Happy Spoons.

Surprise Spoon likes to surprise you with Spicy Pizza Buns.*

Recipe:

• Hot dog buns, split in half lengthwise
• Ranch dressing
• Hot sauce (I used Scotty B’s Sweet Bacon Jalapeno sauce)
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic per bun ( I don’t mess around)
• Mozzarella cheese (or I used fake mozzarella)
• 3 pepperonis per bun
• dried basil flakes
• crushed red pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to ~425 F (if your oven isn’t hot enough the buns will get soggy instead of delicious and crispy)
• Mix about a 1:1 ratio of ranch to hot sauce in a small bowl, spread generously on top of each bun
• Spread minced garlic on each bun over the sauce
• Sprinkle a healthy serving of shredded mozzarella cheese over each bun
• Add 3 pepperonis to each bun (as pictured)
• Sprinkle with basil flakes and red chili flakes, as desired
• Bake for ~10-15 min until cheese is melted and buns and crisp.  Watch closely to avoid burning.
• Serve hot…delish!

Fun Fact: A great way to use up those awkward leftover hot dog buns that didn’t match up with your uneven amount of hot dogs!

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Happy Spoon likes to celebrate Presidents’ Day by making Corn Dodgers.

Recipe (featured on GroupRecipes.com):

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• butter, for serving
• honey, for serving

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• In a small saucepan, bring cornmeal, butter, salt, sugar, and milk to a boil, stirring well.
• Cover with a lid, turn off heat, and let sit for 5 min.
• Mix in baking powder thoroughly.
• On a greased or non-stick baking sheet, scoop the dough into Tablespoon sized balls.
• Bake in the oven for 15 min, until golden brown around the edges.
• Cut in half and serve hot with butter and honey…yum!

Fun Fact: Corn dodgers are one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite foods…feeling presidential yet?

Creepster Spoon likes to celebrate Mardi Gras with Creole Shrimp and “Grits”…a little too much.  Oh, and Mardi Gras Champagne Cocktails!

Recipe (featured on MyRecipes.com):

Creole Shrimp

• 2 lb unpeeled, medium-size shrimp (I bought deveined shrimp)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.5 tsp Creole seasoning (I made my own, recipe below!)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

“Grits”

• 2.5 cups milk (I used rice milk)
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups cornmeal (I used cornmeal instead of quick-cooking grits…because I live in Southern California)

Creole Seasoning (featured on AllRecipes.com)

• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 5 tsp paprika
• 3 tsp salt

Directions:

Creole Seasoning

• Mix all of the ingredients together.  Store leftovers in an airtight container like a spice jar.

Shrimp

• Peel shrimp, saving the shells to make a broth.  If you didn’t buy deveined shrimp, you should devein them yourself.  Gross.
• Broth: Bring shrimp shells and 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 min.  Pour broth through a colander and into a bowl to remove shells.  Discard shells.
• Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir in the flour and cook, with constant stirring, until the flour becomes caramel colored (takes about 10 min).
• Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, cooking with frequent stirring for about 7 min or until the vegetables are tender.
• Stir in 2 cups of the shrimp broth you made, the tomato paste, bay leaves, Creole seasoning, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce.
• Reduce heat to low and cook for ~30-45 min, stirring occasionally.  It will turn into a thick sort of paste; don’t let it burn.
• Add shrimp and add about 1/4-1/2 cup of the remaining shrimp broth until the sauce reaches a more saucy consistency.  Cook the shrimp about 10 min until they are nice and pink!

“Grits”

• Bring milk, 2.5 cups water, and salt to a boil in a saucepan.  Gradually stir in the cornmeal.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer with occasional stirring for 10 min or until thickened.
• Spoon shrimp/sauce mixture over the “grits”, and serve hot with a Mardi Gras Champagne Cocktail (recipe below)!

Fun Fact: If you make this, you can tell your friends you are a fancy French cook.  Browning flour in oil is a technique called making a “roux”, which is fancy and French.

Mardi Gras Champagne Cocktails (featured on Epicurious.com): 1 oz Southern Comfort (a New Orleans original!), 4 oz champagne, and a dash of Angostura bitters.  Drink up!

Creepster Spoon likes Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Brown-Butter Vanilla Bean Glaze…a little too much.

