Maca root is something I have long-wanted to develop a recipe library for. It’s a tricky ingredient because of its pungent flavor, but its long list of wonderful health benefits quickly inspires the desire to want to take it regularly.

You could just dose up on capsules, if that’s your thing. It’s not mine. I prefer taking my nutrients through whole foods and regular meals, including superfoods such as maca. In my opinion, that’s the way to take something in a way your body can best absorb it, and in an amount that’s not overloading or toxic to your system.

What *is* Maca?

Maca root, a very powerful radish, is an ancient staple food of Peru. In addition to its potent “adaptogenic” qualities (the ultimate nutritional and hormonal balancer), maca is reputed to be an aphrodisiac and is famed for its ability to enhance endurance and stamina (think love, think energy, or think athletes… whatever you particular need is).

If you’re an older person needing more vitality, a menopausal woman needing hormonal balance, a woman trying to conceive, a older man seeking a natural “viagra”… if you are metabolically challenged or adrenally stressed… maybe maca root is something that will help you.

One thing I’ve heard repeatedly though… if you take it and don’t want more kidlets… be careful.

Add This Adaptogen To Your Regular Menu

In any event, I have had great experience taking noni juice, another potent adaptogen, and I’d like to take maca regularly… so stay tuned for some interesting maca combinations.

Here, I’ve used the strongly astringent flavor of fresh pomegranate juice, lime juice, and orange blossom water to create a dramatic back drop for the maca, and a bit of coconut oil to mellow the texture. It’s fragrant, powerful, and hopefully both rousing and arousing! No matter our circumstances, we all want to feel our most vital and alive!

My son’s judgment passed on the cocktail: “This stuff’s bangin’… totally delicious!”

For a maca smoothie, I’ll surely take that.

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Last Day for $20 Savings on my LGS Daily Recipe magazine…

The post below was originally published on my “This Raw Life” blog on October 8, 2009: Today’s Raw Smoothie, For The Office or Gym… Pomegranate-Rose With Fresh Aloe Vera

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So.Dang.Good! So.Dang.Pretty! A glass full of barbie pink with fuschia undertones… and bubbles on top if properly frothed and left to sit! Like drinking a rose-flavored bubble bath.

This Pomegranate-Rose Smoothie with Fresh Aloe Vera and a good dose of fresh lime juice is a brilliant thirst-quencher and energy-reviver. Hang on… gotta run… it’s reminded me I have mountains to move…

This being New Year’s Eve, the juiced ingredients in this deceptively mild raw punch cocktail are symbolic for celebrating the New Year.

• Pomegranate, a symbol since ancient times of gods and royalty, is a symbol of prosperity and fertility to invoke your expectation of wealth and creative vitality.
• Gorgeously green parsley juice and fresh lime juice, symbolizing the free flow of money and vital energy.
• 8 oranges — oranges to signify the stellar radiance of your beautifully divine Self, and 8, which is the number of power, change, and transformation.
• And I’ve added rose water in my version (optional in yours), personally signifying the Divine and the Sublime.
• You can also add a pint of strawberries in your final blending, to add a redder hue and to signify the emergence of Love in the coming year.

You don’t need to add alcohol to enjoy this beverage… just leave out the vodka and enjoy it in a lovely glass to make any alcohol-free evening more festive. And if you’re seeking libations a bit more potent, this recipe is (as written) more mild, a punch with less bite.

Actually, with alcohol, I’ve always been of the “more is less” mindset — make it strong, I say, so you really know what you’re drinking, that way you’ll be much less inclined to over-imbibe. But whatever your pleasure, you can adjust the booze-to-juice proportions according to your own inclinations. Just enjoy… cuz this is 100% pure fresh-juice cocktail is wonderfully enlivening!

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Wow… love this recipe. It honestly doesn’t get any easier than this, and it’s recipes like this that, as you slurp them up with relish, you’re bound to wonder… “Why in the world did I never make this stuff before???”

I’ve had this bin of raisins in my fridge for awhile…raisins homemade and sun-dried by my great-aunt in Greece, made from grapes grown locally on her island of Samos. They were lovingly packed with bay leaves, and each delicately seeded grape still has a bit of its twig attached, presumably a mark of hand-crafting because the only way to achieve that is to actually cut each grape off its bunch.

Anyway, these exotic raisins are just delicious. But to be honest, I’m not a lover of dried fruit, not to snack on by itself. So these beautiful, rarified raisins have been languishing by their lonesome, beloved but neglected, while every time I see them I’ve reminded myself I need to conjure up a purpose for them.

Well… purpose found!

Raisins are the unexpectedly perfect sweetener for this sorbet. Their dense sweetness effortlessly balances the tartness of the pomegranates and cranberries, and the raisiny undertone adds a depth that might be overwhelming with fruits of less… personality.

You may not have my great-aunt’s special raisins to give a slight exoticism to your sorbet… but some quality organic raisins will no doubt pleasure your taste buds most gratifyingly.

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This morning’s LGS is a great example of how you can’t judge a book by its cover when it comes to Live Green Smoothies.

I tossed in a bit of gorgeously vibrant orange pepper, added half of a vibrantly crimson peeled pomegranate, a bunch of alluringly red grapes, and brilliantly green parsley… a veritable rainbow of living color… but once they’re all blended up, they join hands to become a dull greyish-creamy-avocado.

But within this quart of dull green lies a tremendous amount of healthful zing. I’ve got antioxidants galore, protein-building amino acids, beta carotene, polysaccharides, and a list of phytochemicals I’d have to take the whole day to study in order to understand physiologically…  And who cares about that, because — whether I understand all the science or not — all of it is already working in my system to give me the health, vitality, well-being, and youthful juiciness I care about!

Yah… this drinking living rainbows business is a very good deal.

Heretofore, all of my pomegranate recipes have been blended or juiced, but here we have the lovely juicy-red gorgeousness of the pomegranate coming out in full color, tossed with a light honey-rose dressing to stain the apples an exquisite shade of pink. 

A perfect side dish for any holiday table… or just make it and keep it in your fridge to enjoy throughout the week and make all your meals a little extra special.

If you don’t have any rose water, you can leave it out. But…the little bit you add does make a fragrant difference. It’s like a dish full of enlivening romance.

Suggested Serving: I enjoyed mine for lunch with a big scoop of Creamy Lemon Raw Ice Cream over top!

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Pomegranate season is in full swing… they’re everywhere! Tonight I picked one up which was surely as big as my head. Darn-near exploded my Blendtec, it was so big.

Three cheers for yet another way to smoothify fresh whole pomegranate is all I’m sayin’.

Pomegranate is just so gorgeous! It also has a rich mythic history filled with some great Greek story-telling, and has all sorts of reputed health benefits, from lowering cholesterol, preventing or slowing the advancement of cancer, and preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

Blending up a whole pomegranate Live Green Smoothie makes you feel just a wee bit royal and virtuous, with all that explosively red antioxidant juiciness finding its way into your bloodstream.

And plus, when you blend it whole, you get not only the benefit of the pomegranate juice, you also get the seeds and the white pith - it’s like drinking a Polyphenol Health Bomb.

Bottoms up!

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Oh. Dear. Me. So good. So simple. So utterly GORGEOUS. And it whips up so quickly you could probably fit it in during a television commercial break (if you watch TV, that is…).

If people knew they could be drinking this amazing stuff, would they flock to Starbucks for fancy milky-sweet coffee drinks? I suspect not. Raw slushies are just too amazing for words… and you feel amazing after drinking them, because they’re made with pure, freshly juiced juice!

What a great “virgin” raw cocktail before going out dancing on a Saturday night (my current state of mind). Buy the ingredients in this one and MAKE IT. Dang… <<slipping back into 7th-Heaven Bliss…>>

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Yah, I do love these Barbie pink drinks. And I do love my rose water. But you can make this without the rose - it’s delicious either way.

The pear in this smoothie gives a juicy voluptuousness which plays so nicely against the the tannic tartness of the pomegranate. And honestly, it almost doesn’t get any easier than this when it comes to smoothies. Thank goodness for high-powered blenders that let you blend up whole pomegranates!

If you don’t have a high-powered blender… watch out for the pomegranate seeds. You’ll have to give it a few goes to break them down. Wouldn’t want you breaking any teeth, now.

But whip this baby up when you want to feel fancy (or impress a guest with your raw aptitude *grin*). Pour out into a few exotic glasses and you’ll feel like it’s New Year’s Eve! And then just wait for the rush of aliveness as that pomegranate makes you feel like a million bucks.

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What a pretty cocktail! The body of this lovely drink is pomegranate-red, but it has a frothy golden halo that holds up until the last sip. This highly photogenic drink (which would shine all the more in the hands of a more capable photographer) is both sweet and tart, is loaded with antioxidants and Vitamin C, and will leave you wanting more… so make sure you have plenty on hand for a second batch!

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