By Alisa Fleming ~ The name of this hot breakfast “cereal” had me concerned that it was going to be super sweet, but my taste buds were pleasantly surprised.  Actually the rice itself was just lightly sweet and quite pleasant.  The cherries however, were like a flavor explosion.  They plumped up beautifully, and burst with a wonderfully natural cherry flavor as I bit in.  They were a bit too sweet for my early morning taste buds, but indulgent nonetheless.

I followed the instructions to the T, actually, I even cooked it a minute or two longer, yet I still had some water left and slightly undercooked rice when it was all said and done.  I reheated to boil it off and cook just a bit more.

Each package seems to make a generous amount, but since the serving size isn’t listed (its blank) I really wasn’t sure what constituted a serving.  We got three large servings out of the package, but four is probably the norm.

The instructions call for butter, but to keep it dairy-free I used Earth Balance margarine.  To be honest, the margarine didn’t really add any special flavor, so next time I would go soy-free and use coconut oil instead.  I have found that it works beautifully in cooking grains.  Though any other neutral tasting oil would likely work just as well, but the coconut oil also adds a bit of that buttery flavor.

Since I had one generous serving leftover, I decided to reheat it with just a few tablespoons of coconut milk the next morning.  Once done, I stirred in some grated coconut and ground flaxseed for some extra nutrition.  It was delicious, but this definitely diluted most of the sweetness in the rice, leaving the cherries as the lone bold flavor.  For my early day tastes, this was absolutely perfect!

I would consider this breakfast ideal (particularly for GFCF kids), since it is quite tasty and ready in a mere 10 minutes … but I would prefer that it be made with all brown rice (it is a white/brown blend from what I understand), but justifiably, that may up the cooking time and take away from the appeal for those who are not as accustomed to such hearty foods.

Where to Purchase:  All GF Essentials baking mixes can be purchased directly on the Gluten-Free Essentials Website.

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