Thanksgiving is the time of year to be thankful, but it’s also the time for preparing large amounts of food. This can be troubling due to different food preferences, allergies and determining the right amount of food to cook. On Nov. 10 in the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being, Assistant Director of Health Promotion Joni Eisenhauer gave tips and tricks when cooking for a crowd. Eisenhauer also provided two quick and easy recipes that are great for large social gatherings.
When cooking for a crowd, the main theme was to create a base dish that the guests could add on to themselves. This allows for people to have more control of their meal and exclude anything they don’t enjoy. It also allows for you to include people that might have a certain food allergy without having to exclude the food in entirety. After serving the base dish, provide the guests with available toppings that they could add on to their liking.
The first meal that Eisenhauer prepared was a potato soup. This involved cooking potatoes, onions, sour cream, chicken stock and milk in a saucepan and blending it until it was smooth. A main point for this meal was to keep it simple. No ingredient used needed to be fresh or very expensive. The onions, cauliflower rice and all other ingredients could be purchased at a low price and already prepped. The bacon can be bought precooked, so it only needs to be heated up. Even the potatoes have a hack to make life in the kitchen easier.
“Not many people know that you can cook your potatoes in the microwave,” Eisenhauer said. “It’s an easier and faster alternative then using the oven, just poke some holes and throw it in”
The second quick and easy dish was a dessert pumpkin dip that is great for a large amount of people. This dish was a mix of pumpkin filling and cool whip to make a nice fall dessert to serve to your guests. Dips are a great way to create a variety for your party as you can mix and match what you use to dip into the dessert. We used apples as a dip, but you can choose wafers, cookies or anything that you think would go well with your dessert. It also allows for easy storage. Once you make the dip you can store it in the fridge overnight or even in-between meals if your guests want an after-dinner snack.
It’s also possible that you could be assigned with bringing a dish to your get-together. This is a challenging task as you can get overwhelmed with all the options. If you don’t know what to bring, always bring something you like to eat.
“If you are going to a Friendsgiving and don’t know what to make, bring a dish that you enjoy,” Eisenhauer said. “Worst case scenario, there is nothing there you like, you can always eat what you brought.”
Cooking for a crowd is all about finding ways to make your dishes efficient and easier to make. If there is ever a mistake and you need to make more food, you will be able to quickly start another batch. Whether you are making all the food or just bringing one dish, these little tricks can make your life a lot easier.
