Around these parts, we love popcorn more than most things. Jeff loves it like you’d get it in a movie theater – some butter and some salt. I, however, have always liked it a little different. I used to live cinnamon sugar on it, but lately I’ve been experimenting with other options – most recently with lemon zest and chopped parsley.

We use an air popper to make the actual popcorn, and then I tossed the popcorn with a little coconut oil, followed by light salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Toss that about well, and then add your parsley – delicious.

This easy snack is a great treat after work (while making dinner, anyone?) or as a lighter alternative to movie-snacking, which I know we all love. Don’t have coconut oil? Use olive oil, I swear it’s amazing. (Or if you have to, a lil’ butter. Whatever makes it have something to stick to!)

Recipe below – what do you like on your popcorn?

Type: Snacks

Author: Jennie

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 2-3 Servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup popcorn
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1 lemon zested
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Make popcorn, preferably in an air popper.

2. Meanwhile, chop parsley and melt coconut oil.

3. Add coconut oil and lemon zest, and toss to coat.

4. Sprinkle parsley on top, then serve warm!

Happy Food Revolution Day, y’all. Food Revolution Day is basically a culmination of all I believe about food education. We’ve been celebrating Food Revolution Day over here since 2012. We believe in the mission of Jamie Oliver and millions of others: everyone deserves food education. Preferably in school at a young age, so people learn how to eat properly.

I don’t get into issues too often here, but I am going to start educating you more about what I know, because I think you deserve to know. And I think you need to know. I know too many adults that do not eat a lot of foods because they don’t know how to cook them, they don’t know how to buy them, or they didn’t eat them as a youngster and now they are afraid, unwilling, or apathetic about trying new things. But this cycle has to stop now, because our future kids deserve better. And you guys, YOU DESERVE BETTER.

I hope that you agree that a food revolution has to happen and that you’ll sign the petition here to enact some real change across the globe.

I started GMS with Corelyn partially because I was shocked at what our friends didn’t know about eating. Not about cooking – about eating. People don’t know how to feed themselves. And people did not care and that’s what scares me. I write recipes that I hope you’ll find delicious and that I try to make healthy so that you can cook and eat from GMS without much thought, but the truth is, your heart has to be in it, too, or else we’re all effed. So I write every week to get the word out about eating, and cooking, and sharing what I do know, and learning more so I can tell you more. If you’re interested right now, watch Jamie Oliver’s TED Talk, below.

Did you know: Diet related diseases are the number one killer of people in the US. If that’s not terrifying I don’t know what is. But we can change that.

Let’s talk about food and culture: if you don’t learn to cook when you’re young, you’re not going to cook when you’re an adult. Then you’ll eat out, and you’ll try to make good choices but you’re not controlling what goes into that food (especially if it’s processed.) Children learn at school, at home, and in their communities, and if they’re not getting a food culture education at school then their parents grow up and don’t teach them at home, either.

And now, a giveaway:

I did this last year, and we’re back again with a Food Revolution Giveaway.

I want you to sign the petition. Then I want you to share it online somewhere – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, wherever. After you do that, let me know you have – tag me on your social post or else comment below.

For one lucky reader*, I will be giving out 2-Hour Cooking Classes at random to those who sign and share it. I will schedule a 2-hour cooking class tailored to what YOU want to learn. Hosted at your house, or mine, I will give you an intro to cooking and eating. I will teach you what I know. Please comment on this post (or on social media!) by midnight Sunday, May 22, to enter!

Join me today to celebrate food and eating and cooking, but most of all, education. Happy FoodRev Day, and I hope you’ll sign it, share it, and let me know so you can win a class!

Meanwhile, watch this amazing music video brought to you by two of my biggest loves, Jamie Oliver & Ed Sheeran.

*Just a note: I am based in LA; winners must be within 30 miles of North Hollywood, CA, or else you must pay for your own travel. 

Guys, summer is coming and a few weeks ago it was so hot here but I really wanted to have something to drink that wasn’t going to make me even hotter. Now, usually I prefer to have red wine but sometimes, I just can’t do it. And cherries are here. And raspberries are here, and it was time for a summer drink. So I made this for you guys. (And, you know, myself.)

