Today I’m offering quick snacks with corn cakes, which can be prepared in just five minutes.

The first time we ate them it was an emergency: my husband returned from a business trip in the mid-afternoon, without having lunch and without informing me of the schedule change. At that hour, it wasn’t suitable to start cooking, nor was it the right time for a pasta dish. I didn’t have any cold cuts to make toast, nor the time for too many creative inventions, so I grabbed some things from the fridge, quickly washed the vegetables, and we both sat at the table. As we talked about work and how the trip went, I was “baking” stuffed cakes repeatedly and my husband made them disappear 🙂
Since that day, corn or rice cakes are never missing at my house because they solve many situations: snack, light meal, summer second course, or treat for unexpected guests (or tired and hungry husbands!).

Today I’m offering this vegetarian version. If you like raw zucchini, then these are for you, just like they are for me. You can optionally replace the zucchini with cucumbers.

👇 Here are some other snack ideas for you, including another with mini cakes: 😉👇

Difficulty: Very Easy
Cost: Very Economical
Preparation time: 5 Minutes
Cooking methods: No Cooking
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All Seasons

Ingredients

corn cakes
spreadable cheese
zucchini
tomatoes
olives (green or black as you like)
oregano

Tools

Spiralizer for zucchini, cucumbers, potatoes

Steps

The preparation of these quick snacks is very simple:
Wash the vegetables.
Cut the zucchini into slices or however your imagination suggests, and slice or quarter the cherry tomatoes.
Spread the cheese on the cakes, place the vegetables on each cake, and decorate with olives, optionally also capers if you like them.
Finally, a pinch of oregano.
If your production of snacks with corn cakes has been too abundant and you have left overs, or if you prepared them in advance or, let’s say, your guests are late, you can turn them into… pseudo-tacos. 😉
Here’s how you do it:
If the corn cakes (stuffed) are not eaten immediately, they tend to absorb the moisture from the spreadable cheese and soften (after about an hour). At this point, it’s enough to fold them and possibly add more vegetables to your liking.
As snacks they may seem chewy but as stuffed “tacos” they are perfect!
I can show you one, because the others magically disappeared; they were unexpectedly successful! 😀

Salt-Free Tips

Salt-Free As always, I have not added salt to this recipe.

To further reduce hidden salt (inevitably present in packaged products), my advice is to self-produce the spreadable cheese. It can be produced effortlessly continuously so that you always have a jar in the fridge and do not have to buy it. Here are the links to my two recipes, both feasible with either yogurt or homemade kefir:

– basic version of spreadable cheese

– spreadable with aromatic herbs

If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Gradually decrease the salt, the palate should gradually get used to it and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granulate
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid water cooking, prefer cooking that does not disperse flavors (grill, en papillote, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the saltshaker to the table!
▫ Sometimes allow yourself an exception to the rule. It’s good for the mood and helps to persevere.

If you cannot or do not want to give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.