In the kitchen

{Truly chocolate chocolate cupcakes}

Well, it's no secret. I love chocolate, especially when it's not too sweet. So, imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this amazing recipe for chocolate cupcakes. I guarantee you will stick to this one once and for all. After trying several recipes from several reputable sites, including Martha Stewart's, I have to say, this one is a keeper. I made them twice over the Summer. And I want you to woo your holidays guests with this recipe.  Click below for the amazing simple recipe by Kamran Siddiqi. . Buen provecho!

In the Kitchen: Favorite breakfasts

Some foods are plain delicious. We can't get enough of them, and besides, who says they can't be healthy as well? They get high marks on my chart because they are so easy to put together.  This is what we have been eating for breakfast lately, over and over.  Our top five in the home charts:

1.  Avocado and poached egg buttered toast with sauteed kale.

2.  Belgium waffles with raspberry jam and homemade whipped cream.

3.  English eggs (soft boiled) and buttered toasts (dunking is the best part!)

 4. Cream cheesed toast with strawberry jam, fresh strawberries and bananas. Optional:  maple syrup and powder sugar.

5. Low-fat vanilla yogurt with pumpkin granola and two servings of fruit

In the kitchen: Organic raspberry-yogurt pops

In the kitchen: Greek chicken wraps

I love Greek food, in fact, Mediterranean cuisine is my favorite cuisine. I grew up eating Lebanese food, so the taste of olive, eggplant, yogurt, mint, garlic, and lemon are with me constantly. The other day, I had an abundance of hydroponic Boston lettuce in the fridge, and immediately thought of something Greek, like these chicken wraps. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients

1 package of organic chicken breast tenderloins
3 limes or lemons
2 cups of yogurt
4 cloves of garlic
Greek seasoning (in a container)
1 cup of mint
1/2 cup of diced cucumbers
1 cup of cilantro leaves
1/2 cup of thinly sliced red onion (has to be red)
one package of Boston lettuce (or any other butterhead type lettuce)
salt + pepper to taste
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken: Wash the chicken breasts in the juice of one lime. Take 2 garlic cloves and grate them, instead of chop them. This releases the juice and aroma much faster. Coat the chicken with the grated garlic and season with salt and Greek seasoning for up to one hour. In a skillet, heat up some butter instead of olive oil, which tends to splash everywhere when overheated in a skillet. Place your tenderloins and cook until the edges are white and the center is slightly pink (it means you are done cooking that side). Turn them and finish cooking the other side, about 8-10 minutes).

For the Greek sauce or dressing: In a food processor, place yogurt, olive oil, mint, cucumber, remaining garlic, and the juice of 2 limes, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. You can add more lime if you like it more citrusy. I personally do.

Wrapping: Take one piece of lettuce and layer it with one piece of chicken, a spoonful of onions, cilantro, and Greek sauce and take a bite! The crispy texture of the lettuce with the tangy-minty bite of the dressing paired with the garlic chicken makes this recipe extremely savory. And you can eat the entire badge, since there's no starchy carbohydrates anywhere. It's guilt-free and loaded with flavor.

And if you are still in the mood for more Greek, take a trip down to Santorini.  Liz's images and photos will blow you away.

Food labeling

Let's talk food labeling.  Do you label your jars and containers?  I always did this,  even when it wasn't a trend.  There's something old village-like about food labeling, which makes me want to run a small market of homemade goods.  My current jars need a label makeover.  Now that I've repainted the kitchen in a beachy bright blue, I'm leaning toward chalkboard labels.  But I'm still wide open to other designs.
MY CURRENT JARS:

Browsing through Pinterest, I found inspiration for the new labeling system.  I could go with simple manila cardboard tags tied around with cord (1st image). Or I could also use a printable like this clear decal sticker (2nd image)  It's neat and more modern. But, I also love the rusticness of the Snapple jars labeled with simple off white painter's tape (3rd image).  And lastly, a twist on the chalkboard label: Painted chalkboard.  Find image sources at the bottom of each picture.

INSPIRATION:

Source: storagegeek.tumblr.com

Source: thepaintedhive.blogspot.com

Source:

Source: wisdomofthemoon.blogspot.com

How about you? Are you itching for a mini-makeover in the house? I will be posting my kitchen makeover soon.

