Friday Favorites 11/08/13

Rice Cake with Peanut Butter and RaisinsFriday favorites is a place where I can talk about and recommend some of my favorite things.  From food to music to technology to great ideas, Friday favorites will feature them all.  If you have feedback on something that’s deserving of a Friday favorite, please don’t hesitate to use the comment section or send me an email at matthew515blog@gmail.com.  I want to hear about your favorites too!

For the next few weeks on Friday favorites, I want to highlight the recipes from our recent Daniel Fast that we really thought were delicious and will continue to eat as part of our regular menu.  Today I’m going to start with a snack that you probably have at least some familiarity with, and hopefully show how with just a few tweaks this snack goes from boring to delicious.  In fact, I like these so much that I now eat about one per day and have yet to grow tired of them.  And, being a Daniel Fast item, they are all natural and have no added sugars or preservatives.  Your really can’t get any better than that!

I will also state, for the record, that I very much doubted that I would ever like these when my wife first offered me one.  If you, like me,  find yourself doubting that these could be be any good at all then all I have to say is “try them”.  I completely changed my mind within the first few bites and you might also.

Brown Rice Cakes with Natural Peanut Butter and Raisins

I start with a whole grain brown rice cake.  My local Kroger carried Lundberg Organic Brown Rice Cakes and I found them to be much superior in terms of texture and crunch versus a normal puffed, white rice cake.  In my opinion, the normal white rice cakes have the texture of styrofoam and a similar squeak when broken so I avoid those whenever possible.

Next, add a nice layer of your favorite natural peanut butter.  I’ve used both crunchy and smooth and I like them both equally, so go with whichever you prefer.  This one would be a great choice.  I stress natural peanut butter because the normal stuff has all kinds of additives that you don’t want or need as well as some really unhealthy,  unnatural fats.  All you really want to see on your peanut butter ingredient list is peanuts and maybe salt.  That’s all.

Once you have that done, it’s time for the raisins.  I use a couple of spoonfuls for each rice cake but you can adjust the amount to your liking.  I like my rice cake to be pretty well covered in raisins but not so many that they are stacked on top of one another and falling off.  Make sure each one has some contact with the peanut butter and you’ve likely got it just right.

Why does this snack work so well and why is it so delicious despite being so simple?  The secret lies in the ingredients.  You’ve got the crispy crunch of the rice cake.  You’ve got the creamy richness of the peanut butter.  On top of those you are adding sweet, plump raisins which have an interesting texture all their own.  The resulting combination hits all of the right notes in your mouth: salty, sweet, crunchy, smooth.  It really is delicious!

By the way, bring a napkin and a smile.  You will likely use both of them.

Comments

  1. Linda May Gaither says

    The girls & myself also like this!

  2. Matthew Gaither says

    Hard to believe that such a simple, healthy snack could be so tasty, right? Thanks, Linda!

  3. Fatimah Sade Oyekan says

    I wonder if it will taste well using Nutella?…
    BTW…you tickled me with the Styrofoam reference! I can’t stand it myself….worse than nails on a chalkboard. (Oh great…the noise is in my head now!)

  4. Matthew Gaither says

    Sorry about the styrofoam reference, Fatimah. I just call them like I see them! And I imagine this snack would be very tasty with Nutella although I have not tried it myself. I think you should try it out and then let us know how it goes!

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