What do you eat in the middle of a marathon kitchen session?
Cooks need fuel in order to get dinner on the table. It’s a challenge to nourish oneself in the middle of the Thanksgiving chaos. Whatever you eat, it has to be eaten on the fly, it cannot be something you’re cooking on the spot, it must provide more energy than pretzels and chips and it needs to be light enough to keep you on your feet.
What you need is food that provides sustained energy, which means a good balance of proteins, high quality carbs and healthy fats.
Solutions after the jump!
Here’s a list of food ideas for the cook. It includes items made ahead, quick snacks and things that can be purchased from the grocery store while shopping for the meal:
• Multi-grain toast with avocado and hard-boiled egg (pictured)
• Multi-grain toast with peanut butter
• Salad of canned tuna, canned chickpeas or white beans, parsley, celery and a zippy vinaigrette
• Trail mix with lots of almonds and/or walnuts (and a little chocolate)
• Carrot sticks
• Store bought sushi from the grocery store
• Ready-made lentil or bean soup from the grocery store
• Beef jerky
• Chicken or ham and cheese rolled up in lettuce leaves
Please post your own suggestions below so we can all get cooking for the big day!
Hummus spread on a pita with a few good olives.
Peanut butter and chocolate chips.
I love the butternut squash, green chili and jack cheese tamales from Primavera. I just heat one in the microwave for 90 seconds (or 1 1/2 minutes), and five minutes later I'm happy, full and content.
: )
A small handful of almonds is very convenient to grab and nibble on as you work. And the combination of protein and [good] fat staves off hunger pangs while you work. Of course, something just as satisfying and less fatty is a glass of lowfat milk.
When I was catering all the time I just used to take the livers from whatever poultry I was cooking and lightly brown them and make a light mousse. Spread that on a nice baguette with cheese and some wine or beer and keep going.
Crackers and soft cheese. Or chips and salsa.
Boy those eggs and advocado on toast sure look really, really good.