Make HAYCORN ~ A Tasty Trailmix Snack

School starts THIS WEEK. My daughter is headed to eighth grade, and I just don’t know how many more summers we have to snuggle up on the couch with each other. So, I planned one last hurrah, we were going to make Haycorn together, cozy up on the couch and throwdown on the new season of Spirit Riding Free. (Season 6 is available on Netflix August 17 and you can find AWESOME games to play and while you watch here! You HAVE to watch it. It’s about a big city Texas girl that ends up in a small town. She’s got a wild horse to break and some life lessons to learn along the way. The kids love it because it doesn’t take itself too seriously.)

In fact, I was so excited about it, I posted a little teaser of my plans over on my Instagram.

And that’s when all her friends saw, because apparently almost-eighth-graders spend a lot of their time on Instagram. And they decided my couch snuggle party for two would be MUCH more fun as a BTS pre-party for them.

And honestly, I couldn’t be happier about it. I worked hard to have the “hang out” house where they all felt happy, safe, and like they could have a good time. So, if I can offer once piece of advice to any of those about to be middle schooler moms out there, it’s to do whatever you can to make your house the place to BE! And apparently a little Netflix binge on the flat screen along with a tasty Pop Secret infused trail mix is the way to go.

In order to make delicious Haycorn, you need:

• Pop Secret Kettle Corn Popcorn (Because kettle corn is the most country of all the flavors, obviously. We got ours at Walmart.)
• Chocolate of some kind. We went with the candy coated variety so it didn’t muck up our Haycorn.)
• Pretzel Sticks. (It’s very important that they be sticks, because that’s what gives it a hay-like appearance!)

The best part about this recipe is that the kids can make it! One of the things I love about making simple recipes like this in the kitchen with kids is that they start talking while they’re cooking. It’s like you get to be one of them, and they just seem to open up and say so much more than they do when they’re sitting in the car or you’re specifically asking them how their day is going. It’s just one of my favorite ways to get to know a little more about what’s happening in their lives. 🙂

The first thing you want to do is pop the kettle corn in the microwave. (Oh yeah, you STILL get to use the microwave AND it tastes like kettle corn, win/win.)

What is about popping popcorn and kids? They watched it the whole time!

Now you just pour your ingredients into a big bowl. It really is this easy!

First, pour in the hay.

Then you want get all the unpopped kernels out of your freshly popped Popcorn. One of our FAVORITE tricks to getting all the kernels out of the popcorn is to open the bag just a teeny tiny sliver like this.

And then just hold sprinkle the kernels out into the sink, or the trash, or just wherever as long as it isn’t in your Haycorn!

Once that’s done pour that popcorn right into the bowl!

And finally add the candy coated chocolates!

Mix it all up and you have your HAYCORN!

They were pretty proud of their creation.

And they had a blast watching Spirit Riding Free with me!

I don’t blame them. I think it turned out amazingly well!

To make your watching party extra fun, don’t forget to check out the cool activities here.

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Snyder’s-Lance Inc, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #Pop4Spirit  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”