If you were around in the 70s and early 80s, the words 'nutritional yeast' might bring up some uncomfortable food memories: brick-like multi-grain loaves, sprouted salads that looked ready to crawl off the plate, the dastardly carob. But please, give yeast a chance.

These marigold-colored flakes, often sold in bulk in health food stores, are inactive yeast grown on molasses then pasteurized and dried. Nutritional yeast's nutty, savory taste makes it popular among vegans, who sometimes use it to make faux cheeses. It also adds an umami flavor to soups, stews and gravies and is sometimes used as a popcorn topping.

Having read so much about nutritional yeast's cheesy flavor on vegan blogs, I became determined to try it out for myself. I picked up a small baggie from the bulk bin at Whole Foods, which cost less than a quarter. That night I made popcorn, drizzled it with lavish amounts of butter, then added salt and a good handful of the yeast. It was delicious - cheesy, rich, sort of earthy. Totally addictive. I'm going to try it in some vegetable soup next time.

I'm the first person to admit that my sports knowledge is infinitely less than my food knowledge. Hell, I didn't even know that Terrell Owens was a football player much less a Dallas Cowboy, until I read an article that said he received his signing bonus in the form of a giant tub of popcorn. The mammoth container took two people to carry.

If you're reading this and saying it can't possibly be true, you're right. T.O.'s actual signing bonus is a whopping $12.9 million. MJD the sports blogger who wrote the piece envisions a hilarious alternate scenario in which T.O. would be paid in $12.9 million worth of Dale and Thomas Popcorn. That works out to 1,003,331 million gallons of popcorn.

As I said, I'm no sports fan. I think all sport stars should get there actual salaries - not just bonuses - in popcorn, or better yet, peanuts.

Interesting list over at ACalorieCounter.com: 10 Surprising Foods That Contain Trans Fat.

Now, he admits that a couple of foods on the list aren't that surprising (such as Ritz Crackers or cookies), but he explains that many foods that are advertised as "0 trans fats" actually contain some trans fats, the amount is just low enough to be able for them to say it's "0." And the amount goes up more if a person has more than the one serving size that labels have the amounts for (and we all know we all eat more than one serving).

I didn't think plain Saltines had trans fat, but there you go.

I bet you didn't know that those unpopped kernels at the bottom of the popcorn bowl are known as "old maids."

Desserts are the least of your worries if you're entertaining for the Super Bowl. Let's face it, most of your guests will be focused first on the game, and second on whatever meaty, cheesy foods you've put out. Just keep desserts to the simple stuff, like caramel corn. Garrett Popcorn out of Chicago, which Oprah named one of her Favorite Things, will send you a tin of flavored popcorn of your choice, in a tin that's decorated with your favorite team. There are four sizes of tins, and a dozen flavors.

I admit that I have more specialty cooking gadgets than is absolutely necessary. Pickle grabbers, microplanes, whisks and potato mashers fight it out daily for the limited storage space in my kitchen. However, there are a few items that seem excessive, even to me. Take, for instance, this popcorn fork. Yes, someone has invented a utensil for one of life's perfect finger foods (with a built-in salt shaker).

What do you think? Is it crazy, or does it seem like the perfect way to prevent greasy popcorn fingers?

Via Apartment Therapy: the kitchen

Now that doctors have found that making microwave popcorn can be hazardous to your health, I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you about my very favorite tool for making popcorn. I've tried every method of making popcorn over the years and have discovered that the stove top Whirley Pop is the best, easiest way ever.

I used to be devoted to my air popper. The one I have used to belong to my grandparents and is so old that it has a coupon afixed to it that expired in 1985. It still works like a champ, but since I discovered the Whirley Pop, my air popper sits and collects dust. I first learned of the Whirley Pop when I went home for Christmas last year and was informed that it was the only thing my mom wanted for Christmas. She ended up getting two of them, and after closely examining the different models to see if one was made better than the other, we broke it out and started making popcorn. I stumbled across mine at a rummage sale just a few weeks later and have happily been using it ever since.

It was so easy and tasted much better than air popped (that might have something to do with the teaspoon of oil that the kernels get cooked in). You just pour in a little oil, add a couple handfuls of corn, close the lid and start turning the handle. There are two long legs inside that move with the cranking, stirring up the corn so that it doesn't stick or burn. In just a few minutes it starts to pop and soon after that it is all done. The pot keeps the kernels contained while popping, so you don't end up with errant corn all over your kitchen and it is easy to clean. My favorite way to season the corn is to give a light shower of Braggs Liquid Aminos (very similar to soy sauce in taste)

We launched a new blog here at headquarters: DIY Life. It's everything you need to know about how to do things in your life, from cooking to fixing your computer to home repair and design to making various crafts and everything else you want to know how to do.

They have a video up at the site right now about how to make your own stove top popcorn. It's actually very simple. Even more simple if you go to the supermarket and buy some Jiffy Pop and relive your childhood again. But if you want to make it from scratch, the full recipe is after the jump (and click here to see a video demonstration).

Food blog Family Style Food recently posted a recipe for making a delicious popcorn flavored with rosemary. I am not a huge rosemary fan, but the post got me to thinking about other ways to flavor popcorn besides the usual melted butter and salt. My friends think I'm slightly odd for sprinkling my popcorn with salt and black pepper, but I can't see why it's any odder than Salt and Pepper flavored Kettle Chips. I'm pretty sure there are other ways people flavor their popcorn that's infinitely more interesting. I mean come on, we just saw bacon popcorn, right?

