Uh, yes, you did read that right. I did say rice cake sandwich. I am such a salt-free rice cake fan but it’s always been a peanut butter and jelly kind. Like rice cakes with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast … never a savory anything has ever hit the top of my rice cake. Like ever. So why now? Well, boredom mainly – I mean, I love my pb&j like any other girl, but it’s gotten boring. There are only so many days in a row that you can eat pb&j rice cakes, right? So here is my vegan and gluten-free Open-Faced Simple Rice Cake Sandwich.

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Well, thank goodness for the Recipe Redux, because this months theme is breaking the lunchtime boredom routine and get out of the lunchtime rut! My lunches have gotten a little stagnant – always the same, always good, but getting too predictable. To me, having the same exact thing all the time helps me to make better and healthy eating choices since I don’t allow myself to eat much outside what I allow myself, but once boredom shows its ugly head then my mind wanders into unhealthy snacking territory. Not good. But rice cakes as a savory lunch? It just seemed a little too out there to me since I’ve only ever had that pb&j, but after Pinterest’ing good ole rice cakes, then I knew what my new lunchtime boredom breaker would be. Some easy ingredients that, some that you probably already have on hand? Even better!

These open-faced sandwiches are healthy and pretty much salt-free. The rice cakes are already gluten-free and I bought the salt-free variety. I keep frozen chopped broccoli on hand to bulk up and healthify weekend spaghetti, so I just defrosted one package in the microwave. The only sodium comes from the half cup veg broth, which was low-sodium – awesome! I decided to make this as easy and quick as possible, because I didn’t want to spend any more time in the kitchen meal-prepping than I needed to, so it’s just simple ingredients and very little time. Defrost the frozen broccoli in the microwave then drop into a saute pan with half the broth, the onion slices, basil, and garlic powder and saute. As the broccoli browns and starts to stick to the bottom of the pan add the rest of the broth. Saute until browned to your liking. Slice the avocado and spoon into a small bowl with the rest of the basil and garlic powder and mash with a fork. Once the broccoli is done, spread half the avocado mash onto two rice cakes then about a 1/4 cup broccoli onto each cake. Store leftover broccoli ziplock bag or storage container in the fridge. Enjoy your rice cake sandwiches!

Open-Faced Savory Rice Cake Sandwich,

1 Bag Frozen Chopped Broccoli, defrosted
2 Tbsp Onion Slices
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Dried Basil
1/2 C Imagine Foods Low-Sodium Vegetable Broth
1 Small Avocado
1 Tsp Dried Basil
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
2 Quaker Salt-free Rice Cakes

1. Defrost broccoli in the microwave.
2. Pour 1/4 cup veg broth into a saute pan and add the broccoli, basil, garlic powder, and onion slices and saute over medium heat.
3. As the broccoli starts to brown add the rest of the broth to help not burn. Saute until browned to your liking.
4. Slice the avocado and spoon into a small bowl and add the one teaspoon of basil and garlic powder and mash with a fork until combined.
5. Once broccoli is done spread half the avocado mash onto both rice cakes then spoon about a 1/4 broccoli onto each cake.
6. Put leftovers into a storage container and pop in the fridge.
7. Enjoy your little sandwiches!