Peanut power

How do you take on a lot of calories quickly?  This question seems out of place when almost everyone talks about calorie-restriction and weight-loss, but it depends on your application.

While following the workers at the airport, we take breaks when they do.  Except we also have to download data and take care of things during lunch, which doesn’t always leave a lot of time for sit-down eating.  The workers also fit in their breaks between flights, and sometimes they eat at a different terminal (where my lunch is not stored) or they buy something somewhere in the airport (which is only useful if you brought your wallet!)  And that is just lunch… these are long days where we stay at a hotel that doesn’t have a very nice restaurant, and spend a lot of time airside where we have access the vending machine food that I would rather did not comprise a large part of my diet.

So it would be nice to have a portable, easy-to-store, healthy and tasty snack that is easy to eat with one hand while you hold a video camera. Graham makes power bars for regattas, but our activity is not really that high-intensity (walking around in the cold holding a video camera) so it might be nicer to have something with a lower glycemic index that will stick with you a bit longer.  Enter peanut butter balls!  Norman might like these because they are high-protein, but Grunow will hate them because they are high-fat (although they are good fats!)

Here is the recipe if you want to try them:

• Peanut butter (you could also use other nut butters or soy butter)
• Honey
• Milk powder (you could also throw in some soy flour if milk is not your game.)
• Diced dried fruits: raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, etc.
• Seeds: pumpkin, sunflower, flax, sesame, etc.
• Coconut

Mix it all up so that it holds together. If it is still too sticky, you can add some oat bran or wheat bran or even wheat germ if you feel there is not enough calories in it yet.  Roll them into balls.  If you want to get fancy you can roll them in black sesame seeds or even cacao.

Store them in the fridge for the long term, but they are fine out of the fridge for a couple weeks with no problem.