Meatless Monday: Chai Quinoa Breakfast Porridge

I always try to batch cook grains so I have some sitting in the fridge for times when I wake up and want to make a breakfast porridge. Quinoa is awesome for that and has a ton of protein. I do this with brown rice too (and sometimes I mix grains)! Now that it's cold here in Texas (and it snowed yesterday, without sticking) porridge is one of my favorite breakfasts. Using quinoa, millet, or brown rice has more nutrients and good stuff than oatmeal out of a package. 

The chai tea is totally optional, and is pretty subtle depending on what brand of chai you use. If you want it to be a more pronounced flavor than use 2 tea bags. These are the standard ingredients for any porridge/oatmeal I make; non-dairy milk, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of maple syrup if needed and toasted nuts on top. Sometimes I get crazy and put a teaspoon of coconut oil inside. I'm sure that YOU have more creative things to put in a breakfast porridge so share those with us in the comments. 

Chai Quinoa Breakfast Porridge

Makes 2 servings (or 1 large one)

1/2 cup water

1 chai tea bag

1/2-1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 1/2 cup leftover cooked quinoa

2 tablespoons raisins (or other dried fruit)

1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Dash cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

Toasted nuts, for garnish

Preparation

Simmer water and tea bag in a small saucepan for a few minutes. Remove tea bag and add the rest of the ingredients to the pot except nuts. Bring to a boil, then simmer on lower stirring occasionally. Cook until the porridge is at the consistency you prefer. If you want to cook it longer and make it softer add more almond milk and continue to cook.

Garnish with nuts and cinnamon if you wish.

P.S. Cookbook Mania totally fell by the waist-side last week. I didn't cook out of one cookbook. The reason for this was I was excitedly working on my own recipes for my next book. Yippee! I made some amazing stuff and I can't wait to share it with you. I am finally working on my next book proposal and the concept it coming together nicely. I'm SO excited! It focuses on how you can prepare easy, healthful meals without a lot of effort. It's all about the food baby (no new agey stuff if you aren't into that lol). 

What kinds of things do you like to have for breakfast in the winter? Did you make anything exciting last week? Am I the only one that doesn't care about Valentine's Day?