Rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese could be one of the easiest meals to prepare that you read today.
This is an old favourite healthy snack recipe of mine and it was first shown to me by an old acquaintance that has passed.
So it is simple and special at the same time.
You could use this rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese recipe as a small meal either mid-morning or mid-afternoon instead of having your protein shake.
And once you have one, they are pretty hard to stop eating.
What do you need?
Well funnily enough this recipe requires these three ingredients and no cooking either.
- Rice Cakes
- Cottage Cheese
- Tuna
There are so many variables in the above ingredients that you should never get bored with flavours.
Also, depending on where you are at with your diet goals, you should be able to create a recipe that suits your needs.
I’ll elaborate for you now before we get into the nitty gritty of how to make the rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese.
You start with the Rice Cakes
Rice Cakes
Rice cakes are available in most supermarkets in lots of different sizes and flavours.
So the key for this rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese recipe is finding ones that you like.
Make sure you chose the right options from below when you shop for your rice cakes.
- Thickness
- Flavour
- Ingredients
Thickness
So depending on your dietary requirements you may opt for the thin type or the old faithful thick type.
Selecting the thin type rice cake can lower the carbohydrate levels down in your meal.
The only problem I have found with the thin rice cake is it can’t handle an abundance of toppings without breaking sometimes.
So choose wisely in this area.
Either embrace a little more carbs or run the gauntlet of having a cottage cheese and tuna stain on your work clothes when you get back from your break.
It has the potential to be awkward.
Flavour
The flavour of the rice cake you choose can affect your meal.
Remember there are three variables in this recipe and if you don’t pick flavours that go well together you won’t enjoy eating it.
Simple.
So I usually go with a plain natural rice cake flavour and let the tuna and cottage cheese take care of the flavours for me.
Ingredients
This may sound a little funny that some rice cakes sometimes aren’t fully made with rice.
Over the years the humble old rice cake has evolved a bit and now we have the option of corn and other ingredients too.
Some still contain rice in the ingredient profile but are predominantly made with corn.
And others like the Real Foods range of Corn Thins have a completely corn base.
The Real Foods story is a great one and if you are interested in the manufacturing of Corn Thins and also their Rice Thins you should have a look at their website.
The corn cakes taste is a bit more flavoursome and they have a slightly different texture too.
The carbohydrate levels in the rice cakes compared to the corn is similar depending on the manufacturer.
But generally I have found the corn based cakes to be slightly lower.
Rice Cakes or Corn Cakes?
As you can see, there is a wide variety of rice cakes to choose from.
So find one that works for you in this recipe, one you can eat easily and it suits the other ingredients.
If you want to have a look at some different selections of rice cakes Sunrice has quite a good range that is available in lots of supermarkets and also, as mentioned above, checkout the Real Foods Corn Thins website too if you have time.
Next is the Cottage Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is the next ingredient on the list and the history of cottage cheese is believed to be dated back to 1831.
Cottage cheese consists of fresh cheese curd and it really hits the spot on top of a rice cake.
You have a few options when it comes to cottage cheese in flavours and also a low fat version too if you are counting your calories.
I always go for the low fat version of the cottage cheese, even though the full version tastes awesome!
There are a few different flavours of cottage cheese about too, so choose one that you like.
I usually stick with the natural flavour of cottage cheese and this lets the tuna do the talking when it comes to the flavour of this healthy snack.
And finally the Tuna!
Tuna
Last on the list of ingredients for this recipe is tuna.
How long is a piece of string?
There are so many variations of tuna in the supermarkets covering so many different price points at the moment.
So, yet again, start with a flavour and mixer you like.
I refer to the mixer being the liquid or ingredient that the tuna is mixed with in the can.
This can range from the tuna being mixed with oil, light oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, water, brine, mayonnaise and more.
I usually stick with water or olive oil mix myself.
The flavours that are out now in the tuna cans are amazing compared what used to be around.
So again, pick one that you like and also one that fits with what you have chosen as a rice cake base and also fits with the cottage cheese.
I generally rotate through different flavours and also use non flavours.
I like the sun dried tomato flavours, curry, smoked flavour and the just the natural olive oil flavour.
Now onto the good stuff.
Ingredients You Need
- 1 x Packet of Rice Cakes
- 1 x Container of Cottage Cheese
- 1 x Can of Tuna
- 1 x Tablespoon
- 1 x Fork
- 1 x Plate
The Method
- First of all, you need to scope out how much room you have to prepare.
- It’s no good making four of these and you don’t have enough room to lay them out.
- The other alternative is making them as you need/eat them.
- 2. Open the rice cake packaging and lay out four rices cakes in a square shape on your plate.
- 3. Open the cottage cheese and scoop out 1 x heaped tablespoon of cottage cheese and put it onto one rice cake.
- 4. Spread the cottage cheese onto the rice cake until it reaches the edges.
- 5. Repeat for the other three rice cakes.
- 6. Open the can of tuna and drain off any excess liquid into the sink (i.e. olive oil).
- 7. Use the fork to scoop out a dollop of tuna and put it on top of the cottage cheese on one of the rice cakes.
- 8. Do your best to spread the tuna over the top of the cottage cheese.
- 9. Repeat the process for the other three rice cakes.
- 10. You’ve done it, time to Eat!
How much Protein and Carbohydrates?
As there are so many different variations of ingredients and flavours I’ll just give you the amounts of the ingredients I use.
The amounts will be pretty close to these no matter what you use.
4 x Rice Cakes = 4gm Protein and 28gm Carbohydrates
1 x 95gm Can of Tuna = 17gm Protein and Less than 1gm Carbohydrates
1 x 200gm Cottage Cheese Low Fat = 20gm Protein and 6gm Carbohydrates
For this meal the protein levels are quite high when combined.
- 41gm Protein
- 35gm Carbohydrates
- 12.1gm Fat
- 260 Calories
If that is too much protein for you to have in one sitting you can halve the cottage cheese serve and just spread it thinner onto the rice cake.
Conclusion
That’s it!
Rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese is an easy to make healthy snack that doesn’t cost the earth.
It also doesn’t take an eternity to make when you only have a few minutes to spare!
You can experiment with the three ingredients in this recipe as much as you want as well.
There are some flavours that work well and some that are just horrible combinations.
Also you have to be wary of what your daily allowance is for protein and make sure you don’t use up two meals worth in one sitting.
The rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese are very filling too, so four of them may tip you over the edge.
A few trials and these could definitely become part of your daily nutrition plan.
They were part of mine for a long time and a big thanks to the man who showed me these.
The rice cakes with tuna and cottage cheese taste great, are easy to make and cover your bases for protein and carbohydrates.
What more could you want!
