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Last year, after a trip to Myrtle Beach with a friend, we detoured by Wilmington, North Carolina, on the way back and I had the most wonderful dish at a restaurant right on the water. I can’t remember what they called it, but it was basically strips of french bread pizza with olive oil, shrimp, peppers, and cheese. It was soooo delicious. I’ve been making french bread pizza for a long time, but I’d never made it with quite that combination before and I just loved it. Since then, it’s really become one of my favorite comfort foods.
Now because I am such a bread-baking fanatic, I have to go on for a moment about the wonders of fresh-baked homemade french bread and how nothing can compare. I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say that and then you’d all be saying, “SUZANNE, what is wrong with you?” and you’d be disappointed. And of course it’s true and it’s so easy to make homemade bread and it’s soooo good.
But, I want to say that if you can’t, just can’t, bring yourself to make homemade french bread, you can buy some french bread and still make this recipe. And I won’t think anything bad about you, I promise.



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How to make Shrimp French Bread Pizza:
I’m not going to give specific quantities here because it all depends on how many different ingredients you’re adding and how many loaves of french bread you’re using (not to mention the size of the loaves). On this occasion, I made three loaves of french bread. I have big kids who are big eaters! And they love french bread pizza. I started out by frying peppered bacon. When that was ready, I set it aside to drain while I sauteed some chopped onions, then drained that as well and sauteed some medium-sized shrimp. I cooked the shrimp a pretty good while to let it soak up the bacon and onion juices and develop a nice golden glaze.



Next, slice the french bread loaves in half horizontally. Drizzle olive oil and spread with a spoon or fork to get an even coverage. I like to sprinkle on some garlic powder at this point. Yum! Garlic gets me all excited….



Add shredded swiss cheese first, then layer on the onion, bacon, and shrimp. I wasn’t using any peppers this time, so I thought it needed some decorating. I threw on some dried chives for fun. Now bake in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes, slice into handy pieces, and you have a fabulously easy meal that looks and tastes like it came from a gourmet restaurant!
I like this in so many combinations. Mushroom, onion, and swiss. Bacon, onion, and swiss. Sausage. Ground beef. Peppers. (Notice I really love swiss cheese….but any cheese that is your favorite works, too.) For a different take, use a tomato-based sauce and make a more traditional french bread pizza with pepperoni slices and mozzarella. It’s all good! I could eat it every day, with Chocolate Lava Cakes for dessert! (Speaking of comfort food!! CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES.)
Variation: try Shrimp Toast!
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Sit by my computer. Okay, that’s what I do all day, too…..
Titan Blue? Or Stained Glass? (Look at the colors just below her fingers. That’s Stained Glass on the left, Titan Blue on the right.) She’s TORN! The drywallers are finishing up this week and we’re planning to paint this weekend. For now, we’re just planning to primer everything and then paint what else we can in a few days–and leave the rest to paint after we move in. Painting is one job we set aside for ourselves, but we don’t want to hold up the work that follows–floors, trim, installation of the kitchen, etc. So we’re going to beat ourselves up for one weekend, hopefully get it all primed, paint at least a few rooms, then finish later. I don’t like white walls, so they won’t stay white for long after we move in. But moving in–that’s the important thing…. And we don’t want to hold up the other work. I’ve put the kids in charge of painting their own rooms. The boys think, in that case, primer white sounds Just Fine. Princess, of course, is full of enthusiasm to paint! Only she’s torn, torn, torn!
And who comes up with the names of these paint colors anyway? Highland Heather. Thimbleberry Blossom. Violet Devotion. She wants “something calm and neutral, creamy, earth tones.” I said, “So that’s why you picked out PURPLE paint cards???”
That’s the card I picked out for the living room (left)–Darby Creek. It’s on the same paint chip card with Cafe Au Lait (lighter), Mudpie (slightly darker), and Terra Firma (very dark). Is this, like, somebody’s whole job? Coming up with fantastical names for paint colors? (I want this job!) I really like one called Brown Rabbit, but that’s mostly because it’s called Brown Rabbit. I’m thinking of using another one called Sphinx, but with colors like Brown Rabbit and Summer Pecan available, how can I do that??? I’ll probably make a last-minute decision at the paint store.

Princess, on the other hand, is torturing herself. She’s poring over the paint chip cards. Should she go with an earth tone, after all? Maybe Mudpie? Or something more exciting….. Stained Glass? Or Titan Blue? It’s too hard to decide! (If I may inject here…. The new “horse” bedding she picked out is in earth tones.)

Begging for help.

She’s in despair! (We’re very dramatic here.) I promised her The Internet would help her.
Update–I’ll see if I can make this link work for the bedding she’s getting. Click here. Can she really have purple walls with that? What do you think?
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The snowman soldier is on hospice care now.
"It was a cold wintry day when I brought my children to live in rural West Virginia. The farmhouse was one hundred years old, there was already snow on the ground, and the heat was sparse-—as was the insulation. The floors weren’t even, either. My then-twelve-year-old son walked in the door and said, “You’ve brought us to this slanted little house to die." Keep reading our story....
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March 2010
"Lamb-y, then whammy! Get some tickets to Miami! Snow is easing, but we're still freezing. It may be spring by the astronomer, but not by the thermometer. Mighty fine, then leonine."
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