This time of year, our lunches can start to feel a lot like the weather outside – gloomy. Especially when we're eating them under fluorescent lights. Lately, we've been tossing a lemon into our lunch bag, and it's helped to brighten up our meals.

It's an exciting time for independent food artisans in Chicago, with lots of interest and support surrounding their unique products. One store that has long supported these entrepreneurs is Provenance Food and Wine. It's our favorite place to shop for the newest and tastiest products in Chicago.

Are you planning a Memorial Day picnic or barbecue? We are big fans of food served in jars (they are so handy and convenient when toting a picnic out to the park) so we love the salad-in-a-jar serving idea. And the best part is that it can be done with just about any recipe. Here are a few suggestions.

Are you feeling the heat yet? It's not even June, and we are in desperate need of a cool, refreshing drink. Strawberry sangria is light, sweet and usually effervescent – exactly what we want to sip on right now.

We're big fans of the show LOST, so of course we'll be tuning in for the finale extravaganza this Sunday. And, of course, that means some appropriately LOST-themed snacks. Our Smoke Monster Popcorn is an homage to that mysterious, evil force we've learned so much about recently. Does it look like it's just popcorn covered in black pepper? Trust us, it's not. Read on – the secrets of our recipe will be revealed.

Warning: The following may contain spoilers from previously aired episodes.

Earlier today, we showed you our popcorn interpretation of the LOST smoke monster. It makes use of several dark-colored spices, including one that was new to us: loomi, sometimes called black lemon or black lime. It's indeed made from limes and it packs quite a sour punch.

We get a lot of recipe inspiration from restaurant dishes. One recent meal inspired not only a recipe, but a serving idea, as well. We tried a trio of dips at Chickpea, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Chicago, and the one that really got our attention was a zucchini, mint and yogurt spread called Koosa ma Laban. But we were also quite taken with all the wonderful colors in the restaurant's decor and serving plates.

Do you have a bake sale coming up this spring or summer? Maybe you have a favorite recipe that always flies off the table? We put together our first bake sale last year and were a little surprised by some of the best sellers. We've got some tips and recipes below to help make your bake sale a success.

We've had a string of cold and rainy spring days, so we're craving something warm and comforting, yet still seasonal. Enter rapini – the bitter greens are a perfect match for white beans a little pasta in a dish that's not the most beautiful, but is quite delicious.

Now that we've shown you our favorite way to make scrambled eggs, lets talk about all the stuff you can add to put them over the top.