Happy Spoons.

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!

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!

Creepster Spoon likes Eat-Your-Leftovers Ravioli…a little too much.*  Also, the Spoons adopted a new pet, Pastasaurus!

Recipe:

• You will need a ravioli cutter, or something to cut the raviolis out of the dough

• One recipe of my Homemade Pasta Noodles (click for recipe), but instead of cutting into noodles just keep as sheets of dough
  
• 2 cups ground food for filling…anything you want!  For this particular recipe I ground up some leftover vegetable salad I got from a restaurant (zucchini/mushrooms/spinach with lemon aioili) and some leftover chicken kabobs.  In the past I ground up Thanksgiving leftovers (turkey breast, cornbread stuffing, and yams)…just dump it all into a food processor until ground!  You’ll want whatever you use to be cooked.

Sauce

• olive oil
• minced garlic
• garlic powder, to taste
• dried thyme leaves
• dried basil leaves
• dried rosemary
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

• Make the pasta dough, and roll it into sheets (~4 in wide)
• Scoop about 1 Tbsp size blobs of filling along the dough strip near the edge, about 2 inches or so apart
• Using a brush, wet the dough around each blob
• Fold the dough in half lengthwise over the filling blobs, pressing firmly around each blob to seal the dough together
• Using the ravioli cutter, cut in between each blob and along the edge, so that they look like the picture above.  You can leave them on a clean, floured towel.
• To cook, boil some water and toss the raviolis in for ~ 7 min, until pasta seems to be cooked…they’ll get bigger and puffier, and they float quite a bit so you might want to push them down while they cook so they cook evenly instead of sticking up above the water.
• Strain the pasta and put in a large bowl.
• Coat with olive oil and the breadcrumbs, garlic, and herbs.  If desired, top with cheese before serving.  As an alternative, you can use store bought pesto or some other pasta sauce, but I like a light coating so I can taste the fresh pasta and filling.

Fun Fact: Raviolis are a great way to eat unexciting leftovers!

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Creepster Spoon likes Roasted Acorn Squash with Spiced Couscous…a little too much.

Recipe (altered from a recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website):

• 2 acorn squash, halved and seeds removed
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup couscous
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3 Tbsp walnuts, crushed
• 2 Tbsp dried dates, finely chopped
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 golden delicious apple, cored and chopped

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Brush the squash halves with the olive oil and season with the salt and pepper.
• Places the squash halves on a baking sheet, cut side down.  Roast for about 20 min, until a knife easily pierces the squash.
• In a saucepan, boil the vegetable broth.
• Stir in the couscous, cinnamon, ginger, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper to taste.
• Cover and set aside.  Stir in the almonds, currants, green onions, and apple into the couscous.
• Spoon the couscous mixture in the roasted squash halves, mounding generously.  ;-)
• Serve hot!

Fun Fact: We used this as an entree for a vegetarian Thanksgiving dish.  It went well with a side of my Dairy-Free Green Bean Casserole!

Creepster Spoon likes Maple Pumpkin Tart…a little too much.

Recipe (featured in Taste of Home magazine):

Crust

• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.75 sticks unsalted butter (14 Tbsp), cold and cut into cubes
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 Tbsp ice water

Filling

• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (I went dairy-free and substituted 1/4 cup pureed silken tofu)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 2.25 cups breadcrumbs (plain)…supposed to be fresh bread crumbs from white bread, but I used the kind that come in a can instead
• Cool Whip! (optional)

Directions:

Crust

• In a food processor, mix flour, sugar, and salt until combined.
• Add butter cubes and pulse until the mixture is course and mixed well.
• Add egg yolk and mix.
• While mixing, add cold water and pulse until it turns into a squishy dough ball.
• Remove from food processor and form into a flat disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 h.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a ~14-in circle.  The dough is quite sticky so be generous with sprinkling flour on it and the rolling pin.
• Roll up the dough around the rolling pin and roll out onto an 11-in tart pan.  Lightly press into the pan and trim off excess crust around the edges.
• Prick all over the bottom of the crust with a fork.
• Place parchment paper over the crust and fill with pie weights or dry beans (I used rice).  This prevents the crust from poofing up.
• Bake for 20 min, then remove parchment paper and weights.  Bake for 8-10 more minutes, until golden brown and flaky.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Filling

• In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, maple syrup, eggs, cream (or tofu puree), salt, pumpkin, and lemon peel.
• Fold in breadcrumbs and pour into tart shell (mine wasn’t very liquidy, so it was more of a scooping rather than a pouring…).
• Bake for 40-45 min, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool on a wire rack for ~30 min, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 h.
• Serve with Cool Whip on top!

