I was sick and never made it out of the bed. I’ll try to get the extra post up today or tomorrow. The seven part guilt free Super Bowl party series will be completed though. Have no fear!
Part deuce of my ‘guilt free’ Super Bowl Party series, Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop! Butter flavored microwave popcorn. Pop up a few bags early, dump them in a huge bowl, salt and season, and you’re ready to go. Calories are minimal, cost is effective, and everyone loves popcorn. You may even take some chances and throw in some special seasonings to create something all of your own, or you can be lazy like me and serve it straight. It’ll be great either way. Here is a review I composed for the product.
Ol’ Orville. I’ve been eating his popcorn since I was just a tiny little fellow. ‘Movie Theatre Butter,’ and a heaping helping of salt, you couldn’t beat it. It can sure beat up on your waist line though!
I’ve been on a (reasonably) healthy diet for a few years now, and I’ve managed to drop a few pounds. Cravings for junk food will never end though, so I’ve taken to replacing my old favorite snacks with healthier alternatives. While grocery shopping one day a few months (years?) back, I was gazing lustfully at the popcorn displays, remembering all of those good times watching a late night movie munching on the buttery goodness that I had left behind. Then this Smart Pop! stuff caught me eye, ‘Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop! 94% Fat Free Butter Popcorn’ if you want to be precise. I bit the bullet, even going as far as to buy the big box, finished my shopping and headed back to the ranch in hopes of finding a good flick.
Well, there were no good movies to be found, apparently they don’t make those anymore. Heh. Popped up the corn anyway, and the scent coming out of my microwave made me happy. This Smart Pop! stuff smelled like the real deal! I pulled open the bag, burnt myself, cursed, and eventually got around to trying a piece.
I’ll admit, I was just a little disappointed, but I think that was mostly my fault. The smell had me setting the bar way too high, and that’s hard for something that’s a diet product to clear. After dumping the rest of the bag into a bowl (no self respecting popcorn eater eats out of the bag), doused it with a heart attacks worth of salt, it got a little better. Note, since there is so little butter, salt has a hard time sticking to it.
With my now slightly lowered expectations, I dove right in, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. While not a true replacement for the real thing, it’s a good substitute as a craving killer. There are 217 calories in the whole bag, not just a serving. Quick lunch at work, maybe? I will defy anyone to try to eat the whole bag though, there are easily three good servings in each one.
All and all, I say give it a shot. It should be a hit at your party, and I think you’ll enjoy it year round. I do. The other varieties are quite solid as well. Easy thumbs up!
–Jeremy Hobbs
This is the first of a seven part series I hope to present this week; products that should be a part of your ‘guilt free’ Super Bowl party. I’ll try to cover drinks, snacks, meals, and a few things in between.
Anyone that knows anything about throwing a party knows that one of the first things you want to do is get a drink in your guest’s hands as quickly as possible. Even nonalcoholic drinks are known to make someone feel more relaxed and at ease in a social situation. As humans we get nervous, and a drink will keep at least one hand busy at all times.
I’m recommending ‘Coke Zero’ because I feel it’s probably the best tasting diet drink available on the market, especially among diet colas. Diet Pepsi Max runs a close second, but it just has too much caffeine to be consuming all night.
For those that haven’t tried it, a brief review on Coke Zero would go something like this; it is the ‘true’ Diet Coke. Coca Cola Classic and ‘Diet Coke’ aren’t even based off of the same formula, but Coke Zero is. Coke Zero is Coke Classic without the calories. Aspartame sweetened, but mixed with Ace-K, it has a really great taste without any bitterness.
Keep some Coke Classic on hand, you’ll always have one or two people who will refuse to drink a diet soda, but I think your guests will enjoy it. It’s a lighter, non filling version of an American classic. It being ‘non filling’ is a big reason I recommend it over a very filling, sugar sweetened beverage; you want your guests to have plenty of room to consume the food you’ll have prepared! It also ‘mixes’ well, if you’re throwing ‘that’ kind of party.
Check back in tomorrow, I’ll have a recommendation for a low-cal, hi flavor snack. Leave some comments and let everyone know what you plan on serving at your Super Bowl Bash.
–Jeremy Hobbs
I read a lot of blogs, and today I saw a post speaking of a fellow blogger who is really in need of some help right now. RT from Untwisted Vortex is in the Philippines. His wife is in the United States and is having some medical issues and needs to have surgery. RT is caught in a very tough predicament and he doesn’t have the money to make the flight home.
RT didn’t ask for help (had to be convinced actually), but with some prodding from Vic (a blogger who helps many other bloggers) and others, RT has installed a donation button on his site (upper left corner). With your help, along with many others, we can all get RT back to the United States to help his wife through the surgery.
Many, many other bloggers (including Vic and Darren Rowse of Problogger.net) have already posted about RT’s situation, and if you run a site, I would ask you to do the same. Please donate what you can to help RT. Large amounts of small donations really add up.
RT if you happen to read this post I hope that this, know that I’ll be praying for you and your family.
(edited from a similar article on courtneytuttle.com)
Update: RT has reached his needed goal, and removed the donate button. Thanks to everyone in the blogging community, readers and writers, who contributed!
This site has been more successful than I had really thought it would be at this point in time, so I’m going to spread the wealth a little bit. I’ve installed a ‘Blog Roll’ on the side bar which I’m going to use to link out to other ‘review’ type blogs like mine. When you’ve read what you need to read here, please go check them out, they’ll have different products, or different viewpoints on a few of the same things I’ve reviewed. Enjoy!
–Jeremy Hobbs
Happy New Year to all who frequent the Corner, and to anyone else who might stumble in. God Bless you all!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas season thus far, and today was just the icing on the cake! Thank you for supporting this site so diligently, I’m glad to be producing content that you enjoy. Heres hoping for a joyous and prosperous New Year for us all!
Godbless,
Jeremy Hobbs
I’ve installed a plug-in that should make the commenting process a bit friendlier; you guys try it out and let me know if you have any trouble.
…Adam at PixelHead Online for helping me out with a big problem yesterday. Thanks to him, you should all be able to leave comments now! I’m sure I’ll enjoy the conversations!
I’ve noticed an incredibly large increase in traffic the past week or so (yay!), but a big drop in my RSS feed subscribers to go along with it(boo!). That’s, well, just not supposed to happen. One number kind of goes along with the other.
Has anyone had any problems with the feed? Or would anyone care to subscribe to test it out for me (you can delete me later of course; I’m begging for help, not subscribers)? Any help at all would be very much appreciated!
–Jeremy Hobbs
