There are literally one million ways to play the porridge game, and every one of them has a place on the menu in my tiny kitchen.
When I start to feel the heat of summer simmering down and the chill of winter coming on, this is what I make for breakfast.
When we need something dense, grounding, + fueling for big days in the winter mountains, this or this are my go-tos.
If I’m feeling an imbalance in my body arising, this is often what I choose.
But lately, I’ve been a bit short on time, and I need our breakfast to be simple and effective; spring is arriving and the pressure of heavy, dense kapha is something we all can feel in our digestive systems. And, because we’re people who want to keep moving, striving, and packing it in in a reasonable fashion, tending to the amount of fire we’re cultivating in our bodies is always at the back of mind. So, I’ve been making this 4-ingredient Simplest Golden Quinoa Porridge. It’s the *perfect* early-spring flex as far as fueling with real foods goes.
Most of us don’t think of our breakfast in terms of efficacy. We feel its a success to put something into our bodies before we start the day, and we give a lot of thought to what that “should not” be…but don’t really know that much about what would truly benefit us. Let me also say that eating breakfast, any breakfast, is better for our bodies than eating nothing at all. But since we’re people who care…let’s really care, ya know? And that’s where giving a crap about efficacy, and the subtleties of what we’re eating and when come in.
Over the past weeks, we’ve been shifting Leo’s diet drastically in the direction of pitta-reduction to reduce inflammation, eliminate allergies, and address eczema at the root. This requires including foods that help to cool and soothe pitta and avoiding foods that might thermogenically or actually overheat the body, and IT’S WORKING (insert exploding brain!) I’m not actually surprised that it’s working, but I am delighted and thrilled that this simple approach – with foods that I cooked in my kitchen, and was able to source from our local farmers and trusted markets – IS the medicine. Quinoa, almond and coconut milk, cardamom and turmeric are all soothing and cooling for pitta, and Leo is DEVOURING this simple breakfast. Effective!
Behind the scenes of Leo’s real-food healing process, Pete + I still have to eat. Each of us has a different constitution, but Pete and I have relatively large energy demands that are challenging to meet on the limited food list we’re currently offering to our son. Most of the time, we’re eating exactly what he eats, and that works beautifully for all of us. But finding ways to bolster our meals and support our pursuits professionally, personally, physically, and parentally has been…interesting. But this porridge makes it easy for us to get what we need, to keep our fires in check, and keep us all thriving.
Finally, when I joke about the flow of things in our kitchen feeling a lot like a cafe, I’m not kidding. The “production schedule” that has to unfold on top of our other obligations – specifically to meet Leo’s needs, but really to meet all of our needs under this specific circumstance is not a short one. And it’s reallllly nice to take a break from thinking about if the grains are soaked, the devices loaded before we go to bed and on and on. Something about this quinoa feels like the lowest hanging fruit to me, and I LOVE it for that.
Next week, I’ll escape to Buena Vista for my seasonal digestive reset. Typically, I make myself a pot of this Carrot Cake Kitchari to take with me, but this time,e I’ll be taking these four ingredients and will make this soothing, nourishing golden porridge instead. I love it when a food that’s suitable for a reset fits into life and can be used in a delicious, casual way every day…and this one absolutely fits that bill!
This porridge is perfectly nourishing, light, and elevating for rekindling digestion.
When I say inner fires, what I’m really referring to here is the digestive system, or agni in Ayurveda. When we aren’t conscious of agni or its strength, this is where things start to go awry. When our digestive systems become weak, they can’t appropriately process our nutrition nor assimilate it. If we catch this weakness in time, we can lighten up our food from a qualitative perspective and give our systems the space they need to rekindle. When our systems are performing overtime, we want to support them in simmering down, and – similarly – by choosing foods that support balance, we enable it to take effect. There are only 4 ingredients here (ok, 5 if you include maple syrup which – obviously.) And each of them serves a specific purpose in this recipe:
I love the creamy, just spiced, simple nature of this porridge. It’s so comforting and yet exotic at the same time.
I love that there’s no overnight soaking here. Just a quick rinse of the quinoa, and you’re off to the porridge races.
I love that I always have the ingredients for this gorgeous, simple porridge in my pantry.
I love the way it fuels me with light, sturdy fuel for long runs in the mountains.
I love that it’s a meal I can eat anytime, which feels like a big, regenerative hug for my digestive system.
I love that it’s healing little Leo’s immune system from the inside out and that he LOVES eating it.
And I hope you love it as much as we do!
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