Recipe:

Cake (featured on Food.com)

• 1.25 cups olive oil
• 1 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk and added a Tbsp of white vinegar, letting it sit for 10 min…BOOM!)
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp red food coloring (I use the gel food coloring)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour (do not use other types of flour!)
• 1.75 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 Tbsp cocoa powder

Glaze (featured on A Farmgirl’s Dabbles)

• 3 Tbsp Half & Half
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 vanilla bean (cut lengthwise and seeds scraped out)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 F; grease and flour a bundt cake pan (I use PAM baking spray, which has flour in it, bitches!)
• In a large bowl, combine oil, “buttermilk”, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.  Beat together on medium until mixed thoroughly.
• In another large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder until mixed homogeneously
• Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing throughout.  Beat until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the bundt cake pan.
• Make sure you lick the beaters and the spatula you used to scrape the batter into the pan.  YUM.  Imagine what’s to come.
• Put the pan in the oven, baking ~50 min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  For me, it took 55 min.
• Keeping it in the pan, cool on a wire rack for 30 min.  Remove from pan onto its final resting place.  Meanwhile, prepare the frosting.

Glaze

• Pour the Half & Half into a small bowl and let warm slightly.  You don’t want chilly Half & Half or the frosting won’t drizzle…fo shizzle.
• In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the vanilla bean seeds.  I just scraped the seeds directly into the powdered sugar to avoid losing them.  Rather than sifting, I just use a whisk to mix everything around.
• In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the butter until golden brown.  DO NOT BURN THE BUTTER.  It takes about 6-8 minutes, so I recommend setting a timer.  I use a wooden spoon, and stir constantly to avoid burning.  The butter will eventually look clear, then it will eventually start to brown.  It will feel like it’s taking forever, but be patient!  Do NOT turn up the heat.  If it starts boiling too much, turn down the heat slightly.  As soon as it’s nice and golden, remove from the heat IMMEDIATELY!
• Pour the browned butter into the powdered sugar, leaving the brown residue behind in the pan.
• To the powdered sugar, add 2 Tbsp of the Half & Half and the vanilla extract, stirring vigorously until smooth.
• Add the remaining Half & Half, stirring vigorously until smooth.
• QUICKLY take the finished glaze and drizzle it all over the cake at will.  It sets quickly, so you must do it as quickly as you can.
• Let cool completely, then slice and serve!  Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Fun Fact: Not all red velvet cakes need cream cheese frosting…OH MY GOD THIS FROSTING IS SO DELICIOUS!

Surprise Spoon likes to surprise you with Pepperoni Pizza Turnovers.*

Recipe:

• 1 can (8 rolls) of crescent roll dough (I use the reduced fat kind)
• 8 Tbsp pizza sauce, plus more for dipping
• 16 Tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese (or fake mozzarella…I used the one pictured by Pantry Essentials, and it was fantastic!)
• 24 small pepperonis

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 F
• Unroll the dough, pressing together the perforations of two triangles to form 4 separate rectangles.  Cut each rectangle in half to end up with 8 squares, as pictured (I use a pizza cutter)
• On half the square, plop 1 Tbsp pizza sauce, 2 Tbsp of mozzarella, and 3 pepperonis
• Fold the dough over the ingredients to form a triangle.  Try your best to seal them by pressing the edges together, but the sauce and stuff may ooze out a little (this is fine, once they bake they stay together by themselves)
• Bake on a cookie sheet for ~20 min.  Watch them closely; they’re done as soon as the dough becomes golden brown.
• Serve hot!  I also serve with extra pizza sauce for dipping.

Fun Fact: I LOVE crescent roll dough…it’s so easy to make so many amazingly delicious things.  Bake ANYTHING inside of crescent roll dough, and it will be good.

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Happy Spoon likes to make Moroccan Baked Salmon.

Recipe (adapted from Zov: Recipes and Memories from the Heart):

• 2 salmon fillets (size as pictured)
• Moroccan spice (can be purchased, but I made my own by mixing the spices below and keeping the extra stored in a spice jar)
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use olive oil mayo)

Moroccan Spice (recipe featured on Food.com)

• 5 tsp ground nutmeg
• 5 tsp ground cumin
• 5 tsp ground coriander
• 2.5 tsp allspice
• 2.5 tsp ground ginger
• 1.25 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1.25 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Turn the broiler onto high
• Take the salmon fillets and rub the Moroccan spice into the exposed surfaces to coat entirely.  Let sit for 30 min.
• Meanwhile, mix the onion and mayo in a small bowl; set aside.
• Place the fillets on a foil-covered baking sheet, skin side down
• Broil the salmon for 5-6 min, then remove.  Scoop the mayo/onion mixture into a thick layer on top of each salmon fillet.
• Return to the broiler for 2 min more.
• Remove from the broiler, and serve hot!

Fun Facts: Salmon goes great as an entree to follow up an appetizer of tasty Crab Cakes.  Also, mayo/onion sauce might sound gross, but it’s actually delicious!

