Chocolate porridge

So here goes my first real post, a recipe, albeit a very simple one, chocolately, to fit in with the name of my blog. It's not so much a recipe really, as a breakfast idea, which can be easily tweaked to suit your tastes.

Until quite recently, I thought porridge was disgusting. This may have had something to do with the fact that when I was a kid, Mum thought that porridge was best served completely plain and unadorned, just oats, water and a bit of milk. I now know better, and now that it's winter, I have porridge for breakfast almost every morning.

I've tried a few variations, but this is the one I have most often, because chocolate. You can add a little sugar if you need it, but taste it first without as the banana adds quite a bit of sweetness, while the banana flavour is mostly masked by the cocoa.

Chocolate Porridge

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 
  1 large overripe banana, or 1.5 small ones
• 1 heaped teaspoon cocoa (when I say heaped, I mean heaped... it's probably closer to a tablespoon, but I think I feel better about myself when I can call it a teaspoon)
• Generous pinch shredded coconut (about 1 tablespoon)
• Scant 1/3 cup rolled oats (you may want more if you have a large appetite in the morning)
• 1 to 1 1/3 cups soymilk, or to desired consistency, I like mine pretty loose
• Small handful of berries to top - I'm currently using either frozen raspberries or frozen blueberries, but strawberries are great too, and fresh is better. If you're using larger berries, cut them up first (don't do what I did in the last picture, it's a pain to eat)

Method

1. Mash the banana
   

2. Mix in the cocoa

3. Mix in coconut and oats

4. Mix in soymilk, cover with a plate, and microwave for 1 minute, then wander off and do something, turn on the computer, check blog feeds, get dressed or whatever, for about 3-5 minutes.
5. Mix thoroughly, then return to microwave, and repeat step 4.
6. Top with berries. If the berries are frozen, you may wish to return to microwave for a further 30 seconds, or just stir through and let the heat from the porridge melt them.

What's your favourite everyday breakfast?