There are a few staples she always keeps on hand. She's had the same thing for breakfast for the past 10 years. She tests out her latest creations during lunch. She features veggies from her garden in her dishes. She keeps it healthy when she gets a midday snack craving. After a day of recipe testing, she keeps it simple—or orders out. She spends her weekends cooking and relaxing. She's known for her desserts, but not on weekends. She has her go-to cocktails after a long day.
Ina Garten is definitely the ultimate hostess and chef. We've read her cookbooks and watched her cooking shows, and while we love her recipes, we can't help but wonder what the Barefoot Contessa actually eats every single day. (Obviously, it would be super tasty!)
There are a few staples she always keeps on hand.
"There are some things I always have in the house, like a bowl of lemons on the counter (and other citrus), butter, eggs, Parmesan cheese, and chocolate," she told Bon Appétit. "There are always four things in the freezer: soup, homemade stock, Grey Goose vodka, and vanilla Häagen-Dazs," she said.
She's had the same thing for breakfast for the past 10 years.
"I've had the same thing for breakfast every single day for 10 years: coffee and McCann's quick-cooking Irish oatmeal with lots of salt. I don't want it to taste like wallpaper paste," Garten said.
She tests out her latest creations during lunch.
The Barefoot Contessa spends much of her day creating delicious recipes from her cookbook or cooking show, and gets to sample them at lunchtime. (Psst, can we score an invite?)
"[Lunch is] totally chaotic. It's usually whatever we're cooking that day," Garten previously told Bon Appétit in 2014. "Today, we had quinoa tabbouleh, because I wanted to see how long ahead you could make it...it's all kinds of vegetables, like a vegetable stew."
She features veggies from her garden in her dishes.
"Sometimes I roast butternut squash with butter and brown sugar, broccoli with garlic and pine nuts, asparagus with Parmesan, or sweet potatoes instead on the side," she said. "I really do every vegetable like that because it's so easy, sometimes even cooking an assortment by putting three different sheet pans in the oven."
She keeps it healthy when she gets a midday snack craving.
"I always have a lot of fruit around, so if I get the munchies, I try and munch on fruit rather than bad stuff," she previously told Bon Appétit.
After a day of recipe testing, she keeps it simple—or orders out.
"Avocado toast with a fried egg is about the most extravagant thing I'd make," she said. "The rest of the time, I go out to dinner or pick up something from a local store like Loaves & Fishes, which has a huge, wonderful menu of delicious things like orange-roasted salmon, beef stew, and Parmesan chicken."
She spends her weekends cooking and relaxing.
"My newest cookbook, Cooking for Jeffrey, really is a selection of Jeffrey's favorite recipes, so for dinner on Friday night after he got home from Yale, I made skillet lemon chicken and roasted broccolini," she said. "These are simple and fast, giving me more time to make a nice dessert: vanilla rum panna cotta."
She's known for her desserts, but not on weekends.
While she's known for making delectable treats for dessert, she doesn't like to spend the extra time on Sundays, when she could be relaxing with husband Jeffery.
"While we watch TV, we always have granola for dessert. A little strawberry or plain yogurt, fruit that's in season, and Bola granola," Garten said. "I buy granola because unless you can make something that's better than what you'd buy, there's no point in spending the time!"
She has her go-to cocktails after a long day.
Garten's drink of choice is a whiskey sour, which she makes it "fun" by serving it in a martini glass, she told the Kitchn in 2010.
"We [have] whiskey sours to drink, made with Knob Creek bourbon and lots of freshly-squeezed lemons and limes—not sour mix," she said.
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