Happy Spoon likes to make Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade Sauce.*

Recipe:

• 2 crab cakes (I bought two fresh crab cakes from a seafood market)
• olive oil, for pan frying

Sauce (confession: I didn’t actually measure anything, I just added stuff.  These measurements are approximate and can be adjusted to personal taste.)

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use olive oil mayo…healthier!)
• 1 Tbsp freeze-dried chives (found by the herbs and spices)
• 2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat
• Pan fry the crab cakes for 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown
• Remove from oil and place on paper towels
• For the sauce, mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly
• Serve crab cakes hot with a dollop of sauce on top; remaining sauce can be served on the side.

Fun Fact: The fresh, uncooked crab cakes from the market are 100 million times more tasty than frozen crab cakes in the freezer.  I served them as an appetizer with my Moroccan Baked Salmon.

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Surprise Spoon likes to surprise you with Spicy Butternut Thai Green Curry.*

Recipe:

• 2 cups brown rice (or whatever rice you prefer)
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 2 Tbsp green curry paste (in the Asian aisle at most grocery stores…don’t confuse with curry sauce)
• 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into small strips
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled, guts removed, and cubed
• 1 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup coconut cream (usually by the alcohol mixers, commonly used for making pina coladas)
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce (in the Asian aisle of most grocery stores)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 red jalapenos, thinly sliced and stems removed (remove seeds if you desire less spice….wuss!)
  

Directions:

• Cook rice (I use a rice cooker), and prepare the curry while the rice cooks
• Heat the oil in a large wok or sautee pan
• Add the curry paste and stir for 1 min
• Add the chicken and stir-fry over medium heat until just cooked on the outsides
• Add the coconut milk, water, squash, and mushrooms; simmer for 20 min, uncovered
• Add the coconut cream, fish sauce, and brown sugar; stir to combine
• Add the jalapenos (CAUTION: these make it VERY spicy; can be omitted if you want, or only use 1 jalapeno instead of 2)
• Simmer for about 5-10 min more, until the curry is at your desired consistency
• Serve hot, over rice!

Fun Fact: Green curry paste is really easy to find; I like red curry paste more, but for some reason it is more difficult to find in stores.  I modified this Thai curry to include easy to find ingredients, omitting/substituting for more “ethnic”/hard to find ingredients.

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Creepster Spoon likes Dairy-Free Mac ‘n’ Cheese…a little too much.*  Today he got some help from his cousin, Happy Halfcup.

Recipe:

• 1 lb. pasta of your choice (I used fusilli)
• 1 cup Daiya brand pepperjack style shreds
• 1 cup Daiya brand cheddar style shreds
• 1 cup soy milk (I might prefer rice milk, or you can use almond milk, etc)
• 2 Tbsp fake butter spread (I use Earth Balance brand)
• optional: 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• optional: french fried onions for topping
• optional: black pepper for topping

Directions:

• Boil a pot of salted water, and cook the pasta according to the package directions; drain
• Return hot pasta to sauce pan over low heat burner
• Add the cheese shreds, milk product, and butter spread, stirring thoroughly until the cheese has melted
• Stir in bread crumbs.
• Serve hot, topping with fresh ground black pepper and french fried onions, if desired (I desire this!)

Fun Fact: I have experimented so much to find dairy-free mac n cheese that actually tastes good and cheesy …this is it, my friends!!

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Surprise Spoon likes to surprise you with Baked Yams from Heaven.

Recipe (featured in Homestyle Vegetarian):

• 3 yams (aka “orange sweet potatoes”)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes w/juices
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 large zucchini, cubed
• 1 red bell pepper, cubed
• 11 oz can corn kernels, drained
• 14 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 green onion, chopped
• toppings: sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese (I discovered lactose-free sour cream at Sprouts and I used vegan cheddar-flavored cheese shreds)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 415 F.  Rinse the yams and pierce with a sharp knife.  Place on a baking sheet (I put them on top of some foil as well, they get messy!), and bake for 1 to 1.5 h, until soft when tested by stabbing them with a skewer.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium, and cook the onion for 5 min or until soft.
• Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili powder, and cook with stirring for 1 min.
• Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, zucchini, bell pepper, corn, and beans.  Stir well and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 min, partially covered.
• Uncover, increasing the heat slightly, and heat for 10-15 min or until the liquid has reduced and thickened.
• Stir in the green onions just before serving.
• To serve, cut the yams in half lengthwise, then pile the bean mixture on top.  Add a scoop of sour cream and sprinkle with cheese.  Enjoy!

Fun Fact: Lactose-free sour cream exists, apparently.