So, do you sprinkle or flavor your popcorn with something slightly out of the ordinary?

Popcorn itself is a relatively healthy snack. Without butter or copious amounts of salt, the high-fiber, low-calorie snack is both filling and satisfying. Additional, it can keep you from reaching for other, less-healthy snacks because it can be munched over an extended period of time. Throw in more than a tablespoon or so of butter, however, and your healthy snack starts to look distinctly less good-for-you. Throw in some bacon and "healthy" is out the window.

Nosheteria cooked up this batch of Bacon Popcorn by first frying up some bacon until it was nice and crispy, then using the leftover grease to pop the corn, ensuring a bacony taste in every bite of popcorn. Imagine having that at the movies!

There is no need for salt, thanks to the salty taste of bacon, but if you want to add a little something else, you could follow the advice of one of the commenters on the original post. She suggested that adding some parmesan cheese into the mix would take the popcorn to yet another level

Last year, Sun-Maid's iconic mascot, the Sun-Maid maid, got a makeover so the brand would have a new look. Her overall appearance remained very similar, but she was digitized. The newly three dimensional character talks, does yoga and promotes California raisins, but even though she was one of the first ad icons to undergo this overhaul, she isn't the only one. Orville Redenbacher has recently been digitized so that he can continue to convincingly promote his famous popcorn brand over ten years after his death. The first ad to use digital Orville will air during the Golden Gloves and will depict "Redenbacher [pitching] popcorn while jiving to his MP3 player." A preview clip can be seen here.

With the amount of technology that went into the ad, it is the company's most expensive ever, but as we have seen from the movie industry, an expensive venture doesn't always yield blockbuster results. Opinions vary on whether this was a good idea or a bad one. Some, including Redenbacher's grandson, see it as a way to remember the man and even feel that he would have loved the idea himself. Others think that there is "a certain creepiness" to the revival of a long-dead man.

Click past the jump for a vintage Orville Redenbacher commercial.

Every year, over $20 billion dollars is spent on snack foods in the US, so it is easy to see why the snack industry is so interested in trying to find the next big product - or better yet, the next big flavor. Most snack products have been around for a long time and are met with only slight variations. Popcorn is healthier or more indulgent and cookies can be chewy or crispy. The flavors, however, can be used across the board in all different types of snack foods. Cheddar, for example, is a very American flavor and everything from chips to popcorn to aerosol "cheeses" come in cheddar flavor, making it one of the most popular snack flavors around.

In their efforts to come up with the "next cheddar" the snack industry uses snackologists, who observe the snacking habits of their target audience "to identify flavors the public will like and then find ways to package those flavors into irresistible morsels." A lot of research is done at restaurants, where trends are introduced to the mainstream. Chipotle and jalapeno were some of the most recent snack flavors to spring from the restaurant industry and snackologists are now pondering whether teriyaki, curry and other Asian flavors can make it into the US snack mainstream successfully. These masters of munching aren't going to reveal anything more specific just yet, but you'll know who the idea came from the ext time you see the word "New!" emblazoned on bags in the snack aisle.

Sarah mentioned yesterday that there are some healthy foods that work as mood elevators, but those foods aren't necessarily what people turn to when they're feeling low. A new study calculated that people who are sad "eat larger amounts of foods they consider tasty, but unhealthy."

The trial was put on by researchers at the University of Mississippi, who invited participants to watch either a tearful romance, Love Story, or a romantic comedy, Sweet Home Alabama, and monitored the amount of buttered, salted popcorn they ate. Unhappy viewers, those watching Love Story, are 28 percent more than their Reese Witherspoon-watching counterparts. A second experiment drove the point even further home by demonstrating that students reading about a tragedy (accidental deaths caused by a fire, not the Greek sort) were 4 times more likely to reach for M&Ms than raisins when both were set out as options.

It is certainly something to keep in mind the next time you're heading to the theater and are wondering whether to get popcorn and candy or skip the snack bar altogether.

Today's New York Times features a story about the growing number of Broadway theaters that allow patrons to take snacks and drinks with them into the show. For some venues, it's a way to accommodate a new theater-goers as well as generate some extra income. The main concern, however, is the noise factor--rattling bags of candy, soda slurping, and the crunching of popcorn. According to the NYT, some theaters are trying to combat the noise; the New Amsterdam, for instance, has special cups that muffle the rattle of ice cubes. As an added bonus, the article features a chart that measures the "potential distraction factors of some popular concession-stand items." Popcorn and potato chips were by far the most distracting, whereas chocolate bars and milk duds proved a more sly way to snack.

Last year, I mentioned Magical Reindeer Food, a simple mixture of sugar, oats and glitter that is sprinkled on the lawn to give very little kids the sense that they are doing something to help Santa's reindeer find their way to the house on Christmas Eve. It's a cute idea, but not appetizing unless you happen to be Rudolph or one of his buddies. Crate & Barrel sells a decidedly more appetizing type of Reindeer Food and this one is meant for human consumption.

It is sweet-salty kettle corn packed in an adorable stitched felt bag that ties shut at the top and bears the label "reindeer food." It seems like it would make a great stocking stuffer for a little kid ("Look! The reindeer brought you something, too.") and would also be a good treat to munch on before bedtime on Christmas Eve.

I'm considering picking up a bag for myself when I stop into the store for last minute goodies this week. There's no harm in being a big kid around the holidays.