Toasted Oat & Quinoa Porridge with Dried Fruit

A bowl of this flavourful hot cereal for breakfast and you will be ready for whatever the rest of the day has to throw at you.

Including quinoa in your breakfast cereal packs a huge nutritional punch, check out this article to learn more about this amazing grain.

This recipe is infinitely adaptable, just stick to the basic proportions of water, oats, and quinoa while experimenting with endless combinations of dried fruit, nuts, and spices. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Toasted Oat & Quinoa Porridge

These proportions will make enough for two servings, but can easily be doubled or tripled for more. 

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 cup quinoa - well rinsed
• 1/4 cup large flake oats - toasted*
• 1/4 cup dried fruit - apples and cranberries
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cardamom

*Toasted Oats-  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spread the oats in a thin layer on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 10-12 minutes until lightly browned and fragrant.  Stir them around a couple of times during the cooking process to ensure even browning.  This step is not necessary, but it does add a wonderful nutty flavour to the oats.

Combine everything in a medium sized pot, and slowly bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Once the mixture starts to boil, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit overnight at room temperature. In the morning warm the porridge over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes until heated through.

Until local berries come into season, I'll be topping this porridge with a spoonful of homemade jam and few slivers of toasted almond, but I look forward to adding fistfuls of fresh blueberries come the warm days of summer. Drizzle the porridge with some maple syrup, honey, or molasses for extra sweetness, and add a few sunflower or pumpkin seeds for crunch. 

Variations:

 A tropical breakfast treat-

- for the fruit component use a combination dried pineapple and mango.

- replace the nuts with flaked coconut.

- omit the spices and add just a tiny splash of vanilla extract when you reheat the cereal in the morning.

Maple Date Nut Power Porridge 

-  instead of apples and cranberries, use combination of dates, raisins, and currants with coarsely chopped walnuts, add a drizzle of maple syrup is almost sweet enough to eat for dessert.