Why Popcorn?

Popcorn is a pretty big deal in my family. Being on the poorer-side of things growing up, it was one cheap snack food mom could make in bulk. And I'm not talking about that air-popped crap. I remember the first time I had that stuff at a friends house, it was like eating wadded up cardboard, totally tasteless. No, I grew up with the "Clardy-style" (as it has become known to others) which was originally popped in a large black pot, used exclusively for popping corn, with saved bacon grease and seasoned with Lawry's Seasoning Salt. Then we got healthier and started using olive oil sometime towards the year 2000.

Really... I think we just started eating less bacon.

Which is probably good.

You know....theoretically speaking.

Popcorn is cheap, easy and pretty healthy as a snack food. Its one of the few things my youngest brother knows how to make. It's also shown it can be transformed into a wide range of flavors. I think one of the all time favorite endeavors of my mom's was nacho popcorn. We ran out of Lawry's so she had to come up with an alternative. It had taco seasoning and grated cheese on top and it was soooooo gooooood, let me tell ya. It was a whole new world after that. A world with no boundaries....

So it's plain that I am an addict, and yet I am such a foodie I can't just have it simple. Whenever I am at my in-laws and they bust out the good ol' butter and salt, I inevitably sneak off to the kitchen to sprinkle some spice or another onto it. It just NEEDS something!

But I had never made a recipe match a movie theme until one fateful day when the Man decided he wanted to have a movie night for How to Train Your Dragon. From that night was born Dragon's Breath Popcorn and the friends who tried it have never forgotten it.

Seriously. 

I'm not kidding. 

It's been four years and I still get requests to make a themed recipe for a movie night! So I thought, what the hey! Make it a thing.