I bribe my children.
There I said it.
I am sure I am doing them all sorts of wrong, but it works.
Before you get all judgy please understand that I bribe for good, not for evil.
Like, get a goal in your soccer game…you get a prize!
Get an “A” on your spelling test..you get a $1.
Eat your dinner, you get dessert.
See, totally benign bribes.
Now, onto bribes I swore I would never ever do before I had children…
Room cleaning. I was never gonna be the mom that bribed for this…because my children would grow up to be responsible, and understand that they had to clean up after themselves. I was delusional. So now when I say, “If you clean your room I’ll buy you ice cream”, I feel my former childless self looking over my shoulder in her cute outfit and combed hair shaking her head in disapproval. I kinda want to slap her.
I also swore I would not have children who picked their nose. Yeah, well that ship has sailed…so I have literally said things like…”If you promise not to pick your nose during church I will let you watch TV when we get home.”
AND I KNEW I would never have misbehaved kids in the supermarket…you know the ones…with kool-aide mustaches, screaming that they want Twinkies. But, I find myself frequently saying, “If you do not act like monkey children in the supermarket I will give you a quarter to buy a bouncy ball on the way out.” If only the mothers of those screaming children knew it only took a quarter. Just a quarter. Twenty five cents is worth some supermarket sanity,
So I have become what I said I wouldn’t…a bribing, mini-van driving, mom to a nose-picking child. That’s me. I’m used to it.
Now onto a total bribe-worthy food. I bet you could get your kids to do all sorts of stuff for you if sugary, candy popcorn was waiting at the other side. Clean out your car? Unload the dishwasher? Dust the baseboards? All done. That’s the power of popcorn.
Candy Corn “Colored” Popcorn.
Here are the dirty details…
You’ll need some popcorn, preferably air popped…separate it into 3 equal sections.
Then you’ll need some jello…yep jello.
Line 2 pans with foil, so you don’t have to bribe your kids to scrub your pans.
Then melt some butter and corn syrup in a sauce pan.
Add a pack of jello and some sugar in to the butter.
You can start with your yellow or orange which ever. But boil it up for 5 minutes.
Then pour it over your portioned out popcorn…
Mix it good and bake it up for 10 minutes.
Repeat the process with your other box of jello.
Then if you’re feeling like an overachiever, I coated the leftover portion of popcorn (the white) with white candy melts…just because I like it.
You can stack it in jars…
Or bag it up, for gifts…
I used a piping bag so it was more like a cone shape…
Now, onto some other super fun and exciting news!
My friend Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and I have teamed up. We have launched a new site together called That’s What WE Said with all the fun stuff that we don’t talk about on our baking sites…Pretty much everything is fair game, but we have topics like TV Trash…because we all know how I love my Reality TV, Meal Plans for easy and fun ideas for dinner, and Yo Mama!..which is everything Mom related and more. We also talk Beauty and Kid Stuff too.
I really hope you guys all stop over and check it out. Or find us on facebook HERE.
Print
Candy Corn Colored Popcorn
Ingredients
- 16 cups air popped popcorn
- 1/2 cup butter, divided into 2 equal parts
- 6 Tbsp light corn syrup, divided into 2 equal parts
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided into 2 equal parts
- 1 pkg. yellow (lemon) jello
- 1 pkg. orange jello
- white candy melts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300
- Line 2 baking pans with foil. They should be large, approx 15×10.
- Separate your popcorn into 3 equal parts. Put each in it’s own large bowl.
- In one small saucepan over medium-low heat melt 1/4 cup butter and 3 Tbsp of corn syrup together until butter is melted. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 package of jello. Stir until sugar is dissolved and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 5 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and pour over one of the portioned bowls of popcorn. Stir until the popcorn is evenly coated. Spread onto a lined baking pan and bake for 10 minutes.
- Repeat this entire process with the other package of jello.
- When the popcorn is baked remove it from the oven and let it cool and break it into pieces.
- * Optional step ~ With the remaining bowl of popcorn you can melt the white candy melts and pour over the popcorn for your “white” layer.
Notes
For a cute presentation layer the popcorn in tall clear containers for a cute presentation, or layer in jars to give as gifts. You can also fill piping bags with the layers for treat bags.
Adapted from Kraft
I love anything that looks like candy corn…………..I just don’t like candy corn candy…….weird I know.
First of all it is not bribery, it is called positive reinforcement. Secondly my kids get icees or sodas from the gas station if they are good in church, the best $1 I spend all week. I also wish people knew it only took .25 to keep your kids well behaved in the grocery! I used to tell my son he could ride the bob the builder mating thing if he behaved in walmart, worked like a charm. It just has to be something special, not something you would do anyway, so they make the connection.
I use bribes, too. I have to, I have a very picky eater. But if it’s wrong, I figure she can work it out in therapy later. Anyway… LOVE This! Will post a link on ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com 🙂
Oh Shelly, You are so funny:)
The candy corn popcorn is such a great idea! Love it!
What fun Shelly!!
I LOVE the candy corn popcorn, especially in the cone bag!!
Have fun with the new site!!
I am SO excited that you and Kristan are teaming up!! I love the two of your blogs individually, and I feel like your two voices will play off each other fantastically. I can’t wait to be a loyal reader! 🙂
no shame in bribing the kiddos! when we do family shoots we always tell people it might be a good thing to bring something along to bribe their kids with so we can avoid meltdowns. i think candy-corn colored popcorn would be a great one!
I Love Pop corns! My husband used to call me Popcorn Girl! Now, I have found my successor in my daughter who is also crazy with popcorn. I love this new exciting flavor jello. Popcorn Eating is our bonding time! This flavor will be added on my popcorn taste list.
Shelly! You knock me over with your genius! I love this so much!
This looks amazing! Sadly, I cannot eat popcorn (my body doesn’t process it for some reason and it causes GREAT distress… sigh) but if I could, I would totally make this for gifts. But if I can’t have any, neither can my friends. You know, misery loves company. But in all seriousness, FABULOUS creation!