Quinoa porridge photo thanks to vivaciousvegan.wordpress.com
Like many foods that now warm my life, Porridge and I have had a torrid past. I hated it! I literally, couldn’t even stand the smell of oatmeal without gagging. I know many people still have a challenge due to the goopy, papier mache like consistency, but this is a food that I have come love with all my heart.
When I speak of my dislike for hot cereal, I am not talking about a mild dislike. As a child at Summer camp, we would be sent out on week long camping trips with oatmeal as the only option for breakfast. Because I couldn’t even gag down the hot goopy cereal, I would actually munch and suck on the packets of dry oatmeal. I always called dibs on the apple cinnamon flavour so that at least I would get a few morsels of dehydrated apple.
The strangest thing happened to me though about two years ago when I was living in LA. I woke up to a think layer of fog along the beach and cool Winter wind had blown and I had an intense craving for a big steamy bowl of goopy cereal. I went to the store, picked up a packet of “Rice and Shine” and my hot cereal love affair progressed from there. I took to quinoa porridge, millet porridge, brown rice porridge and just last week had my very first bowl of oatmeal.
My goodness was it just what the doctor ordered. Grounding, warming, soothing and oats actually help feed and nourish the nervous system. This actually is the ultimate way to start a cool winter day. You will be full of energy the whole morning through and it actually makes a very sweet, soothing dinner at the end of a long day, when you can’t be bothered to do anythign else.
Whole Grain Porridge
1/4 cup grains (can use millet, quinoa, oats, amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat or mix of favourites)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk substitute of choice or water
2 Tbs ground flax
2 Tbs dried goji berries
1 tsp coconut oil
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup choice of fruit (if using frozen fruit- cook fruit with porridge)- blueberries, strawberries, banana, apple, peach etc.
1 Tbs agave, maple syrup or honey (optional) or sprinkle of stevia
- Soak grain overnight for increased digestibility (though not necessary)
- Rinse grain under water until water runs clear
- Place grain, dried and/or frozen fruit, coconut oil and cinnamon in pot with water
- Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer. Cooking time will depend on grains. Cook until grains are tender but there is still water in the pot. Stir in additional water or milk substitute until desired consistency is achieved (keep in mind that flax will absorb liquid)
- Transfer to bowl and stir in ground flax and fresh fruit.
- Drizzle with honey/maple syrup of desired.
- Enjoy!
[...] we may just find that what started our as a clean-up, may soon becomes a way of living. Check out this recipe for Whole Grain Porridge to get your day started off [...]
Oh yes, ever since I discovered REAL whole grains and not instant oat crap I am in love with warm breakfast cereal! The only one that doesn’t work for me is buckwheat. Sometimes I mix it with other grains but on it’s own I don’t like the taste.
That looks yummy! I have missed my old bowl of oatmeal, may have to give it another go in the morning. Thanks for the reminder! Oh, and rice is quite wonderful in the morning too, not quinoa so much for me … for some reason that goes better later in the day I think
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[...] morning grains the same way as Meghan from Making Love in the Kitchen, you can find the recipe here. Basically you soak the grain, I do it overnight, then drain, rinse and cook them on the stove [...]
Hi Meghan, I made this recipe this morning using amaranth seed and Jordan (my 10 month old boy) LOVED it, I couldn’t feed him fast enough! I put a whole apple (peeled, cored and chopped) into the pot to cook with the amaranth so that the apple would soften. I didn’t need any sweetener because the apple did the job. The porridge was watery when cooked (because of the addition of the apple), but I knew that the flax would help to thicken it (and it did thicken). I used 1 tbl of flax seeds and 1 tbl goji berries and ground that all up with a bit of spirulina.
Breakfast was delicious!!
Amazing!