Orange Tahini Popcorn Clusters

You have been so patient.

You’ve watched me unpack my website boxes. You’ve kindly tapped my shoulder when something is not working right. You haven’t even complained about posts being a tad late or that they are slow to be emailed or that the corn dogs I gave you last week were a little cold.

Thank you.

Many of you have even taken the time to re-subscribe, which is amazing. And for all of you who have yet to sign your name in permanent electronic ink and declare your undying loyalty to low-sodium food, no worries. Please, take your time. Feel it out. There’s no rush. And when the spirit moves you, do as your heart and stomach desire.

In the meantime, I wanted to give you these.

A plate of low-sodium popcorn clusters. Inspired by fall, Halloween, these neat candy covered sunflower seeds I found the other day, and a few recipes in the latest issue of Eating Well magazine.

The recipe is really simple:

Mix a few cups of popcorn with a sticky concoction of your choosing and some sort of fun sprinkle addition. And that, my friends, is how mini popcorn clusters are born. Healthy, vibrant, and full of flavor.

Eating Well offers two sticky mixture choices: Agave-Peanut Butter and Caramel.

But I am going to give you one more: Marmalade and Tahini Butter.

And as usual, feel free to come up with a combination of your own. Honey and lavender. Pomegranate molasses and raspberry jam. Lemon curd and simple syrup. These are some ideas I just made up and I can only imagine what genius things are swirling in your mind.

This recipe is the perfect canvass to play with sweets, spices, and neat candy covered sunflower seeds that strike your fancy. So enjoy these treats as a snack or as dessert. Either way, get popping.

Chow on.

adapted from October issue of EatingWell magazine

Ingredients:

• 3 cups popped salt-free popcorn, popped sorghum, or broken up rice crackers
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 2 tablespoons tahini butter
• 1 to 2 teaspoons white or brown sugar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons candy covered sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chopped tart cherries, and/or chopped coconut