Italian Parmesan Popcorn Recipe

My husband and I try to plan family fun activities as often as possible.  Sometimes it’s an elaborate day trip into Houston to visit the zoo or aquarium and sometimes it’s a simple trip out to eat followed by a movie at the theatre. Our schedules with work, dance, school, and sports are making it harder and harder to plan day trips. Those same schedules leave us so exhausted by the weekend we are wanting to plan a family activity that focuses on inactivity.

We need Family Movie Night.

Yes we want to rest! We have been to so many practices, football games, dance classes, grocery stores, and schools during the week that when it comes time for family fun, we want to lie around like a bunch of lazy seals! We are getting pretty good at it too. Family Movie Night is the perfect restful family fun activity during these hectic weeks. Our brains need to slow down, I need to not worry about cooking, and the kids need to have 1-2 hours of quiet, fight free time. There are a few rules, I mean traditions, for our family movie nights.

• A healthy dinner is not guaranteed. In fact it is frowned upon; frozen pizzas will do just fine.
• If Mom wants to watch a Christmas movie in September, we will watch a Christmas movie in September. It has happened before, it will happen again.
• The adults claim the furniture. Kids get the floor. Bring in blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. Make a palette. Make it comfortable. That is your spot for the next 2 hours.
• All lights out, all mouths zipped shut, feel free to fall asleep!
• Jon’s famous popcorn must attend movie night.  No microwaved, fake butter flavored stuff allowed! Ever!

It isn’t a movie night in this house without Jon’s famous popcorn. It isn’t so much the popcorn itself, but the seasoning that makes this movie snack irresistible! The original recipe was born when I was a kid. We too had family movie nights that included frozen pizzas, soda, and popcorn. The kernels were popped over the stove in a very loud popcorn pot then tossed in parmesan cheese and various seasonings. When Jon and I moved down to Texas my Mom made him his first batch. He was instantly in love and addicted! My parents bought us our first stove top popcorn pot and Jon started playing around with the seasoning mix until it was just perfect! We never looked back.

When Litehouse came into our lives I was given the opportunity to blog for this amazing company and Jon was given their Italian Herb Blend. It has replaced our old Italian Seasoning Blend for the Italian Parmesan Popcorn seasoning mix and we will never go back.  We love the fresher taste of Freeze Dried Herbs in our popcorn compared to the overwhelming flavor traditionally dried herbs can give food.

Make your next Family Movie Night special by giving each child something that is not intended for sharing! My kids love it when they each have their own special bowl of popcorn so tonight I made popcorn bags out of brown paper lunch sacks. I love having fewer dishes to wash. A quick zigzag trim along the top and you have cheap and easy popcorn bags. Each bag holds just enough popcorn for a child and we don’t have to listen to kids fighting over who licked their fingers then stuck their hand right back into the community popcorn bowl. Try hiding a few individually wrapped treats at the bottom of the bag for a little extra Wow Factor!

Family fun activities don’t have to cost a lot of money, and they don’t have to take a lot of effort. They just have to be fun! Plan a Family Fun Movie Night for your family, serve up this great popcorn, and enjoy the peace and quiet!