Captain America's Shield Fruit Pizza

We had a Marvel Movie Marathon all day Saturday complete with three themed meals. I wanted to do fruit pizza in a close approximation of Captain America's famous shield.

Dead on, don't you think :)

Start out by baking a big round cookie. Whatever you like. This is a sugar cookie. You could do chocolate chip or oatmeal or even use pre-made cookie dough. I suggest tracing out the size of the serving dish you want to use on parchment paper and trying to make the cookie fit that.

Your topping. Half cream cheese and half marshmallow creme. Then stir in a few tablespoons of yogurt or sour cream for tanginess. Or it could even be all yogurt if you prefer. A few dashes of vanilla are pretty tasty as well. Just whip softened cream cheese, marshmallow creme and yogurt together until smooth.

Spread that on top of the cookie, leaving some room at the edge.

I wanted to do a star, so I printed one off and cut it out to use as a guide while place the blueberries.

In my head it was all a whole lot neater.

You could use any fruit and any shape or no shape.

Breakfast eaters, assemble!

Black Widow Brownies with Ganache - Jazzing up a box mix.

BlackWidow Brownines - Simple steps for jazzing up a box mix. Behold, my favorite boxed brownie mix:

Ghiradelli Double Chocolate is so delicious. Here's how I make it even better -

I use melted butter instead of the oil called for on the box.

Then I add Saigon Cinnamon, which is stronger than regular cinnamon along with cayene pepper.

A teaspoon of cinnamon  and a 1/4 tsp of cayenne.

Stir it all up. Then it's time to bake.

I like to bake them in muffin pans with liners. You'll see why. I suggest buttering or hitting the liners with cooking spray first, since brownies tend to stick. Only fill the liner about half full. I got 15 out of the box, but it will depend on the size of your pans. Bake according to box directions. Usually about 325. These took about 25 minutes, but it will all depend on your oven. Once they are baked, allow them to cool and get cracking on the ganache frosting, it's the simplest thing in the world and it takes barely more time than opening a can to create the most delicious thing ever.

Start with six ounces (3/4 cup) heavy cream. I want you to warm that in the microwave for about a minute until it gets very warm. If a minute doesn't do it add another minute to it.  Then I want you to add this:

Then add six ounces of chocolate. Chocolate chunks, chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Bittersweet is best or semisweet will work.

Stir the chocolate in. The heat of the milk will melt it.

Soon it will look like this: a beautiful satiny chocolate concoction. You can make however much you want. Just make sure you have equal parts chocolate and equal parts cream. You can also add vanilla or almond extract to the cream before you heat it for extra flavor. Now comes the fun part.

Spoon the luxurious liquid onto the brownies, filling to the top of the cupcake wrapper. That's why we left the room.

See how pretty? Now put these babies in the fridge to set up, cause we are going to decorate.

My first stab at decorating was using red decorating gel, but I didn't like the results.

So I cut an hourglass shape our of parchment paper.

And used ti as a stencil over the brownie to sprinke red sugar glitter.

I like these results much better. Though it could be neater.  They made a lovely dessert for our all day Marvel Movie Marathon.

And a nice 20th birithday cake for my Godson  Cameron.

All in all, a great day and a delicious dessert.

Mystery Photos: What lies inside the envelope

I had lunch with my good friend Cheryl and she brought this along. While cleaning out an old CD holder at her house, she had come across this photo envelope. Inside, were pictures that obviously belonged to me. Pictures from 1998. Holy time capsule, Batman!  She wasn't sure how the envelope ended up at her house for all these years. I think I remember that my camera started acting up and I took it over for her husband the photographer to look at. I think he might have had the film developed, the pictures are very, very fuzzy.

Among the finds: photos of my late, great cat Spot.

The first cat Tim ever loved hanging with his Daddy at our giant old computer.

I want to pick him up and snuggle him again. I miss him so. Spot that is, I still have Tim. I miss having a lap kitty.

He was a huge science fiction fan, that Spot. I so wish these photos weren't fuzzy. Identify the Sci-Fi collectible at the far right.... Dare ya.  And also on the cat front, young Fido. Look, she's so big!

Skinny in the end, I forgot what a chunk she was back in the day.  Now look at Tim - he's so small!

And here I am with my friend Kelly. I'm so young!

But the big surpise was the photos from my Uncle Bill & Aunt Jenny's surprise 50th Wedding Anniversary party. They are both gone now and I had no idea that I had pictures from the day.

They were completely surprised.

Practically the whole family was there.

Look how young everybody is.

Gracious, I think I need to lie down for awhile.

Tasty Fall Side Dish - Why Celery Doesn't Have To Play Second Fiddle

Poor celery. It is delicious, versatile and makes so many things better. But it so often ends up play a supporting role instead of being the star of the show. It's a main ingredient in a good bread stuffing at Thanksgiving, but there are so many other flavors at play on that bountiful day, it often gets forgotten. So I thought I would whip up a dish that makes celery a star player. It's simple, easy and goes great with pork and chicken.

Not unexpectedly, you start with celery and onion. I used a shallot here because my husband likes the milder flavor. I'd say use about two stalks of celery person and judge how much onion by how much you like onion in a dish.

Dice them, but not too fine on the celery. It's the star of the show here.

I used fresh sage and thyme from my garden. But you could use dried if you like or even some poultry seasoning. Everyone has a jar of that stashed somewhere.

Chop it or cheat like me and use a small pair of scissors.

Pull the thyme off the stems and combine with the sage strips. So much pretty green and it smells divine.

Get a tablespoon or so of butter going in a skillet or sauce pan. The more celery and onion you use, the more butter you'll need.

Add the celery. I let it sautee a bit before I put in the shallots, but if you're using a larger onion, go ahead and put them in at the same time.

I add salt, pepper and just a sprinkle of brown sugar. If you don't like sweet, you can leave it out. If you're using poultry seasoning instead of fresh herbs, go easy on the pepper as most poultry seasoning aleady contains pepper.This is an easy one to taste as you go as all of the ingredients are safe to be eaten raw. If you are using dried herbs, add them now.

I add the shallots and let them soften with the celery in the beautiful butter.

After it starts to get soft, add the fresh herbs.Let that get nicely combined, but don't let it brown yet.

Then add chicken or vegetable broth. Or basically any broth you happen to like. A few good splashes, enough to cover however much celery and onion you have in the pan.  Now it's time to let it cook and allow the broth to cook into the celery.

This could take awhile, but let it all cook away and infuse the celery with buttery, brothy goodness.

Most of the liquid will be gone and the everything will start to brown slightly. Just don't let it burn.

Such pretty shades of green.

It pairs well with an autumnal supper like this. I made thyme and rosemary crusted pork tenderloin and roasted sweet potato, both topped with a maple butter and I thought the celery made a nice contrast to the sweetness and the softness of the other two components of the meal. My husband Tim even liked it and since it's a vegetable, that's a big deal. Enjoy.