I have been sitting on a number of recipes for quite sometime waiting for just the opportune moment to make them.  One of these recipes was for Buttermilk Biscuits and I finally got a reason and a chance to make them.  As far as a dish goes they are pretty bland and disappointing, however, as biscuits they are awesome.  The biscuits have just a hint of buttermilk tang and a whole lot of fluffy goodness and when topped with a dab of margarine (butter would also be good, however, I am allergic) and some honey they make a great snack or compliment to a meal.  They would also be great on a pot pie or smothered under a thick layer of sausage gravy.

Ingredients
2 3/4 c flour
1 1/3 c buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
pinch of baking soda
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
2/3 c margarine or butter cut into 1 inch pieces

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375ºF

In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl whisk together buttermilk and egg.  Cut butter or margarine into dry ingredients until butter or margarine is pea sized.  Stir in buttermilk mixture, until just mixed, do not over mix.

Remove dough to a lightly floured surface, pat to desired thickness (mine was 3/4″).  Use a large glass to cut into rounds.  Place biscuit rounds on a large ungreased baking sheet.

Bake the biscuits until light, fluffy and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Now if I was feeling ambitious I would make up some sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy in the morning, something tells me it will just be yogurt.

In our quest to eat way more chicken than any one person should, we have arrived at ways to make chicken number 2.  Southwest Stuffed Chicken, now this is actually a really easy recipe to make.

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
1/2 c corn
1/2 c black beans, canned or thoroughly soaked
1/2 c salsa
1 1/2 tsp ground chipotle peppers
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 c half and half
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
pepper-jack cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
cilantro (optional)

Instructions
Mix salsa, corn, beans, 1/2 tsp chipotle, and cumin in a bowl set aside.

Grease a glass baking dish big enough to hold both breasts.

Rinse and dry chicken.  Slice chicken to make a pocket to put stuffing in, don’t slice all the way through.  Spoon in half of stuffing or as much as will fit into each breast, use toothpicks to hold shut and place in pan.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350ºF.

While chicken is backing prepare glaze by combining half and half, remaining chipotle and basil in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer and cook until reduced by half, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and pour over the breasts after 30 minutes in oven.  Bake chicken for 10 more minutes or until the center reaches 160°F.

Serve over rice.  Top with sour cream, cilantro and/or pepper jack cheese.

I served mine over a simple rice made this afternoon in the rice cooker consisting of rice, cumin, garlic, onion, jalapeno, paprika, turmeric and a touch of oil.

If you haven’t heard the iPad is a new device from Apple due out in March that is like a giant iPhone or iPod touch, on steroids.  Its like a laptop with no keyboard or mouse, just a touch screen.  You can look at it here.

The iPad looks great, in fact, I want one and will be buying one as soon as it is feasible.  In the mean time I am left to wonder, as a foodie-geek or geek-foodie or food nerd or whatever I am, how will this work as a cookbook?  Will the screen stand up to some abuse?  Can I wipe it off with a rag when I get oil, grease and juices on it?

Starting at $499 it is a rather expensive toy and an even more expensive cookbook but it holds promise if it will stand up to the abuse of living in a kitchen.  In the mean time I have downloaded the SDK and hope to begin plugging away shortly to hook the iPad into my existing recipe database.

Time will tell whether or not the iPad will catch on but with Apple’s cult following surely they will sell millions of these devices in its first year of availability, however, with a  built in stand by battery time of a month it seems that Apple has already counted on these devices not being used daily.  Perhaps CraigsList will end up flooded the used iPads for cheap.