Besides the obvious benefit of jolting your sleepy body into caffeine-induced alertness, your morning mug of coffee or tea actually does a lot of healthy goodness for you. 

An antioxidant-rich organic coffee brew may help protect against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke, liver cancer and give your memory a boost—to name a few. Sipping on some tea, especially the green kind, may help fight cancer and heart disease, protect skin from UV damage and reduce body fat. Time for another cup, huh?

So do you have a mug in hand? Good. But what little bits did you add to that beverage before deeming it consumption-worthy? The “beverage condiments” you dump in your cup of joe or mug of tea can affect its healthiness. Fine-tune your coffee and tea drinking to make it even healthier with these easy tweaks.

Roasting peppers brings out their natural sweetness and juicy flavors. A necessary ingredient in many authentic Mexican dishes, roasting them is actually fun and easy. You score DIY points too because doing it yourself is also a lot cheaper than choosing store bought brands swimming in chemical preservatives, not to mention one less empty jar going to a landfill. (And once you taste the difference, you'll never go back!) Have fun exploring these techniques for home-roasted peppers.

Too hot to bake this summer? Yup, me too. But my craving for fresh fruits is stronger than ever. What’s a girl to do when she wants a sweet peach dessert but it’s over 100 degrees outside? Answer: You can take the baking out of a fruit crisp, but you can’t take the fruit crisp out of—um, well, never mind. The point is, you can cool down while indulging in the traditional “baked” dessert with our recipe for no-bake peach crisp. And best of all, it’s also totally vegan and raw. Now you’re super cool.

Friend to addled French poets Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, painter Vincent Van Gogh and gothic occultist Aleister Crowley, absinthe is a legend in its own right—an existential pondering over melting ice, a partner in psychotropic pursuits and one of the strongest alcoholic drinks ever made. Is it all its history claims? What is absinthe's allure?

Apple pie gets all the patriotic props, but perhaps blueberry pie should be our new national pastry. The little blue balls are native to North America, they pack a powerful dose of vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants, and they couldn’t be much easier to prepare: Just wash ‘em and pop into your mouth!

What a relief that nuts have been officially cleared of their high-fat dietary stigma! Back in the day, we were led to believe that consuming them in their raw, roasted, chopped and pureed forms was a recipe for waistline disaster, which made indulging in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich a ridiculously guilt-laden affair. Fortunately, we now have a better understanding of the difference between good fat and bad fat. In the last several years, the tide has really turned in favor of Mother Nature’s edible dry fruit kernels now that their cholesterol-reducing, heart-boosting, vitamin and antioxidant-packed properties have come to light. Of course, their diverse flavor profile pretty much seals the deal, but the fact that they supply the human body with one of the most valuable sources of plant-based protein elevates them to superstar status among vegetarians, exercise enthusiasts, all-around gourmands and everyone in between.

Beat the heat this summer with aguas frescas, all-natural drinks flavored with fruits, vegetables, flowers, seeds and starches. A simple and traditional favorite in Mexico and Latin America, these cooling “water refreshments” come in a variety of tastes and colors and stand up against the hot sun and hotter food from that part of the world.

Summer fruits are here, and the grocery store shelves are practically exploding with peaches, plums, nectarines, cantaloupes, strawberries and apricots. If just thinking of them makes your mouth water, don't stop at eating them fresh. Show off their bright color and flavor -- and kick off any summer fiesta -- with this light white wine sangria.

Tasty, teeny sunflower seeds. The kid and baseball fan’s favorite snack. There’s just something entertaining about stuffing your mouth full of those delicious morsels and spending hours trying to de-shell them. Talk about working for your food! But what a scrumptious reward once you dig the meat out of the shells with your teeth and get to crunch into those tasty kernels. Maybe you occasionally indulge in this snacking pleasure. Or you might even go crazy every so often and add sunflower seeds to a salad… but that’s pretty much as exciting as it gets culinary wise for sunflower seeds. Right? 

Heck no! Those wee kernels that pack a flavor punch deserve better than just to be used as a salad topper or a once-in-a-very-great-while snack. Sunflower seeds are chock full of unsaturated fats, fiber, minerals and vitamins. Here are four ways to incorporate nutrient-rich sunflower seeds into your regular dishes.

It's happened to me. I caught the bug. Several of my friends have, too. Once you've been infected, you're never the same. It usually strikes the first time you get a stamp in your passport. Life as you know it is never the same. It goes by many names but I call it, simply, the travel bug. International travel exposes you to new tastes, sounds, smells and sights that can make you feel more alive than ever before.