Stacey Snacks

King Arthur Flour's Original Cake Pan Cake

2012-05-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

I have always wanted to make this funny sounding recipe. You assemble all the ingredients in a cake pan. No bowls to clean and you use what you have on hand. The original recipe is also known as a "depression cake", made during the depression era, using no eggs, just water and cocoa and some coffee if you were lucky. I have seen it made all different ways, one blogger using beer and cinnamon

Delicious Dinner: Chicken Provencal w/ Orange Zest Gremolata

2012-05-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

This is one of those dishes that requires crusty bread to mop up the sauce. It is originally from Cook's Illustrated, but since they don't publish their recipes on the web, and I don't subscribe to the magazine, I took it from Angela's Food Love, who made it her own by making an orange zest gremolata instead of lemon and adding some of her own flair to the recipe. Therefore, I am calling it

Meatless Monday: Chickpea Fritters

2012-05-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Another vegetarian recipe from that gorgeous book Tender A Cook & His Vegetable Patch. Every recipe draws me in, only because of Nigel's writing. In this recipe he tells us to "flip the patties over confidently, but tenderly". I can be seduced by veggies. I am usually fritter challenged, they always seem to break apart and never really bind for me, but this recipe came out perfectly

Antique Collecting Series #2 Tea Caddies

2012-05-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

It's Friday, let's talk antiques. One of my first obsessions with antiques was collecting tea caddies. The tea caddy played an important role in British households back in the 18th and 19th centuries. Tea was imported from China to England in the 1600's for it's medicinal as well as pleasurable uses. It became as expensive and as rare as opium! Well-to-do households back then, kept their

Martha Stewart's Chicken & Spinach Bake

2012-05-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

I doubt Ms. Stewart is making this "casserole" anytime soon, but one of her cronies made it up in their recipe test kitchen, and I am glad they did! It was SO GOOD. Since I have all this fresh beautiful leafy spinach from my garden and had leftover roast chicken from the night before, I googled chicken with spinach recipes, and this is what came up. How much spinach salad can one person eat

Militant Community Garden: Harvest #2

2012-05-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

Look at me! I am actually becoming a farmer! (highly doubtful, can I garden in Louboutins?). We harvested a huge bunch of beautiful spinach (stay tuned for spinach recipes, people). I love spinach, and find it difficult to find lately. Every market now sells "baby spinach", which to me, has no flavor and does not have that thick hearty leaf that can stand up to a hot bacon dressing! ....

Little Flourless Chocolate Orange Sunken Cakes

2012-05-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

Who doesn't love a warm gooey chocolate cake after dinner? These were so simple. The orange zest and almond meal make these cakes better than the usual flourless chocolate treat....and they are cupcakes. Win win. The only pain for me was beating the egg whites to form stiff peaks, not my favorite task. I rarely take out the mixer, so it got its yearly use. I substituted a cup of Trader

My Garden Salad: Arugula & Asparagus

2012-05-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

There is nothing more disappointing than ordering a meal that comes w/ a "garden salad". Sorry, but a garden salad usually means: iceberg lettuce with unripe tomatoes, cucumbers, some red onion and a gross dressing. Skip it. But while reading the Sunday NY Times this weekend, David Tanis talked about a spring romance with a garden salad, and not the freebie kind that comes with the entree,

Antique Collecting Series #1 Stoneware

2012-05-11T07:00:00.004-04:00

I am going to have a new section on my site on Fridays once in a while, if anyone is interested. It will be about antique collecting and their values. Since I am an antiques dealer and appraiser by profession first, I receive many emails from readers asking me questions about their lamps, jewelry, dishes, etc. I thought it would be fun to share some of my collections on the blog on a day

Egg Salad & Asparagus Tartines

2012-05-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

I am obsessed with egg salad. I love it so, especially with a tablespoon of pickle relish. Yum. Here, I used some asapragus stalks and chives from my garden to make a crunchy springtime version. You've seen these here before with smoked salmon. Either or, it's your call. Perfect appetizer for your Mother's Day brunch. Egg Salad w/ Asparagus Tartines: (makes 8 tartines) 4 large eggs,

Chicken Balsamico on Angel Hair w/ Spinach & Tomatoes

2012-05-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

File this under delicious dinners. It is my basic chicken balsamico recipe, but taken to a new level served over a bed of angel hair, mixed w/ spinach, garlic and tomatoes. Sprinkled w/ basil leaves and Parmigiano Reggiano. I used yellow cherry tomatoes (because I had them), but I would recommend a small can of diced tomatoes next time, for a juicier sauce. My friend Sarah told me about

Cake au Fromage et Pruneaux

2012-05-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

You know how much I love these French savory cakes. In the UK and France these are called "cakes", however, here in the U.S. we would call this type of savory treat a "quick bread". There is no sugar in the batter, the sweetness comes only from the prunes. This reminded me of the fig, bacon & chervil cake that I made a while back. This recipe translates to a Goat Cheese, Prune & Pistachio