This one’s easy you guys. You can use whatever berries you want. I chose cherries and raspberries because I love them dearly. But you know what else works? Blueberries. Peaches. Apricots. Apples, even, if that’s your thing.

I used a dry white wine, but you can use whatever floats your boat. I like sauvignon blanc, personally. I have a Soda Stream so I use that to make my water, and it really has upped my cocktail game. Recipe is below – feel free to use the recipe and modify as you have fruit available!

Type: Spirits

Author: Jennie

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Inactive Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 bottle white wine
• 2 cup soda water
• 1/2 cup fresh cherries
• 1/2 cup raspberries

Directions

1. Pit the cherries and muddle with the raspberries.

2. Put the white wine together with your fruit and let sit for 15 minutes.

3. When ready to serve, fill glasses with ice, then fill with 1/2 cup of soda water each, topping off with white wine.

I know I made y’all some granola last month. But what I REALLY wanted in my granola was crystallized ginger, and I really couldn’t find any. I had some awesome trail mix from Lassen’s, a grocery store here in LA that’s amazing and was full of ginger – I even found myself picking it out exclusively – but it had chocolate in it. I love chocolate, but I feel like every time I pick up a bag of trail mix, it’s either got too much chocolate or WAY TO MANY ALMONDS. What is with the number of almonds in everything? I’m so over them. MOVE OVER, ALMONDS. CASHEWS ARE BETTER.

Thanks for sticking with me through that rant. Whew. OK, but the point is, I love a good granola/trail mix as a snack, but not when it’s full of chocolate, kind of defeating the purpose. So, here comes this amazing granola recipe that’s got everything I’ve ever wanted. The ginger adds a whole level to your granola game, you guys. It’s spicy and chewy and magical. I want to put it in everything from now on.

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: make this granola your own. You want a nut, a seed, maybe a dried fruit, some oats, some spices, an oil/fat to keep it together, something a tinge sweet. Try the crystallized ginger, though. You won’t regret it. (NOTE: I had to search far and wide for this ginger. Well, by which I mean I had to go to 2 stores. I hate going to more than one place, and I am sure you do, too, but this is worth it. I found mine at Lassen’s, but Trader Joe’s didn’t have it. Try the bulk bin at Whole Foods.)

I chose pepitas because, you guys, I think I don’t like sunflower seeds in my granola as much anymore. I am over sunflower seeds and almonds, let it be known. I used cranberries because I had them on hand, but I might try something else – maybe apricots – the next time, just to switch it up. Same with the pecans – I might try cashews next time, but I had a bag of them and they were perfect in this.

Here’s the recipe – let me know if you make this, if you find crystallized ginger, and if you love it as much as I do!

Type: Breakfast

Author: Jennie

Oven Temperature: 250°

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 75 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup crystallized ginger
• 3/4 cup pepitas
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch salt

Directions

1. Turn on your oven to 250.

2. Chop your pecans and your ginger, if it's in larger-than-bite-sized chunks.

3. Mix all ingredients throughly in a bowl or on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. (I skip the bowl - less dishes!)

4. Spread evenly on the parchment paper, then stick in the oven for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Stir every 15 minutes or so - unless you want granola clusters. If you do, then only stir once after 45 minutes.

5. Remove from oven, allow to cool, then transfer to jar to store at room temperature.

These babies were originally posted last May for Cinco de Mayo, but they’re good just about any day. We hope you enjoy them – happy Thursday!

*****

So here’s how this went down: I had a coworker who I was making a birthday treat for. She requested a breakfast treat, and I knew donuts would be a crowd pleaser. Then, I found an amazing recipe on Joy the Baker, but I had recently learned on my avocado tour that you can use avocado in place of half your fat (in this case, butter) and no one will be any the wiser.

So I doubled the recipe I found (because 10 donuts didn’t seem like enough) and I used half avocado and half butter and no one could tell a thing. In fact, Jeff still doesn’t know that these had avocado in them. I also would recommend the sugar listed below – I only used a cup, and they weren’t quite sweet enough for my taste. (Recipe here.)

I hope you’re going to eat something avocado-y today, and I hope it’s these donuts. If you do make them, let me know! Tag your recipes from GMS as #GMSForRealLife – or better yet, just invite me over to eat one.