Crockpot Protein Porridge

Protein Porridge

I’m a fan of how this porridge worked out, so here’s the process. In my crockpot, I whisked 2 eggs and a dash of salt into 3 cups of whey left from Greek yogurt. I poured in 1 cup of dry chickpeas, covered the pot, and set it on high for one hour. After the first hour, I stirred in 1/2 cup quinoa and 1/2 cup millet and turned the heat down to low. Another hour later, I mixed in 1/2 cup lentils and let the whole thing continue to cook on low, adding water as necessary (I probably added 3-4 more cups over this time) until the chickpeas were semi-tender, maybe three more hours. (If you’re passionate about having your chickpeas be well-done and mushy, you might want to cook them fully separately before adding them to the crockpot.)

Once I could chew a chickpea without breaking my teeth, I set my immersion blender on the mix and whirred it until things got nice and creamy. Then, I toasted 1/2 cup wheat germ in a dry skillet and stirred that into the mix, too. This made about 6 cups of porridge. I didn’t add fruits or seasonings because I wanted to leave my options open for how to use this as the week goes on.

Flavor Variations

Apple-Banana-Nut

I mixed 1 cup of the porridge in an ovensafe dish with 1/2 banana (some chopped, some mashed), 1/2 chopped apple, 1 tsp homemade extra-dark-roasted cashew-almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. I covered the dish and baked at 375 for 30 minutes.

When the porridge came out of the oven, I put it in my pretty dish and topped it with chopped strawberries, 1/2 cup yogurt + PB2 sauce, and my granola and trail mix blend.

Cinnamon-Raisin

I mixed 1 cup of the porridge with 1 tbsp molasses, 2 tbsp raisins, cinnamon, and a crushed clove.

After heating, I layered the porridge over 1/2 cup Greek yogurt + part-skim ricotta blend and topped it with vanilla-almond granola, crumbled graham sticks, unsweetened coconut, and an extra little circle of raisins:

Black and White Cookie

The “white” contained 1/2 cup Healthy Cream Cheese Icing topped with unsweetened shredded coconut. The “black” contained 1 cup protein porridge mixed with 2 tbsp raw chocolate mousse, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp PB2 powder — topped with Hershey’s Kiss shavings and a hefty spoonful of extra dark cashew-almond butter: