Put down the Venti coffee! If you’re sleep-deprived, it can be near-impossible to roll out of bed in the morning, let alone shower, get dressed, and—gasp!—eat a healthy breakfast.

We won’t bother giving you the breakfast-is-the-most-important-meal-of-your-day spiel, since we’re pretty sure you know that already. Instead, try one of these non-traditional breakfast foods that pack a punch of protein.

It may just be the boost you need to propel you out the door, down the street, and wherever else you need to go today.

Quinoa

Also known as “the gold of the Incas,” quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids, which makes it a complete protein. Good morning, sunshine!

Swap out your regular oatmeal for a warm bowl of cinnamon-y cooked quinoa with milk. It’s nutty, lightly sweet, and a perfect start to the day.

To make four servings (save some for tomorrow’s  breakfast!), combine 1 cup quinoa, 1 cup water, and 1 cup milk (any type) in a saucepan. Bring to boil; simmer for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Now dress it up however you like—a drizzle of honey or agave, a sprinkling of cinnamon, a handful of fresh berries, a toss of toasted nuts.

 Tofu

Made from the curds of soybean milk, tofu is a great source of soy protein (18.3% of your daily value in 4 ounces). If you’re a scrambled egg kind-of breakfast eater, a vegan tofu scramble might be right up your alley (especially if you’re worried about cholesterol).

You barely need a recipe: just crumble up some firm or extra firm tofu and gently sauté it with onions, vegetables, and fresh herbs. Try red onion, peas, and basil, or red pepper, corn, tomatoes, and garlic. Serve with toast or a bagel.

If you’re a fan of colder, sweeter breakfasts, add a few spoonfuls of silken tofu to your green smoothies! It gives smoothies a creamy, silky texture—almost like a milkshake. Here’s how to do it:

Blend 1 cup kale with 1 cup nondairy milk until smooth. Add a few scoops of frozen fruit, ½ cup silken tofu, and whatever additional ingredients you want (almond butter? flax? agave? ginger?). Blend and sip like the superpower you are.

photo attribute: www.marthastewart.com

Whether you’re on a budget, a diet, or a really long road trip, sometimes you need food that will stick to your ribs, like Grandma used to say. Put down that extra-large bag of Twizzlers, though – what makes you feel full isn’t the amount of calories you consume, it’s the volume of food in your stomach.

Because of this, foods that are high in water or fiber take up more stomach space and fill you up quickly. An Australian study by Dr. Susanne Holt explored the satisfying power of different foods and measured these findings with the “Satiety Index,” which gave white bread a baseline ranking of 100.

Foods that were more satisfying than white bread scored higher than 100, and less satisfying foods earned lower scores. Next time you need to stave off cravings, turn to this list of hunger-fighting foods and herbs.

Potatoes

Baked potatoes ranked at more than 300 on the Satiety Index, which means that ounce for ounce, a potato is three times more filling than white bread (sadly, french fries and potato chips won’t fill you up quite as well).

Drizzle a baked potato with olive oil, sprinkle on salt and pepper, and pile high with broccoli or spinach. Add a fried egg on top if you’re feeling sassy. Trust us, it’s delicious.

Fish

Fish ranked higher than any other meat on the Satiety Index, and since it’s also full of omega-3s, it’s a great choice for nights when you’re starving but can’t overdo it. You can eat a large piece of fish for the same amount of calories as a smaller serving of beef, pork, or chicken.

And it’s so easy to make, a fish could cook itself. Try this classic recipe: wrap each fillet in a piece of aluminum foil, and add lemon slices, seasonings, and vegetables. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the fish flakes with a fork.

It’s the simplest way we’ve found to cook sometimes-tricky fish without making a mess…or causing your kitchen to smell like seafood.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal, the highest-ranking breakfast food on the Satiety Index, comes in many forms. Quick oats can be cooked in the microwave in minutes; steel-cut oats have a delicious, chewy texture, but take about a half-hour to prepare. All are delicious, and guaranteed to help keep you full until lunch.

Chickweed + Burdock

Chickweed is a European herb with tiny white flowers. When made into a tea, it’s useful for curbing hunger pains. It’s especially effective when taken with burdock – a type of thistle recognizable by its woolly leaves and purple flowers and known for its appetite – suppressing properties. To make a tea, simmer an ounce of dried burdock root and a few spoonfuls of chickweed in boiling water for 10-20 minutes.

Parsley

The springy, fresh taste of parsley is wonderful for reducing hunger pains. Throw a generous handful into your regular green juice (it pairs well with carrot juice), or finely chop and sprinkle on your baked potato or fish fillet.

Photo attribute: www.best-potato-recipes.com

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been waiting about eight months for the first signs of spring, because spring means that fresh produce is finally here to stay.

And maybe you’re like us. Tantalized by all the leafy, fragrant goodness at your local farmer’s market? Then you’re in good company!

We’re continuing our roundup of favorite spring foods today. (If you missed Part 1, catch up here!) Each one of these foods is best enjoyed on a picnic blanket in the park with a glass of chilled rosé.

 Sorrel

This tart, acidic spring green has the kind of bite that reminds you it’s May outside. Look for the brightest, greenest leaves you can find—abandon anything that’s beginning to yellow.

Raw young leaves will brighten up you salads, and cooked leaves (which will turn a little grayish—that’s totally normal) are fantastic in scrambled eggs or as a side to chicken or fish. The greens are powerfully antioxidant, packed with vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, and flavonoids.

Cook ‘em up: Chop up a handful of sorrel leaves and toss into your salad to give it a lemony boost, or blend with strawberries and spinach for a tart Strawberry Sorrel Smoothie from Green Lemonade.

 Farm-Fresh Eggs

If factory farms infuriate you and/or skeeve you out, then this is the protein source for you! Not only are fresh eggs from happy chickens so much more humane, they’re actually better for you!

A 2007 study by Mother Earth News found out that free-range eggs have 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, double the omega-3s, three times more vitamin E, and seven times more vitamin A. Wow.

Chat with the farmer selling the eggs to make sure his chickens are treated well—you’ll probably hear some adorable chick anecdotes to boot.

Cook ‘em up: Let those delicious eggs shine in a simple, cheesy recipe that will have you wishing breakfast came three times a day—The Best Egg Sandwich You’ll Ever Have from A Cup of Jo. 

Rhubarb

It’s really hard to find fresh rhubarb outside of rhubarb season (spring), so take advantage of this delicious, tart plant while you can. For the best flavor, look for brightly-colored, firm stalks. Rhubarb is very high in vitamin C, dietary fiber, and vitamin K, which may help prevent diabetes.

Cook ‘em up: In a stroke of Nature’s genius, rhubarb season coincides perfectly with strawberry season, so take advantage of both with this incredible Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble by 101 Cookbooks, perked up with port wine, black pepper, and pine nuts.

Photo attribute: simplyrecipes.com

Spring is finally here in full force, and that means it’s time to devour all of the season’s goodness before summer stomps in and wilts all the delicate young greens with its blazing temperatures, crushing humidity, and buckets of fresh tomatoes. Okay, that metaphor was a little elaborate, but you get the point.

Fresh veggies in springtime – is there anything more idyllic? Below, please find my top spring foods, why you should eat them, and a delicious recipe featuring each one. Bonus eco-points if you buy your spring produce at the nearest farmer’s market!

Ramps

Also known as wild leeks, ramps are briefly in season from late winter to early spring. Their delicate onion-esque flavor makes them a popular foodie ingredient. One cup of ramps gives you 30% of your daily vitamin A (pow!). They’re also a great source of vitamin C, along with trace minerals selenium and chromium.

Cook ‘em up: Introduce ramps into your cooking rotation with the incredibly easy Ramp Crostino from MarthaStewart.com.

Asparagus

Oh, asparagus. You are everywhere in spring. And you are delicious. These bright green spears are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and the large amount of the prebiotic inulin means they’re great for your digestive system, too. They’re also a powerhouse source of vitamin K – we’re talking 69% of your daily requirement, people -  in just one cup.

Cook ‘em up: Pair the spears with mozzarella, parmesan, and olive oil to make the Shaved Asparagus Pizza from Smitten Kitchen. Pair with a glass of white wine.

Watercress

Might “watercress” be the most refreshing-sounding word in the English language? We certainly think so.

This peppery leaf grows on top of streams, and is best eaten fresh, young, raw, and in springtime. Its health benefits are numerous – it’s got a reputation for defending against lung cancer and is a rich source of vitamin A, vitamin C, the B-vitamins, and minerals like calcium, copper, potassium, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus.

Cook ‘em up: This simple, flavorful watercress salad from Rachel Ray gets a jolt from fresh herbs and lime.

Photo attribute: guardian.co.uk

So your shiny new juicer has just arrived, and you’ve got it all set up and plugged in.

What now? Do you fling yourself into a frenzy of beet greens, nettle tea, and broccoli florets? Do you fill your juicer with stalks of kale and hope it turns out tasting like chocolate milk?

We’ve got your back on this one. Try this simple, sweet-tasting recipes that will have you asking for a refill.

The Ingredients

• 4 carrots
• 1 cucumber
• Handful of spinach
• 1 lemon
• 1 apple or pear

The Directions

First of all, wash everything! Peel the cucumber and lemon, then core the apple or pear. Carefully feed the produce into your juicer, alternating between soft produce (cucumber, spinach, fruits) and three of the carrots. Finish off with the last carrot to make sure everything gets pushed down and juiced.

Pour the juice into a frosty glass and sip away, preferably through one of those fancy, curly fluorescent straws.

The Flavor

This recipe balances the sweetness of carrot, apple, and/or pear with the grassiness of spinach and the tartness of lemon. (Let’s be honest: can anyone taste the cucumber? We can’t!) It’s a great mix of accessible flavor for the juicing neophyte. Spinach is one of the easiest leafy greens to disguise in a juice—its flavor is gentle, and quickly overpowered by sweeter fruits and vegetables.

The Benefits

Juicing breaks down the cell walls of the fruits and vegetables, making the nutrients easily absorbable and digestible. Essentially, the juicing action does the chewing for you, so you can consume huge amounts of fruits and vegetables without having to gnaw on a bag of carrots all day.

It’s important to add plenty of vegetables to your juice, since pure fruit juice can lead to a spike in blood sugar.

Spinach is packed full of vitamins A, C, and B2, as well as manganese, folate, iron, calcium, and potassium. Carrots are your friendly neighborhood powerhouse source of vitamin A (and they ain’t bad when it comes to vitamin K, C, and potassium, either). And the vitamin C punch of the lemon will help your body absorb the iron in the spinach. Win-win-win!

Photo attribute: www.nicolewaterhouse.com

Blend 'em up or juice 'em down?

To blend or to juice? - that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to chug a frosty glass of sweet green nectar, or to slurp up a creamy concoction with a spoon…ahem.

You get the point. Personally, we’re big proponents of the blend and juice theory (otherwise known as “get your greens whenever you can, however you can”), but if you’ve ever vacillated between the two, you know that each version has its pros and cons. So we’re here to help you decide.

There’s no right answer—it all comes down to what you want out of your veggies.

Juicing: It’s all about VOLUME

The biggest pro of juicing is that it enables you to get a ton of nutrients, fast. Are you planning to sit down and eat a head of kale, a plate of spinach, a couple of carrots, and a pear? Of course not—but with juicing, you can drink it all up in mere seconds.

Juicing reduces fruits and veggies to pure, liquid nutrients — no fiber involved. Basically, juicing does the chewing for you, so all the vitamins are delivered into your system much faster than they would be if you gnawed on a stalk of celery.

If you’re sick, or have a sensitive digestive system, juicing is especially beneficial, since your body doesn’t have to work hard to get a huge rush of nutrients. Of course, you have to be careful—pure fruit juice can make your blood sugar levels go wild. Add plenty of vegetables to your juices to avoid a spike in blood sugar.

Blending: It’s all about FIBER

When you blend a stalk of kale, all of the plant’s valuable fiber is still contained in the smoothie. The high fiber content of a green smoothie is part of why it’ll keep you much fuller than a glass of juice.

The blending action destroys the cell walls of fruits and veggies, making them easy for your system to digest, but the presence of fiber helps your body regulate your blood sugar levels. If you’re looking to replace a meal with something green, a smoothie is your best bet.

And let’s not forget that smoothies give you the option to add fancy, non-veggie ingredients like hemp, flax, or chia seeds.

Photo attribute: www.melodybeefarms.com

What do you think? Weigh-in using the comment form below!

…Algae

Maybe you don’t like the idea of wearing a banana, but because the fruit is rich in vitamins and antioxidants like potassium and lutein, they have positive effect it has on our skin. After all, skin absorbs a certain amount of what you place on it (depending on skin thickness and how concentrated the substance is, of course).

According to Ara DerMarderosian, Ph.D., who conducts research on various folk remedies, “A banana is going to be soothing because it contains slippery components that are starch-like materials [polysaccharides].”

And the sugar in bananas is slightly anti-microbial, which means it can help fight various infections.

Itch Relief

Bitten by mosquitoes during the barbecue? Stumbled into a nasty patch of poison ivy while hiking? Quickly, peel a banana and apply the cooling skin to your itch. Banana peels can help to stop the inflammation and sooth the itching, giving you sweet relief (or at least a buffer period before you can get your hands on some calamine lotion).

Soothing Facial

Banana facials are praised for their ability to fight dry skin and ward off wrinkles. All the vitamins in the fruit (B6, C, manganese, potassium) are great for your skin, too. Just wash your face, mash up a banana, and smear it on! Add a tablespoon of honey for extra moisturizing powers.

Acne Fighter

Since banana peels have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, try adding them to your arsenal of acne products. After cleansing your face, rub the inside of a banana peel all over your skin. You can even lie down and spread one or two peels across your face like a mask if you’re feeling super motivated. Try this folk remedy at night, unless you want to smell like bananas all day.

Dry Hair Saver

The amino acids in bananas help protect your hair from environmental damage, and their citric acid makes your locks shiny. Blend a banana with a few chunks of cantaloupe and avocado, and a few tablespoons of plain yogurt, and massage through your hair. Leave on for 30 minutes and shampoo out.

