Our mornings here are busy. Six days a week I’m up between 4:30-5am to work out, get ready for the day, make breakfast, pack lunches, and make sure everyone gets out the door on time. Sometime in the middle of all that, I need to make sure that I’m eating a healthy breakfast too! When I’m in the mood to start the day with something sweet, comforting, and cozy that will also keep me full and refuel me after a hard workout, I look to a breakfast power bowl. They’re easy to make and the perfect vehicle for whatever toppings you want! My favorite toppings are peanut butter, sliced banana, berries, pepitas, hemp hearts, and a drizzle of maple syrup.
Maybe this year you have a goal to eat healthier, especially for breakfast. I find that how I start the day often sets the tone for the day, and a healthy, delicious, filling breakfast is definitely the way to go. This recipe makes two generous adult servings, or four smaller kid-friendly servings. This recipe is perfect for me to have for breakfast with enough for my four young kids. For this easy breakfast power bowl recipe, rolled oats are cooked with quinoa, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, cinnamon, and vanilla in almond milk and water for a hearty oatmeal bowl. There’s a little bit of maple syrup in the bowls, but I like to drizzle a bit more on top as well for an extra touch of sweetness. If you don’t have pure maple syrup, you can also sweeten with honey or coconut sugar.
You can see the toppings that I love most shown here, but I’ve also used walnuts, chopped dates, strawberries, fresh figs, dried cranberries, sliced peaches or pear, and chopped apples as toppings as well. Use whatever is in season, whatever is on sale at the grocery store or farmer’s market, or whatever sounds good to you! What makes this fun for kids is being able to choose their own toppings. On a weekend morning you can make a big batch and have an oatmeal bar for everyone to add their favorites.
- 1½ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup quinoa
- 2 tbsp. flaxseed meal
- 1½ tbsp. chia seeds
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 3 tbsp. maple syrup + more for drizzling
- 2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other nut milk)
- 2 cups water
- Sliced banana
- Berries
- Sliced peaches or pear
- Chopped apples
- Hemp hearts
- Pepitas
- Chopped Dates
- Nuts
- In a medium saucepan, mix together oats, quinoa, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, vanilla extract, cinnamon, maple syrup, almond milk, and water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. When the liquid is just about gone, your oats and quinoa are fully cooked!
- Serve with your favorite toppings and an extra drizzle of maple syrup.
- Enjoy!
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This was yummy! I love oatmeal for breakfast but struggle to know how to up protein content, so this was perfect. My only critique would be that this recipe would benefit from more precise cooking directions, such as how long it should simmer. I feel like amount of liquid is subjective and I still had pretty crunchy quinoa when the liquid looked gone to me.
Thanks for sharing your recipes! I really enjoy cooking from your blog!
I struggle with the same thing, which is why I created this recipe! Thanks for sharing, so glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
This is a great porridge recipe that gives you that warm comfort food feeling and is satisfying and tasty. I tend to avoid all processed foods and anything that has additives, including alternative milk products, so I went with local grass fed milk. To each their own. But I thank you for the recipe and the time you gave to us to do it.
I’m so glad to hear that! Local grass fed milk sounds like it would be delicious in it!