Roasted Chicken Pizza with Shallot-Thyme White Sauce

Posted on September 30, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Pizza before cooking and ready to eat...yummy!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I really do love pizza. Whoever invented it has my eternal gratitude. It’s so versatile, easy and fun to make. Whether savory or sweet, fully cooked in the oven, or a cooked crust with “raw” toppings, it’s all good. I mean, what’s better for a quick and tasty meal than concocting a sauce—or no sauce at all—customizing your toppings to taste and cheese…must….have….cheese—then popping it into the oven and only minutes later, pulling out the finished product? Okay, eating it…eating it is better. Continue reading →

King of the Smoothie

Posted on September 28, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

A Pineapple-Orange-Banana Smoothie made by the King.

My husband is usually the grill master and sous chef around here, but in addition to that he does make some mean breakfast items on his own, and amongst the best of the best are his smoothies. There’s been a strawberry-banana-orange, a blueberry-orange with cinnamon, and a peach with cinnamon, just to name a few. But he’s outdone himself with the latest one: Pineapple-Orange-Banana. All hail to the King of Smoothies! Continue reading →

Communing in the Garden

Posted on September 27, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

The Mural at the Oakhurst Community Garden.

For all things produced in a garden, whether of salads or fruits, a poor man will eat better that has one of his own, than a rich man that has none.
– J. C. Loudoun

Amazingly, we now have 3 community gardens that I’m familiar with inside a less than 3 mile radius here in the Decatur area, as well as several farm to table school gardens and some urban organic gardens supplying local restaurants. In fact, almost every house has a garden of some sort around here! In part, this can be attributed to the likes of Farmer D, who has made it his mission to bring organic and bio-dynamic gardening—and the reaped rewards of it—to every child and adult’s table in Georgia. And being that I’m a very frustrated organic gardener myself, every now and then I like to go and visit some of those gardens that have more sun than I do and therefore can grow those things that I cannot. Continue reading →

Virginia really is for Lovers…of Life, Food, Wine and Nature

Posted on September 23, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

A pastoral setting, to say the least.

First, forgive me for the lack of posting for a while. This is truly the longest I’ve gone between posts since I started this blog. Work deadlines are the main culprit, and being out of town…and more work deadlines. Reality sets in, folks, but I am back! And I have lots to share with you. So sit back and read my story about taking a little trip to Virginia.

A dear girlfriend of mine and her husband have a lovely home on a farm in Afton, Virginia, and last weekend I flew up for my first visit and a girls’ weekend. Little did I know what a fun, tasty, adventurous and beautiful interlude lay ahead. Continue reading →

Cheater Pizza

Posted on September 10, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

All dressed up and ready for dinner.

Really, I shouldn’t dis this pizza by calling it “cheater”…it’s actually delicious pizza. It’s my fall back when I’ve been working all day and it’s really too late to make dinner. I call it cheating because, I confess it, I keep some whole wheat pre-made (cheater) pizza crust in my fridge. I know, home made is so much better, but when it’s 8 p.m. on a weeknight after I’ve been working all day, and I don’t already have some crust of my own made, the last thing I want to do is make pizza dough. It’s so easy to just pull out some cheater crust, place it on my peel, throw on some toppings, slide it onto my pizza stone, and in 12 minutes I’ve got a really tasty, crispy pizza, lickety-split! Continue reading →

This, that and the other…

Posted on September 6, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Smiling eggs make better brownies.

I could get with this…or I could get with that… (You’re envisioning the Kia Soul Hamster Rap commercial, aren’t you?) Basically, this sums up my thoughts on my pantry and fridge contents last night as I faced making dinner. We’re finally getting some rain here, and I was happy to stay in and make a meal. But, what to make? I had no real plan, and I had bits of this and bits of that for ingredients. When in doubt, make a salad and some pasta! Continue reading →

D-Con, D-Book Festival and Some De-licious Sliders

Posted on September 4, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

A sailing machine of some sort...anyone know what this is, besides amazing?

Not sure, but I think these folks may have just come from a dip in the pool after walking the 1/2 mile parade in the heat!

It’s D-weekend (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) and a lot is going on in the big city. We decided to try something new and headed downtown to see the Dragon Con Parade, which kicks off the world’s largest fantasy/SF convention, held annually in Atlanta, GA, on Labor Day weekend. Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans come from everywhere, donned in their finest Star Wars, Star Trek, Road Warrior, Alien, Thunder Dome, Ghost Busters, Harry Potter (or at least we saw Snape there), Dr. Who, and any and all other related costumes you can possibly think of, and some you couldn’t imagine. We saw a working replica of a truck from Thunder Dome that some 10 people were riding, and a time machine. There’s some serious money laid down for this, people! Continue reading →