It sounds weird, but we promise that your hair will be shiny and conditioned when you emerge from the shower.

No More Warts

Home remedy aficionados swear by the wart-fighting power of the humble banana peel, and if you’ve got a nasty wart, you’re probably willing to try anything to get rid of it. Just tape a small piece of banana peel to the affected area with the inside of the peel pressed against your wart. Leave on overnight, or if you’re doing this during the day, leave on until the peel turns black. We know. Ew. You’ll need to keep this up for several weeks to see results.

Photo attribute: mocoloco.com

The green smoothie movement is growing like a weed, but if you’re a first-timer, visions of chia seeds, hemp milk, dandelion greens, and garlic extract might make you feel a bit woozy and intimidated.

If you want to pack an extra serving of greens into your day, but you’re way too scared to find out what blended parsley tastes like, try this ultra-simple, foolproof green smoothie. It’s delicious—and totally intimidation-free.

 The Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup milk (your choice: cow’s milk, soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, etc.)
• 1 banana
• Ice
• Optional – 1 tablespoon flax (okay, we couldn’t resist throwing in a slightly fancy ingredient)

The Directions

Plop the spinach (and flax, if you’re bold) into your blender, and top with the milk and banana. Blend until smooth. Add ice and blend again. Pour, sip, and enjoy your beginner’s green energy!

The Benefits

Green smoothie fans cite increased energy, clearer skin, stronger hair and nails, and natural weight loss as a result of their smoothie addiction. The smoothies themselves are full of fiber and chlorophyll, are readily digestible, and their blended state means the nutrients are easy for your body to absorb.

And of course, green smoothies offer a convenient way of packing more fruits and vegetables into your diet, which—let’s be honest—we all need.

 The Nutrients

Spinach is one of the easiest greens to add to your smoothie. You can find organic spinach at almost any grocery store, you won’t taste it once it’s blended, and it’s packed full of vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and flavonoids.

Notable nutrients include vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B2, calcium, and potassium. Note: when picking out your spinach, choose the brightest green leaves you can find. Studies show that paler spinach leaves have less vitamin C than their more vibrant siblings.

Bananas, as you probably know, are a great source of potassium, which helps maintain normal blood pressure and heart function. But don’t overlook their other nutrients—a surprising amount of vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, and fiber can all be found in these creamy yellow fruits.

Photo attribute: gimmesomeoven.com

Oh, chemicals. We eat organic to avoid them in our food, but what about our toilette? Instead of buying yet another mousse that leaves your hair crunchy and full of chemical build-up, waltz into your kitchen—chances are you already own the ingredients you need for beautiful, chemical-free hair.

Add Volume and Shine With Beer

It sounds shocking, but a beer rinse is a fabulous natural way to get glossy, voluminous locks on the cheap. Crack one open and let it sit until it’s warm and flat, then pour over hair after shampooing. Rub it in a bit, and let your hair air-dry. Don’t worry, you won’t smell like an alcoholic—the scent vanishes as it dries. Proteins in beer add volume to your locks, while beer’s natural sugars tighten up your hair’s cuticle for extra shine.

Deep Condition With Oils

You’ve probably noticed a slew of conditioning products that list olive, coconut, jojoba, or avocado oil as one of their moisturizing ingredients. Skip to the chase and give parched hair a DIY treatment with whatever oil is in your cabinet.

Massage the oil into your hair, focusing especially on dry ends, until your entire head is covered. Wrap hair in a towel or plastic wrap—the trapped heat will help the oil absorb better. Leave the treatment in for 30 minutes to several hours, then shampoo thoroughly to remove all oil. Makes a great weekly conditioning treatment for extra-damaged hair.

Thicken Fine Hair With Egg

The golden yolk of an egg is filled with protein that can coat the shaft of your hair and make it temporarily thicker. If your hair could use some extra body, whip up an egg yolk with 1/4 cup of plain organic yogurt (also a great source of protein). Coat your hair with the mixture, and leave on for 15-30 minutes. Shampoo and condition as usual.

Clarify With Baking Soda

If your hair is looking particularly dull and limp, it may be because you have too much product build-up on your strands. Baking soda is a natural exfoliant, making it one of the cheapest and best ways to clarify your hair. While in the shower, squeeze a dollop of shampoo into your palm and mix in about a tablespoon of baking soda. Massage this mixture into your scalp, then rinse and condition.

Degrease With Corn Starch

Hair stylists are obsessed with dry shampoo for its ability to soak up oily sebum and dirt while adding volume and texture to dry hair. Don’t feel like springing for the $20 bottle? Pick up a box of cornstarch—it’s the main ingredient in many pricey dry shampoos, anyway.

The next time your hair looks limp or oily, dip your fingers in the cornstarch and rake them through your roots, focusing on extra-greasy areas, such as bangs. Brush or shake as much as you can out of your hair.

photo attribute: buzzle.com