Hormone Helping Hot Cocoa

I used to think taking supplements meant gulping down pills with endless gallons of water. But through my years of eating a more traditional diet, I've realized supplementation doesn't have to mean pills. There are many super foods and supplements we can add to the foods we already love to increase their nutritional value.

My newest discovery is maca powder. This Peruvian plant produces a root that has amazing nutritional benefits like increased fertility, enhanced libido, improved mood and hormone balancing, plus more. It has significant amounts of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, and C, plus iron, magnesium, zinc and calcium.

Maca is found in three types: red, yellow and black. I am using red maca as I am looking for all the help I can get in balancing my hormones. No one wants to lick powder off a spoon, well, I assume no one wants to do that, so I searched out maca recipes. My friend Wardee from Traditional Cooking School has a great collection of recipes for using maca. Oh! And you can find out which maca type is best for you.

A Successful Maca Recipe of My Own

I'm not one to create actual recipes very often. I have a few good ones like my Burger Helper but mostly, I let Wardee do the work and cook from her courses and cookbooks. This is partly because I don't like to measure so things rarely turn out the same twice. Anyway, occasionally I come up with something and actually take time to get the ingredients written down. I have a hand-written hot cocoa recipe that I recreated into a hormone helping hot cocoa that is perfect for early morning quiet time or sitting by the fire on a cool autumn evening. Enjoy the simplicity of hot cocoa with the benefits of maca in this easy and quick maca recipe.

Hormone Helping Hot Cocoa – A Maca Recipe

(adapted from a recipe with unknown origin)
Serves 1

1 cup milk (choose the type that works best in your diet)
1 1/2 TBSP cacao or carob powder
1-2 TBSP sweetener (maple syrup or evaporated cane juice add a nice flavor)
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp butter

1 tsp powdered gelatin (optional)

1/2 tsp coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt

In a small saucepan warm milk and butter. Once melted, add remaining ingredients and whisk until well incorporated. Adjust salt and sweetener as needed. Top with homemade whipped cream and serve.

If you're looking for more natural hormone balancing, check out this post.