Caitríona Redmond: The joy of popcorn - and quick fixes for dinner decision fatigue

Fresh Popcorn in a Jumbo Popcorn Box

I’ve made it through a full workday, I’m wrecked; how can I even think about dinner? Does that sound familiar?

Even though I stick to meal planning and prepping, I still get caught out. 

As a full-time work-from-home parent, I have made so many micro and macro decisions during my day that what to cook for dinner is too much to think about - otherwise known as decision fatigue.

I wish somebody would meet me at the bottom of the stairs when I finish work and hand me dinner, having cleaned the kitchen.

I cook the same familiar meals in stressful times because I know I can serve up something filling and nutritious on a budget without concentrating too hard.

The more expensive way of dealing with decision fatigue is to take my meal decisions off my list of stressful items. 

I recently ordered meal kit boxes over a fortnight, receiving enough food for three meals for my family of four. 

I used a discount code - I couldn’t bring myself to pay full whack.

The meal kits did bring more inspiration into the kitchen, although the meals were designed for two people and not a family of four. 

I cooked for far longer than expected, and the recipes were not as foolproof as advertised.

At the end of my testing period, I elected not to renew, but I can see the value in being able to order an individual kit now and again. 

Overall, three meals worked out a similar cost to two takeaways for a family of four, but I can’t justify the expense on my tight budget of €140 per week.

So I’ve chosen the cheaper option to deal with my meal fatigue: cookbooks, ieFood, and the library. 

My local library has a wealth of cookbooks available to rent, and there’s also BorrowBox, the free digital reader app available to all Libraries Ireland members. 

I’ve pulled out my Post-it notes, tagged the new recipes I’d like to try, and then challenged my kids to make them for dinner.

The Irish Examiner has a dedicated portal for recipes called ieFood. There you will find an excellent repository of recipes from all of our food contributors. Food indecision begone.

Home Economics: Making popcorn

Popcorn is a healthy snack with few ingredients, but it is expensive to buy in a popped bag or multipack. 

Popping kernels at home, however, is a much more budget-friendly activity. 

Plus, you can control the amount of seasoning or toppings you put on popcorn when you make it yourself at home.

Homemade popcorn needs nothing more than a bit of sunflower oil and kernels. 

As of writing, 500g of popping corn (kernels) costs €2.20 in Tesco. 

This is enough popcorn for at least 30 x 20g bags. Six-packs of 20g bags from Tayto are widely available and flashed with €2 pricing in all their stockists.

If I buy 500g of kernels and make my own, the retail equivalent would be €10; even allowing for the nominal cost of cooking oil and electricity, it still represents a saving of €7 if I cook this popular treat from scratch at home. 

Plus, I have eliminated additional packaging from my household.

One of this week’s recipes is a sweet treat made with homemade popcorn. 

If you’d like to make popcorn on its own, follow steps 1-3 below and then season to taste.

Sweet Popcorn Balls

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

A sweet treat made with homemade popcorn. If you’d like to make popcorn on its own, follow steps 1-3 below and then season to taste.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 14 mins

Total Time

 29 mins

Course

 Side

Ingredients

• Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil

• 50g popcorn kernels

• 100g white marshmallows

• 25g unsalted Butter

• Equipment:

• Medium saucepan with a secure lid

• Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

• Large spoon

• Large bowl

• Sunflower oil for greasing your hands when rolling the balls

Method

1. Put the sunflower oil and popcorn kernels into a medium saucepan. Secure the lid firmly and place onto high heat on the hob.

2. Once you hear the first pop, move the saucepan off the direct heat for 1 minute.

3. Return the saucepan to the hob, and once the busy popping has eased off, you should have a whole saucepan of popped corn.

4. Empty the popcorn into the lined baking tray and leave it to cool.

5. Wash and clean your saucepan. Now put 25g of unsalted butter into the saucepan on low heat.

6. Once melted, add 100g white marshmallows to the butter (you can use any colour, but it will make for an odd hue on the popcorn balls, so I use white only).

7. Stir well until the marshmallow melts completely into the butter and you have a creamy white mixture.

8. Pour the liquid marshmallow into the bottom of the large bowl. Add the cooled popcorn, then stir well until every piece is coated.

9. Rub sunflower oil onto both hands to roll the popcorn mixture into sweet balls. It stops it from sticking.

10. Leave the balls on the greaseproof paper to come to room temperature.

BBQ Pork Ribs

A barbecue-season favourite - whatever the weather.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 2 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 10 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the ribs:

• One rack of pork ribs

• 1 onion, peeled

• 2 sticks of celery

• 1 carrot, peeled

• Salt and pepper

• For the dressing:

• 50g dark brown muscovado sugar

• 50ml apple juice

• 1 tsp minced ginger

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 150°C.

2. First, get the ribs underway: roughly chop the vegetables into large chunks and put them in a deep baking tray (I use my grill tray with the rack removed). Rest the ribs on top, season well with salt and pepper. Pour 200ml of warm water into the tray. Cover the baking tray with tinfoil and seal tightly.

3. Bake in the oven for 2 hours.

4. After the ribs cook for 90 minutes, heat the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan until bubbling.

5. Remove the tray from the oven and carefully peel back the tinfoil. Turn the oven up to 200°C. Line a shallow baking sheet with tinfoil and sit a grill rack on top. Lift the ribs onto the rack and brush with the sauce. The vegetables on which the ribs are cooked can be discarded.

6. Roast the ribs in the oven for 20 minutes, then serve with fresh greens and steamed rice or a baked potato and salad.