Rice Cake Snacks

Recently, we have discovered an awesome snack.  I never thought that I would be a fan of rice cakes, but...I now totally am.

Here was the scenario: kids are on their way home from school, and I know they will be coming in hangry.  What's a mom to do?  I scavaged the cupboards and found a pack of rice cakes.  1 rice cake is 40 calories, but only 1 gram of protein.  I searched Pinterest and found some awesome ways to jazz these bad boys up to get some great protein staying power and created a variety plate for the kids.  

Let me tell you, the plate got demolished and I had to make 5 more rice cake snacks!

The possibilities truly are endless, but here are the varieties that I made, with calorie counts based on what I used - recall that I quoted 40 calories per rice cake, which factors in to the totals below:

1. Skinny Elvis: spread 2 tbsp organic peanut butter (200 calories) and slice half of a banana (50 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 290 calories.

2. Pizza party: a big favorite - spread 1/4 cup of pizza sauce (30 calories) with 1/4 cup of mozzarella (70 calories) and pop in the toaster oven until cheese is melty.  TOTAL: 140 calories

3. Nana: spread 2 tbsp nutella (200 calories) and slice half of a banana (50 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 290 calories.

4. Chunky monkey: spread 2 tbsp organic peanut butter (200 calories) and sprinkle 1/2 tbsp mini chocolate chips (35 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 275 calories.

5. Porky: spread a light cheese wedge (25 calories) and place two slices of ham (30 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 95 calories.

Super easy!  I would recommend the rice cakes that just contain whole grain brown rice.  A pack of 14 cakes should only run you about $2 so it is a pretty sweet deal.  In the future I would like to try spreading hummus and topping with cucumber and peppers.

The entire sampler platter.
This was gone within 10 minutes of placement on the table.

The Skinny Elvis.

My daughter tends to be picky about bread.
But she had no problem eating these!