But alas, that is what I did after reading the magazine article about sushi and remembering that I still had a package of nori in my cupboard that really needed to be used up. But, unfortunately, I’m not a fan of sushi-making. So what to do?

I’ve had healthy snack ideas on the brain since increasing my cardio routine a few weeks ago so, after collecting some simple ingredients in bulk, I came up with these no-bake brown rice cereal bars that are made up of all the delicious flavour components of sushi, minus the rolling and vegetable slicing. They include hints of nori, peanuts, sesame and wasabi combined with crunchy brown rice cereal and the subtle addition of brown rice syrup and coconut oil. Super yum.

When creating these treats, I experimented with different liquid sweeteners and I found that the thick brown rice syrup combined with enough agar flakes worked out best as a binding agent, so you won’t see these babies falling apart as soon as they hit room temperature. This recipe also requires sheets of nori that are crisp enough to crumble into tiny pieces. The easiest way to do that is to place the sheets directly on your oven rack and toast them at 350 degrees for a few minutes until slightly crisp. You can lightly toast your peanuts and seeds at the same time. Enjoy!

Sweet nori bars

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
• 6 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp wasabi paste
• 3 1/2 tbsp agar flakes
• 2 cups crispy brown rice cereal (like Erewhon brand)
• 1/2 cup toasted peanuts
• 1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup toasted, hulled sesame seeds
• 2 sheets toasted nori, crumbled

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the brown rice syrup, coconut oil, salt and wasabi. Sprinkle the agar flakes on top and gently stir. Heat over medium-low until the coconut oil melts and the mixture comes to a light boil. Simmer for about 30 seconds until the mixture begins to thicken slightly. Remove from heat.
2. Add the brown rice cereal, peanuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and nori. Stir until well combined, making sure the dry ingredients are well coated with the syrup mixture.
3. Spoon the mixture into a 8 x 8-inch square pan, pressing down gently and spreading it out evenly using the back of a spoon. Place the pan in the freezer for about one hour to firm up. Cut into bars using a sharp knife. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer.

And then I discovered a new love: sunbutter. Made of roasted sunflower seeds, it resembles the appearance and texture of PB, but with a milder, toasty flavour. With less saturated fat and a higher protein, iron and fiber content, it is the perfect base for my new health snack. You can buy sunbutter in most grocery stores these days, but making your own is cheap and easy, so why not? I add flax to my version for an extra punch of minerals and omega-3.

Aren’t my new sunbutter bites cute? Eating one of these is like taking a bite of sunshine. Although there are similar vegan brown rice treats floating around the web, I found that most of them don’t hold together very well at room temperature, which means packing them to go is not an option. The use of agar flakes in this recipe solves that problem!

Sunbutter bites

Ingredients:

Homemade sunbutter:

• 2 cups hulled sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 3 tbsp sunflower or canola oil
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

Sunbutter bites:

• 1/2 cup sunbutter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
• 1/4 cup brown rice syrup
• 2 tbsp agar flakes (see notes below)
• 1 1/2 cups crispy brown rice cereal
• 1/2 cup kamut flakes
• 1 cup granola (preferably homemade)
• Optional additions: handful of hemp hearts, dried fruit, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, ancient grain cereal flakes,etc.

Directions:

For the sunbutter:

1. Toast sunflower seeds until slightly golden.
2. Once cooled, put sunflower seeds in a food processor and grind until they become a coarse meal.
3. Add the oil, salt and optional maple syrup. Process for about 10 minutes, occasionally stopping the processor to scrap down the sides of the bowl. If it looks too thick, add a tbsp more oil and continue to process. It will eventually become smooth, I promise! Store sunbutter in the refrigerator.

For the sunbutter bites:

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together the sunbutter, maple syrup and agar flakes and heat on low, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a light boil. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in the crispy brown rice cereal, kamut flakes and granola. The mixture should stick together well.
3. Spoon the mixture into an 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and refrigerate until firm (about an hour). Cut into bars or squares and enjoy!

 

Please note that the amount of agar depends on how much oil you used in your homemade sunbutter. If you used little to no oil or if you are using store-bought sunbutter, reduce the agar amount to 1 tbsp.