Ingredients
- 6 cups (160 g) of your favorite brand of puffed rice cereal and 4 cups (200 g) of marshmallows - makes 2 batches of moldable cereal treats.
- A microwave, spatula, and microwave-safe bowl
- A lot of Cooking spray - It's good to remember that PAM (my cooking spray of choice) is your best friend for this recipe. Aim it directly on your hands or spatula. Cooking spray WILL make any surface instantly slippery, so be careful to wipe up any area you accidentally hit (especially the floor!).
- A work surface that you can get a little sticky. Don't worry. Warm water is sugar's enemy. Any surface that gets a little sticky, can be easily cleaned. It's part of the process!
- Parchment paper to lay down on your work surface (to attempt to minimize the stickiness).
- A large/full-length mirror.
- People to be in conversation with.
Instructions
- Heat marshmallows in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave on high for 30 sec - 1 minute (depending on your microwave). Take out and stir.
- Heat marshmallows again on high for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until marshmallows are swollen and can be mixed together and relatively smooth (some lumps are fine).
- Add puffed rice cereal.
- Stir ingredients with a spatula or spoon that has been sprayed with the cooking spray. The mix will be VERY sticky. The spray is pretty essential. Also, the mixture is HOT so you don’t want to use your hands.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes, until it is comfortable for you to handle.
- At this point, you can add in an array of mix-ins to make your cereal treat self-portrait as unique as you. For color, texture and personality, add cocoa powder, mini-chocolate chips, cinnamon, fruit powder (Use a food processor to make fine powder out of any freeze-dried fruit. Strawberries are perfect for this!), sprinkles, raisins, pretzel pieces, colored mini marshmallows, etc. Go Wild!
- Begin sculpting with some guidance provided in the “Baker’s Tips.”
- If the cereal treats start to harden too much to sculpt, try putting in the microwave for 10 second.
- intervals, or spray with a little warm water.
- To make these treats vegan, there are a number of yummy plant-based marshmallows on the market.
- Note: Rice Krispies are not gluten-free (they are enriched with malt), unless you buy a box marked gluten-free. To ensure a gluten-free treat, you can buy all-natural puffed rice cereal and/or make it yourself!
Background
We Heart Fat is a recipe that addresses how complicated it can be to live in our bodies and proposes body liberation as a framework for moving forward. Participants of We Heart Fat Recipe Tasting events are treated to conversations grounded in the Fat Liberation and Disability Justice movements that touch upon body biases, fatphobia, diet culture, disordered eating, body image, and self esteem. Beginning with a meditation on the body, we then proceed to sculpt, with the delicious medium of cereal treats, the parts of us that we like and don’t and/or are trying to reckon with/find some peace around. This self-reflective activity is fueled by coffee/tea, personal narratives, current research, music, and of course, craveable, cereal treats. Tastings close out with presentations of the work and the invitation for participants to contribute recipe feedback and share documentation of their self portraits and personal narratives for the online WISER We Heart Fat recipe archive. Everyone leaves with to-go tools, treats, and resources to continue exploring on their own.
Bakers Tips
- Begin by considering your body.
- Think of a part of your body that you like.
- What is it that you like about it (e.g. its shape, its function, tattoos)?
- Try not to focus on what other people have told you.
- Try not to compare yourself to anyone else.
- What is it that YOU like about you?
- Sit with that body part for a few moments and think about what it is that deserves to be honored and recorded. What would you want other people to know, see, and/or celebrate with you?
- Now think about that body part as an object to be sculpted.
- What would you like to communicate or visualize about this body part ?
- Is it angular, curvy, straight, concave?
- Is it smooth, lumpy, dimpled?
- What colors or mix-in options would best represent this part of you?
- Now go take a good look at yourself in a mirror. If you have never looked at yourself naked (or it’s been a really long time), maybe try that. It’s just you and your body, which you carry with you every day, all day. Take a good long look at who you are. Take stock of all that you possess physically.
- Review your considerations above.
- Make a drawing or sketch, then get sculpting.
- Please eat along the way and enjoy the process of honoring your body and the treat that you are!
