom it Forward (the creators of Twitter Girls Night Out) and Dine & Dish, one of my lucky readers will win an Orville Redenbacher prize pack (ARV $50). The prize pack includes a really cool red popcorn bowl from Crate & Barrel, a variety of Orville Redenbacher popcorn (Light Butter, Lime and Salt, Cheddar and Kettle Corn) as well as a variety of healthy snack recipe mix-ins to go with some of the recipes on the Orville Redenbacher site. How fun is that? To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite healthy holiday snack is.

For multiple entries, you can do any or all of the following:

• Tweet the following: Check out the #Orville Redenbacher’s giveaway on @MomItForward to win healthy holiday snacks! http://bit.ly/g1y4PR PLS RT (leave a separate comment on this post after you’ve tweeted)
• Visit the Orville Redenbacher’s website and leave a comment on this post about what dish you would most like to prepare during the holidays.
• Tweet the following: Looking 4 healthy snacks? Visit the #Orville Redenbacher’s site 4 ideas on how 2 snack healthy during the holidays! http://bit.ly/dEVaGf (leave a separate comment on this post after you’ve tweeted)

All entries must be submitted by noon CST on Monday, December 6th. At that point, Random.org will select the winner!

I was compensated to help spread the word about the Orville Redenbacher / Mom it Forward campaign.

The post Orville Redenbacher Healthy Holiday Snacking Giveaway appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Guess what? I am posting something today and it is the very thing I just made and am eating while typing. It must be something outrageously good if it is getting to jump ahead in line, don’t you think? Something like chocolate caramel covered cheesecake? Ooeey gooey cheesy lasagna? How about the most decadent homemade ice cream ever? Absolutely, not. Today, the food that has gotten me over the moon excited is Popcorn. Yes… popcorn! And not even an exotic flavored popcorn. Plain salt and butter popcorn.

I know, right? How could popcorn, even plain popcorn, be delicious enough to get this much attention from me? Well, it is…you have to trust me on this one.

We normally eat microwave popcorn around here, but two weeks ago I decided to buy some popcorn kernels and try to make popcorn the old fashioned way. Not quite sure what I was doing, I made my first batch of popcorn and it was good. Not great, but we liked it fine.

My girls were requesting popcorn today so I decided to Google stovetop popcorn to see what I could come up with. The first recipe that showed up was Elise’s recipe for Perfect Popcorn. With 115 comments raving about the goodness of this plain, buttered popcorn, how could I go wrong? I will admit that I was skeptical that it could be that good, because, really…its popcorn, people. I am here to tell you that you cannot go wrong with this popcorn recipe. It is so buttery (but not grease on your hands and soak through a bag buttery), lightly salted and cooked to perfection…not a single kernel to break a tooth on either!

If you want to pop up a batch of Perfect Popcorn, you can find the recipe on Simply Recipes. I suggest running, not walking, to the nearest store to snatch up the ingredients today!

Like a little flavoring to perk up your perfect popcorn? Give these recipes a try:

• Herbed Buttermilk Popcorn from 101 Cookbooks
• Peanut Butter Popcorn from Frantic Home Cook
• Popcorn Cereal from Tammy’s Recipes
• Vanilla Caramel Popcorn from Baking Bites

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