Grilled Watermelon Salad with Goat Cheese and Crispy Pancetta Serves 4 3 lb. chunk of ripe watermelon, sliced into 8 triangles, about 1 to 1 ½ inches thick each. Cut away the rind from each slice. – $3.11 4 oz. log goat cheese, crumbled, either a French Chevre or Montrachet – $3.99 3 oz. thinly sliced[…]
Tomato and Avocado Salad with Mango, Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Olives
Tomato and Avocado Salad with Mango, Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Olives Serves 2-3 as a side salad Ingredients for the Salad: 1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced into halves – $1.50 ½ a ripe mango, cut into chunks – $2.50 ½ a ripe avocado, cut into chunks – $1.50 ¼ cup of crumbled blue cheese –[…]
Chorizo and Shredded Chicken Soup
Chorizo and Shredded Chicken Soup Serves 8 to 10 Ingredients: 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts – $3.99 1 lb. Mexican Chorizo sausage, cut into ½” thick rounds – $8.49 1 medium sweet potato, about 2/3 lb. – $0.89 3 Tablespoons olive oil – stock 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped – $0.99 ½[…]
Hot Crab Dip with Old Bay Seasoning
Hot Crab Dip with Old Bay Seasoning Serves 10 Ingredients: 8 oz. whipped cream cheese, softened – $2.19 3 scallions (about ¼ cup), chopped fine – $0.99 ½ of a red bell pepper (2/3 cup) , chopped – $1.07 a heaping ½ cup grated Monterey Jack cheese – $1.09 ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese –[…]
Orange-Juice-Glazed Acorn Squash with Cinnamon & Sea Salt
Orange-Juice Glazed Acorn Squash with Cinnamon & Sea Salt Serves 4 Ingredients: 2 acorn squash, halved and seeded – $3.87 1 cup orange juice – stock ¼-cup Demerara or Turbinado sugar (a large-crystal raw sugar, worth having a bag for dusting the top of baked goods with a crunchy caramel flavor) – $3.49 ½-teaspoon ground[…]
Leek and Apple Soup with St Andre and Sweet Potato
Mary Anne here. We really are cooking in these parts, although you’d never know it by the pitifully few posts making it to our beloved blog. It seems that I’m long on inspiration but short on time when it comes to formally writing my latest creations. Hurricanes and snow storms only serve to slow my[…]
Pumpkin Risotto with Crispy Prosciutto
Mariel here. This past Saturday, my husband and I traipsed on up to The Country with another friends-with-kids couple to go pumpkin picking. Somehow, despite the fact that our child is more petite than your average gourd and would rather swat at the stuffed birds in his “activity gym” than ogle real ones, we were[…]
Empanadas Stuffed with Lamb, Sweet Potatoes, and Montrachet
Mary Anne here. These were created in the heat of July, when Mariel still had the glazed look of a zombie, and Lil Man was on a feeding frenzy 18 hours out of 24. In need of quick meals that could be delivered as fast as take-out, I conjured up these “emapanadas,” which more than[…]
Cool Green Bean Salad with Smoked Gouda and Crisp Apples
Mary Anne here. As I write this post, my most beautiful and cherished grandson is exactly 5 weeks old today, and I am The.Happiest. Nana. Ever. As a doting Nana, these past weeks have blown by in a whirl of cooking, cleaning, soothing, and savoring every delicious moment whilst tending to my exhausted daughter as[…]
Meyer Lemon Pasta with Fresh Herbs, Shallots and Toasted Walnuts
Mariel here. I’m a creature of habit. I wake up at the same time everyday – 7:45 – whether it’s a weekend or a weekday; I always kick-start the morning with a big bowl of berries and cereal; and the Today Show eases me into my routine before hitting the road for a run with[…]
Chile Con Queso aka Tex-Mex Style Nacho Cheese Dip
Mary Anne here. Super Bowl Sunday is upon us, and this year I may actually watch the game as my New York Giants tackle the New England Patriots! Usually it’s all about the grub…and the commercials. My cheering section of the Ellicott-Rittenhouse team plans to keep up our spirits no matter what happens on the[…]
Crab Stuffed Ravioli with a Duxelle of Mushrooms, Shallots, Red Peppers, and Pistachios
Crab Stuffed Ravioli with a Duxelle of Mushrooms, Shallots, Red Pepper, and Pistachios Serves 4 Tip: Uncooked ravioli can be prepared the day before. Keep in the fridge, in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Cover carefully with plastic wrap. If planning ahead and freezing all or part of the[…]
Apple and Potato Soup with Brie and Glazed Pecans
Mary Anne here. The inspiration for this soup actually came to me in October when the hospital where I work ladled up a delicious blend of apples and fennel for “Food Day.” I wanted to recreate it precisely, but since fennel can be pricey in these parts, I opted to divine the soup with a[…]
Spiced Cheddar Cheese Twists
Spiced Cheddar Cheese Twists Makes about 3 ½ dozen Note: You can see in the photo some of these are twists while others were fashioned as the straw variety. I was simply playing with length, width and shape and found that a 6 or 7-inch long straw works best as the longer ones tend to[…]
Montrachet and Walnut Quesadillas with Apple, Fig, and Date Salsa
Mary Anne here. At Feast on the Cheap, we’ve written our fair share about enjoying breakfast for dinner. And Mariel realized recently that when I broke out the pancake batter for our night-time repast when she was just a little girl, it was more an act of…ummm…laziness, rather than altruistic, motherly benevolence. Busted by my brood,[…]
Beggar’s Salad with Raspberries, Prosciutto, Chevre and a Chunky Almond Vinaigrette
Mary Anne here. I realize that given the ingredient list, the name for my salad is a bit of an oxymoron, since it’s certainly one of the most elegant combinations I’ve ever tossed into a bowl. But in my opinion, it’s a beggar’s salad because it was inspired by a bounty of fresh greens that[…]
Open-Faced Peach & Prosciutto Sandwiches with Brie & Arugula
Mary Anne here. As I cruised my grocer’s aisles this past weekend, the plump, softly furred peaches captured my imagination. I wanted peaches, and I wanted them right then and there – even in their unripened form. Given their immature state, I began daydreaming this “cooked salad” on bread and the following ingredients somehow landed[…]
A Boatload of New England Clam Chowder
Mary Anne here. Writing this recipe tonight reminds me of the old expression “Mad dogs and Englishmen” as it’s probably a bit insane whipping up my lazy man’s chowder amidst an early June heat wave. But I do love chowder and since summer just seems to scream for clams, I’ve dutifully transcribed my favorite rendition in[…]
Spicy Cheddar and Chutney Palmiers
Mary Anne here. It would seem that I’m on a puff-pastry binge these days, but I’ve got a pretty good excuse. Mariel and I are busy with a flurry of catering activity, whether it’s dishing up cocktail fare or composing menus for clients for everything from buffet dinners to week-long private chef requests. No wonder[…]
Roasted Beets, Toasted Walnuts and Fresh Mint Drizzled with an Orange-Balsamic Syrup
Mariel here. A few weeks ago on our Facebook page, I posted some pictures from our inaugural installment of Cookbook Club, which was hosted by a friend of mine who also happens to be the taste-test editor at Epicurious. For our very first gathering, we plucked recipes from Rozanne Gold‘s Radically Simple, which combines intensely-flavored[…]