In the kitchen (with Instagram)

Today I don't have any recipes to post, but oh boy, aren't these photographs so enticing and brilliant?  The amazing food stylist and world traveler behind them is Marte Marie Forsberg, who runs a blog called  Le voyage creatif.  I recently started following her Instagram feed, and have never been so inspired on the subject of food and travel.  She's currently working on a assignment titled, 60 days of lunch, where she Instagrams snippets of her lunch, and so far she's gone from Milano to a town in Sweden and back to Olso, her howmetown. Her pictures tell a story about her day, her travels and her love of food.  She's like a personal travel guide with an amazing eye for food.   If you don't start following her Instagram, you will be missing on some of the most impressive and artful photographs.

All photos by Marte Marie

Kitchen wishlist

Completely lusting over these kitchen and pantry items from Terrain.

Modern Mug, $24
Botany of Pattern Dish in Sale SHOP House+Home at Terrain, $7.95
Teak Measuring Spoons in House+Home KITCHEN+TABLE Kitchen+Cooking..., $32
Striped Washcloths in Sale SHOP House+Home at Terrain, $14
Meyer Lemon & Lavender Jam in House+Home KITCHEN+TABLE Pantry+Food at..., $10
Mason Jar Pendant, $398
Emerald Swing-Top Canister in House+Home KITCHEN+TABLE Kitchen+Cooking..., $10
Organic Lavender Flowers, $12

Chef Carlos prepares tuna tartare

My cousin Carlos is a self-made chef.  He loves cooking, and giving certain established dishes a funky twist.  On one of the weekends during my vacation, he decided to make tuna tartare with a Caribbean flair, knowing well that I'm a vegetarian, and not knowing that well, that tuna is one of my favorite fish, which I eat sparingly due to its high contamination with mercury, and its recent enviromental unsustainability.    But, I must warn you: I got so caught in the process of taking pictures (rookie me!) during its preparation, and then savoring the final result, that I forgot to take pictures of the served tuna. 

He uses orange juice instead of the traditional lime juice, and adds miso paste in lieu of wasabi. He also prefers celery over scallions, to give it more bite. We spreaded it over toasted casabe chips.  It was heavenly!

In the kitchen

{Spring mix avocado, gorgonzola and fig salad}

These figs are sprouting everywhere on our street. I just noticed it the other day. Then I read somewhere that these particular trees are common in urban DC. So it gave an idea! A delicious dish, refreshing, and light that I can prepare using figs. It's so simple. NO measurements required.

Ingredients

one bag of Spring mix greens
one avocado
a few bits of diced onion
a handful of crumbled gorgonzola
a few bits of pine nuts
a few bits of cilantro leaves, chopped
a handful of dried figs, sliced

For dressing:  Whisk together olive oil and balsamic vinegar at a ratio of 2:1.  Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  If you wish, a squirt of lemon juice gives is a kick. 

Buen provecho!

In the kitchen

{Young carrot, avocado and citrus salad}

Sometimes a good salad is dinner.  This is the case of April Bloomfield's carrot, avocado and orange salad. I've never seen anything so refreshingly delicious.  You bet I will be trying this salad very soon.  Find recipe below.

In the kitchen

{Frittata of rice, baby zucchini and feta cheese}

The frittata is a seasonal favorite of mine.  Fresh eggs, herbs and cheese, and tossed rice or pasta, need I say more?  It's one of those dishes you can make your own, with any favorite vegetable or cheese. For this one the recipe is simple.

+ Photography by Karen Mordechai

Recipe Courtesy Food Styling of Camille Becerra for Sunday Suppers

In the kitchen

{Roasted butternut caprese salad}

This recipe comes to you via The Forest Feast, a yummy food photography tumblr blog by food photographer Erin Gleeson, who moved from NYC to the woods of Northern California in search of seasonal ingredients and an inspired life.

>

In this dish, what you see is what you get.  So go ahead and roast some butternut squash and prepare your  caprese salad as you always do, add some avocado and mix.  Buen provecho!

Farmer's market

We went to the green market last Sunday and brought home some yummy apples, fresh, cage-free brown eggs, some stem flowers, a small Jade plant and the first outside shots taken with my first D-SLR camera.  Have you heard of farm shares?  It's basically a community supported agriculture.  By becoming a member of a farm share, you receive a portion of the farm's season harvest for a fixed price.  It comes in a box delivered to you weekly and it contains seasonal, organic, and fresh items from the farm you pick.  I have been researching this idea, but it turns out that right now we cannot afford to participate in one, so we make weekly trips to Dupont market for a taste of organic and fresh produce.  I'd love to hear more about it, if you or someone you know participates in a farm share.