Mmmmm Macachino!

MACACHINO  ~ A delicious & nutricious hot nutty maca drink ~ 

For all you coffee-lovers but also, and maybe even more so, for those who may have stopped drinking coffee years ago (like myself ;)) and are (still) looking for yummy alternatives, this is a delicious drink with some health benefits on the side that to me have been just amazing!

Maca is considered a superfood that is quite populair in the raw-food scene at the moment. When you start looking into it's medicinal benefits you will find it works as an 'adaptongen' (this means it works in the body where needed), helping with strength recovery after disease, or balancing out hormonal issues like pms and hot flashes for women, or even libido problems for men. I have done some more research into the benefits and possible side effects of maca which - if you are interested - you can read more about below the recipy :)

Macachino recipe:

you need for one cup:

- one cup of almond milk (homemade or store bought)
- one full teaspoon of any coffee-alternative (like a chicory, grain- or nut-based coffee)
- only half a teaspoon of maca (so your maca-supply will last you niiiice and long :)
- a small pan to heat up the mixture on your stove (I use the kind of pan you would to boil one or 2 eggs in :)

I put all ingredients together in the cup and stir to mix it all up well, then I poor it into the pan and heat it up on a little flame while stirring every now and then. you want to stay with it because at some point soon it will start to boil and get foamy and you need to be there otherwise it might boil over behind your back ;) The magic is in the moment of the boiling, when it begins to gently foam, turn the fire real low and let the foam 'rise' up for as far as 2 or 3 centimeters (about an inch), then turn the fire off, stir one more time, and poor the mix immidiately into the cup, this will leave you with some of the foam still on top of the drink hence the maca-chino -effect ;). Enjoy while hot.
I like mine with a pinch of ground cinnamon on top ;)

The flavor is nutty, mild, creamy, just delicious! :)

My maca-research :)

While investigating on maca I found on some more detailed websites that using the raw version might cause nausia for some people or even problems with the thyroid might you have had these in the past (and I have so..haha). This is why I was extra carefull but also still curious about maca. I studied what chemical elements of the plant exactely caused the nausia or thyroid reaction and learned that these elements are being 'turned off' by heating the maca up to the boiling point. As soon as I figured that out I was all happy that now I found a way to carefully try maca for myself, since I had already heared so many good stuff about it from people around me and this maca-chino that I learned about was just calling my name haha!!

So even though it is being promoted as a raw-superfood, the Inca's from the Andes (where this plant grows) also use(d) it mainly hot/boiled, stir fried or even fermented. This root (that looks a lot like a big raddish) clearly has a lot more possibilities then just using it raw. For those who think the 'raw-food benefits' will stop when you heat maca up; I can tell you this is not true haha! For me as a women it helped me balance out my pms quite noticeably. I have hardly had any typical issues: backpain (gone), cramps (superslightly), headache (gone), since I started enjoying this mild maca-drink every once in a while in the morning. I drink it about 4 times a week and then not at all for 5 days since that seemed recommended on some websites. Now this recommendation is for the maca-users that use a huge spoonfull or more daily and raw, but still to be on the safe side, I just take the same 'break', which I think only makes me appriciate the drink even more ;).

Now I am using the maca in this recipe with the smallest amount possible and it already does the trick for me - it helped me balance out my hormones and it gives me a nice little kick in the morning (nothing too overwhelming, a lot less then lets say, starting your day by eating a jar of raw chocolat ;).I have a feeling it more helps to spread my energy more nicely throughout the day, so you still feel fit in the afternoon which is great :) So seeing it can have great effects even with such a small amount, I would not recomment using more unless you really feel you need it. Like with all medicinal plants (on which many of the 'superfoods' are based) I always read myself deeply into the pro's and the con's before I use them in any of my recipe's and even then very carefully built up the dosage to see and feel what it does for me personally, and I'd always recommend to do the same for yourself ;)

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do and if you have any special experiences with it you would like to share them with everybody else on this blog :)

Keep on loving yourself, each other and the world :)