Smoked Salt & Pepper

We are sadly coming to an end of peach season here in Central Texas.  I love a good, juicy, sweet, fresh peach.  Reid and I actually have 2 peach trees in our front yard that my dad planted around 2008 that we have managed not to kill.  Miracle!  This year we got a really good harvest from them.  Usually the birds or neighbors get to them before we do.  So back around July (before I was forbidden to eat pie by my gestational diabetes nutritionist) we picked about 1-2 lbs. worth of fresh peaches form our tree.  It was awesome.  Until I broke out in a skin rash. (I must be allergic to the fine hairs or splinters on the peach tree) Our peaches are the small kind.  I think they are some French peach variety.  Real small and a bit firmer then what you'd find in Fredricksberg.  I blanched, peeled, cut and pitted them.  And made a pie.  It was a time-consuming, but relaxing Sunday project. I do like to make my own pie crust i...

So, I'm trying to be good on my gestational diabetes diet while still not getting bored of what I'm eating.  Reid and I went to the farmer's market yesterday and picked out some stuff I wouldn't usually buy.  I bought some duck breast.  I love duck, but have never cooked it myself.  The farmer at Belle Vie Farms   was more then happy to share with me some cooking tips. Also picked up some bok choy and oyster mushrooms at the market, so I thought I'd do an Asian style duck breast.  I thought about doing a Hoisin sauce-style duck, but since this was the first time I'd cooked duck and really didn't want to screw it up, I actually looked up a recipe.  This recipe is inspired by the New York Times recipe.  It came out great! Five-Spice Duck Breast with Blueberry Pan Reduction Recipe inspired by  http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017596-five-spice-duck-breast-with-blackberries Serves 2 Ingredients: 2 small Moscovy duck breasts, abo...

I was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes. It was a bit challenging for me to be OK with the news because there was just a lot of frustration. I was frustrated with my doctor for not really giving me any information, I was frustrated with the situation because I consider myself rather healthy, I was frustrated in general and didn't have my normal coping mechanisms available: food and wine.  I work out a lot and I eat pretty healthy but I freaking love carbs. I literally made a shirt once in high school that said "I love carbs".   I could eat bread or rice or pasta everyday.  So being diabetic where I have to be more careful with my carb choices was really depressing to me.  I'm in a lot better place right now. I am meeting with the perinatal specialist and nutritionist today where I will hopefully get a lot of my questions answered, I got to talk to several friends who went through it and calmed me down, and I've been reading every single thing th...