The Neelys make their holiday treat, colorful candy cane cookies. This video is part of 12 Days of Cookies 2008 show hosted by Gina Neely, Pat Neely . SHOW DESCRIPTION :Food Network chefs share how to make their favorite Christmas cookies.

If you are like most popcorn lovers, you will sometimes go to the movies just to get have some great tasting movie theater popcorn. Don’t worry, many people do, but only a few know, that home popcorn can be just as great as movie theater popcorn.

I’ve found that the best home popcorn maker for this is the Whirley Pop Popcorn Popper, which is a stovetop maker. Its durable aluminum pan has a clip-on top, which has a stay-cool handle attached to it. Once you fire it up, you have to rotate the handle, which rotate a rod in the pan. This rotating rod makes sure that all kernels receive the same amount of oil and heat. The Whirley Popcorn Maker has steam shafts on its lid, which allows steam to escape, keeping your popcorn free of excess moisture.

First of all, you’ll need to prepare the ingredients, based on the amount of popcorn you want to have in the end:

Quarts of Popcorn | Amount of Oil | Amount of Popping Corn

2 |1 tablespoon | 1/3 Cup

4 |2 tablespoon | 2/3 Cup

6 |2 tablespoons | 1 Cup

8 |3 tablespoons | 1 1/4 Cups

And follow the following steps:

1. Neither the popper, nor the oil need to be preheated.

2. Put the Whirley Pop Popcorn Popper and the above ingredients onto stove (either electric or gas, it makes no difference) and turn it to medium heat. Don’t add any seasoning yet, just the corn and oil.

3. Start slowly turning the wooden lever. You may need to adjust temperature of the stove so popping is complete after about 3 minutes.

4. Turn the wooden lever through the entire popping process until there is only an occasional pop every 2-3 seconds.

5. Take the Whirley Pop Popcorn Maker off the stove immediately.

6. Pour the popcorn into a serving bowl.

7. Pour some butter and sprinkle some salt or popcorn seasoning onto your popcorn and enjoy!

Whirley Pop Popcorn Popping Tips

* Don’t set the heat too high, medium heat is enough.

* 1-2 tablespoons of oil is enough, drenching it in oil will ruin the popcorn.

* Use quality corn.

You will see, that the it is very possible to make movie style popcorn at home with a Whirley Pop Popper. If you are concerned about nutrition, don’t worry, your home ingredients will be much healthier than the movie theater popcorn, since they tend to add a lot of artificial ingredients.

For those of you who are even more concerned about healt, you might want to try an air popper. It uses hot air to pop the corn instead of hot oil, and will result in a virtually zero calorie popcorn snack. It won’t have the same taste though, however, you can still add some home prepares seasoning and sprinkle it on, or even some butter at the end. As you might guess, the butter increases the calorie count of the snack. Generally speaking air popped popcorn has 31-55 calories in one cup of popped popcorn, which increases to 133 calories when lightly buttered.

After several months of big meals, many folks run out of ideas for eating the many dishes of leftovers piling up in the refrigerator. I am guilty of forcing my family to eat endless repeats of the same old plates filled with the same old food. Chances are you’ll be throwing out food if you try to present that same plate a third time.

Being creative when serving leftovers is tricky. You have to think about the ingredients that went into the dish in the first place, and think about what other dishes incorporate those same food items.

1) Classic Potato Soup

When you have leftover mashed potatoes, you have the makings for a wonderfully creamy potato soup. Start with a big soup pot. Throw in 3 or 4 slices of bacon, diced, and cook until the pieces are crispy, then remove from pot. In the same pot, cook up some diced celery and carrots. Then add some diced onion and cook until soft. Then put in about 1 Tablespoon of oil, 1 Tablespoon of flour, and 1 1/2 cups of milk, and thicken. Stir in your potatoes and bacon and simmer very slowly. This is a very satisfying creamy potato soup.

2) Turkey And Gravy Barbeque Style

Break up some leftover turkey either with a fork or dice with a knife. You can use both white and dark meat. Take out a big skillet and cook a couple slices of bacon, diced up. In the same pan, add diced onion and garlic. Add the turkey pieces and put leftover gravy over until the turkey is covered. Add a little of your favorite barbeque sauce or grilling flavor, but just enough to give the gravy its barbeque flavor. Simmer slowly and serve over buns or a leftover dinner roll.

3) Turkey Curry Cauliflower Soup

Take your leftover cooked cauliflower and put it in your food processor. Pulse until smooth and creamy, adding a little milk as you go to make it soup-like. Sprinkle in about 2 teaspoons of curry, a little more or less depending on how strong you like it. Then, in a soup pot, cook some chopped carrots and onion, in a little oil, until soft . Pour the blended cauliflower into the pot and add some chopped leftover turkey. Simmer the soup until it’s nice and creamy and hot.

4) Cheesy Green Bean Tomato Soup

Green bean casserole already makes a great start to a creamy and cheesy soup. Tomatoes help brighten this cheesy soup just a touch. Begin by cooking some big pieces of celery in a soup pot, adding coarse diced onions and some minced garlic, cooking until just fragrant. Add a can of diced tomatoes, either fire roasted or regular. Add a little grill seasoning for extra flavor. Now put your leftover green bean casserole in the pot, stirring until it looks like soup. You might add a bit of turkey or chicken broth if you want the soup thinner. Cook slowly together until the soup is all hot and bubbly.

5) Egg And Stuffing Breakfast

Prepare a muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or rubbing each muffin cup with butter or oil. Spoon stuffing into muffin cups and push up the sides to form little stuffing cups. Break one egg into each cup. Then top with shredded cheese, either cheddar or Parmesan. Cook in a 350 degree oven for around 15 to 20 minutes, just until the cheese is melted and golden brown and the egg is cooked. Be sure to let the muffin tin cool a little after you take it out of the oven before you remove the egg dish.

These are just a few of the ways to recycle your leftovers so that your family isn’t staring at the same plate repeated for days. Give some thought to what ingredients went into each dish, and where you’ve seen those ingredients together before. Chances are you’ll come up with a few surprises of your own.