Baked Pearl Couscous w/ Spinach & Artichokes

2012-05-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

It's Meatless Monday. Yay. This dish is wonderful. Easy. Wonderful. You have everything in the house I am sure, so try it. Did you know that couscous, the small variety and the pearl Israeli variety is PASTA? It is not a grain, like some people may think. Since this is pasta, it is a main dish in my world, but feel free to serve it along side fish or chicken. Mediterranean Baked

All Aboard! Box Car Bar & Grill

2012-05-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

I am very excited. A place close to my home has opened where I can actually have an interesting cocktail (Bee's Knees!) and a great burger and salad in a beautiful setting, in a real live train station. Box Car Bar & Grill opened last week inside the Short Hills, NJ train station! By day, the big room with old oak benches is for commuters on their way to the city. But when the sun goes

Weekly Garden Update

2012-05-04T07:00:00.001-04:00

Militant Community Garden Update: We had our first harvest yesterday! We had all these lovely French breakfast radishes! The only thing to do with them was to swipe toasted bread with Irish butter and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt and call it a day. (I also stuck them in Bloody Mary's). It looks like next week we will have a bumper crop of spinach and maybe some onions! and the good

Chickpea & Asparagus Salad

2012-05-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

Since I was only able to harvest 9 skinny stalks of asparagus this season (the fact that we had no rain in March or April didn't help my garden at all), I made a simple salad with a lovely can of chickpeas. I had some basil pesto in the freezer from my summer harvest last year and tossed the pesto with the rinsed garbanzos and the fresh asparagus (which I sauteed in a little olive oil).

Orange Chocolate Bundt Cake

2012-05-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

Have I not learned anything? 4 years ago when I started this food blog, I claimed I did not like to bake, and that I was lousy at it. Well, things have changed. Practice makes perfect, and if I stuck to simple recipes with easy methods I would be fine. Cakes were always sticking to the pans and I never had the patience to wait until they cooled completely to frost them or bite into them. A

Puff the Magic Onion Tart

2012-05-01T07:00:00.004-04:00

Ok, so you know when I post one of those ridiculous recipes that I label 5 star and love so much and can't stop talking about? Well this is one of them. It's from the November issue of Saveur with all the onion recipes and I've been staring at it ever since. It's not really a tart. It is a big ass popover or Yorkshire pudding. You preheat the pan with bacon fat then quickly pour the pancake

Meatless Monday: Linguine w/ Lentils & Lemon

2012-04-30T07:00:00.003-04:00

This easy weeknight recipe was so delicious, I can't wait to make it again. You can throw it together in no time and the lentils make it hearty enough that you won't miss the meat. The lemon and the creme fraiche works beautifully together with the earthy lentils, giving this a nice tang. The recipe calls for a pound of pasta, but I cut the recipe in half to serve 2-4 people generously.

Special Places: The Able Baker

2012-04-27T07:00:00.017-04:00

I don't usually go crazy for bakeries. Everything seems to be an overly sweet jelly donut or a stale chocolate layer cake (I will make an exception for the legendary Philly Fluff Cake from Natale's Bakery in Summit, NJ). If you are a reader here, you know I am not a fondant or an icing girl, but a simple loaf or crumb cake addict (carrot cake being the only cake with icing that I love).

What's for Lunch? Asparagus Avocado Tartines

2012-04-26T07:00:00.010-04:00

I loved this idea from 101 Cookbooks. I usually have a slice of toast w/ a schmear of avocado for breakfast, so why not have little mini tartines for lunch and share? The more the merrier. A tartine is just a fancy French word for an open faced sandwich. This was perfect to make with my home grown asparagus, since I don't have many to spare yet. I cut a few asparagus spears in half and

Gwynnie's Beet Carpaccio w/ Marinated Bean Salad

2012-04-25T07:00:00.011-04:00

Why do I constantly make fun of Gwyneth Paltrow? I can't help myself. She annoys me. Not only does she cook very well, and is beautiful, she just won best dressed at the Oscars. She has a website called GOOP, about fashion, food, trends, jewelry, and whatever else is perfect in her life. There's got to be something wrong with her. I have decided, I can't stand her. But I will

Eat This Salmon. Lose 5 lbs.

2012-04-24T07:00:00.012-04:00

Did I tell you my 30 year high school reunion is coming up? Well, now you have figured out my age. I would like to lose a solid 6 lbs. before the big event. I really need to get serious and stop eating cheese at 11 pm; drinking more than 2 cocktails on weekends, and basically, stop baking all together. Maybe I should just quit the food blogging business for a while. Is this a business?

Lard Bread w/ Pancetta & Onions

2012-04-23T07:00:00.005-04:00

What is lard bread, you ask? It's this wonderful bread made with pork drippings and only freaking fantastic!!!!! I used to buy this old school Italian loaf in a Soho bakery years ago, that is no longer in business. They probably died from eating too much lard. It was the BEST loaf of bread ever, loaded with pancetta and some of the salty fat. Ah, organic and healthy. Jim Lahey has a

Coney Island Bites

2012-04-20T07:00:00.018-04:00

Even though my family is from Brooklyn all the way back to the early 1900's, I confess, I had never been to Coney Island before. Back in the day, my father's family had a summer bungalow here, when people had summer bungalows here and the famous steeplechase was the main attraction. The people that frequent Coney Island today have no interest in bungalows, trust me, and the steeplechase is