July 4th Snack Recipe: Almond Bark Popcorn

I’d hoped to get this posted before the 4th of July, but time was not on my side.  Ah well, that just means I get to tell you about the fun day we had!  I don’t have a lot to say about this popcorn recipe because it’s really simple.  Just fresh popped popcorn, melted vanilla almond bark (can be found in the link or in the baking section of the grocery store) or white chocolate, and sprinkles.  I first had almond bark popcorn at a Christmas potluck.  I loved the flavor and was impressed be what a simple cheap party snack it was.  I decided that adding some red and blue sprinkles would make a great 4th of July snack, and it turned out exactly like I imagined.

Although Eric and my places of work were both closed on the 4th, I still had to work.  I was in charge of the Cultural Stage at the City of Auburn 4th of July Festival.

We had so many fun cultural groups as part of the program, and the audience was packed for each group.

This Marshallese choir sang and danced and really surprised everyone with their enthusiasm and unique sound.

Youth from PAYO entertained everyone with traditional dances from the Phillippines.

A traditional Mexican dance group filled the stage with color and fun.

Our big finish was a Taiko Japanese drum group.

They’re always a huge hit, and in the end they let the kids in the audience go up and try the drums.

Then of course, there were lots of fireworks all week long.

They pretty much kept us up all night, but sure were beautiful.  Our puppy and kitten didn’t seem at all fazed by the sound of the fireworks, although Phurba did maintain a guard position over me most of the night.

This 4th of July popcorn was for us to snack on during the festival.  Our stage was right by the food court and the strongest smell wafting over each year is kettle corn.  So I decided to make my own sweet and festive popcorn that we could munch on for free!

It was a big hit, and while not as healthy as plain popcorn, still only about 140 calories per serving.  I used fresh popped organic multicolored popcorn that I made on the stove.  Almond bark is not a very natural ingredient, but you can probably use white chocolate instead.  I’ll try it again in the future with white chocolate to see how that works, but if you try it let me know. Here’s the almond bark we used:

I’m curious, how many of you pop your own popcorn?  Did you know that the chemicals used in microwave popcorn have been linked to all sorts of health issues?  It’s some pretty scary stuff.  Would you be interested in our stovetop technique?  It’s really easy and we get almost every kernel popped without and burning.