Fun Fact: MAPLE SYRUP!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Creepster Spoon likes Pumpkin Trifle…a little too much.

Recipe (altered from a Taste of Home recipe):

• 1 package spice cake mix
• 1.25 cups water
• 1 egg
• 4 cups cold milk (I used soy milk)
• 7 oz. butterscotch instant pudding mix (I think you’re actually supposed to use 14 oz, which is 4 packages of pudding mix…I think the Taste of Home recipe has a typo)
• 15 oz can of solid pack pumpkin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 12 oz Cool Whip

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Cake: In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, water, and egg.  Beat on low for 30 seconds then on medium for 2 minutes.  Pour into an ungreased 8-in square baking pan.
• Bake for 35-40 min, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 min in the pan, then remove onto a wire rack.  Cool completely and then crumble the entire cake.
• Pumpkin Pudding: In a large bowl, whisk soy milk and pudding mix for 2 min or until thickened.  Stir in pumpkin and spices until well blended.  I ended up putting the pudding in the freezer for ~45 min to help it thicken (the soy milk ended up preventing the pudding from thickening properly, but in the end it was fine and mighty tasty!).
• Layer the Trifle: In a trifle bowl (pictured), layer cake crumbs, pudding, then more cake crumbs.  Top with a healthy serving of Cool Whip.  Repeat!  In the picture, I wasn’t yet finished layering.  I added a top layer of Cool Whip followed by decorative cake crumbs and chocolate sprinkles to really spruce it up.
• Cool in the fridge for about 1-2 hours (I chilled it overnight).

Fun Fact: Thanksgiving is a great time to inflict your pumpkin obsession problems onto others without anyone being too suspicious that you have a problem.

Creepster Spoon likes Mexican-Style Loaded Baked Potatoes…a little too much.*

Recipe (adjust amounts to personal taste and number of potato-eaters):

• russet potatoes, washed and scrubbed
• olive oil to coat the potatoes
• salt, to taste
• soyrizo (or chorizo, your call)
• avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
• roma tomato, cubed
• green onions, sliced into little bits
• sour cream
• cheese shreds (I use cheddar rice cheese or cotija cheese)
• hot sauce (Tapatio is my hot sauce of choice, ole!)

Directions:

• Scrub the potatoes under running water so they are nice and clean!
• Fork those taters! (poke holes in them with a fork)
• Coat the potatoes in olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
• Bake at 350 °F for 1 hour, placing directly on the rack in the middle of the oven.
• Cut open your potato, and add all of the toppings at will.  Don’t be shy!  Eat it; it’s so delicious!

Fun Fact: The more toppings you pile onto your potato, the more delicious it will become.  The more the merrier!

*Happy Spoons original recipe!

Creepster Spoon likes Trail Mix Muffins…a little too much.*

Recipe (makes 12 standard-sized muffins):

• 2.25 cups flour
• 1 cup granola (I used cherry vanilla granola from Sprouts)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups trail mix of your choice (I used some trail mix I bought at Sprouts, it had dried tropical fruit pieces, various nuts, and sunflower seeds)

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, granola, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
• Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until moistened.
• Fold the trail mix into the mixture.
• Pour the muffin batter evenly into the 12 muffin cups (I grease mine with PAM baking spray…amazing!  Alternatively, use muffin papers).
• Bake at 375 °F for 15-18 min, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin.
• Cool the muffins for 5 min, then transfer to wire racks to cool.  Serve warm with butter for spreadin’!

Fun Fact: These muffins taste extra great if you don’t leave them in the oven 30 minutes too long.

*Happy Spoons original recipe!