Ah, the plain old rice cake.. It hardly gets any respect.  People talk about the rice cake as if they are only useful for dieting or starving, and their story never ends in satisfaction or satiety.  But we love them! We love topping the plain ones with peanut butter and bananas, and we also love the flavored ones, even though they are laced with salt and artificial flavorings.  But, I ask of you, What's better than artificially flavored rice cakes?  Ones made with real food for flavor of course!

We had some dried strawberries, which made the perfect addition to our sweetened rice cakes.

Making homemade rice cakes with a little flavor is as easy as deciding what you want to add.  We make them savory with a little Parmesan cheese, or we make them sweet with the ingredients below and a little honey.

Strawberry Rice Cakes

• 3/4 cup low fat milk
• 2 TBL honey
• 2 TBL flour

(In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine milk, honey and flour until smooth)

In a separate bowl, add:

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 1/2 cup chopped dried strawberries

Stir the warm milk mixture over the rice and strawberries and stir.  Form into patties by dipping your hands in flour so the rice mixture doesn't stick to your hands.  Use liberally to mold rice cakes.

Spray a hot griddle with cooking spray.  Cook patties on both sides until brown, like pancakes.

You could make this with white rice, but why? Brown rice has:

• 349% more fiber,
• 203% more Vitamin E,
• 185% more Vitamin B6,
• 219% more magnesium, and
• 19% more protein.

more than White!!