Unexpected Treasures, Fluffy Homemade Biscuits, Lemon Marmalade and Pear Jelly

 As the saying goes, "You have plans, and then you have life."  This has been the case for me so many times, and I know that I am not alone.  Sometimes when plans don't work out the way we intended, many not so comfortable emotions can arise, such as confusion, anger, negativity, disappointment etc.   Change of any kind can be a painful thing.  The majority of time, a sudden fork in the road or detour in life works out for the better in the long run.  This may take a long, long time to realize however.  And then sometimes, it isn't necessarily for the better, but just meant to be and gets easier to accept with time.  Time heals.  BUT sometimes, sometimes when life suddenly overrules plans, it can be quite pleasant almost instantaneously.

I have a thousand stories that can fit every one of the scenarios above, but fortunately for me, this weekend's plans were rearranged for me and the weekend was wonderful.  We (my husband, stepson, and I) planned to run the Susan B. Komen "Race for the Cure" this weekend on Saturday while my stepson was spending the weekend home for a visit.  Well, an opportunity presented itself to my stepson and plans changed suddenly.  We needed to be in New Orleans for 9:30am on Saturday to drop him off for an event that would last nearly all day.  With the race beginning at 8:00am or so in Lafayette, it was an impossibility to do both and the decision was a "no brainer".  So, the plans were put on the back burner though this time, it felt fine and the change was good, instantaneously. 

At the end of the day it was a win-win for all.  The Susan B. Komen Foundation, a meaningful and important cause, received a nice little donation for all of our entries and we were on our way to New Orleans.  Who can complain about that?  Even better, my husband and I decided to spend the day there with no agenda to have some extra time together with my stepson at the end of the day, being that our visit with him was cut short before he would be back in Minnesota.  So we dropped him off at his event, and decided to head to Magazine Street.  I've read alot about Magazine Street and have never spent much time there.  The French Quarter is usually the extent of my visits to New Orleans, and there have been many of those.

We headed over to Magazine St. and by chance happened to catch the Saturday Morning Crescent City Farmers Market (http://www.crescentcityfarmersmarket.com/) at Magazine and Girod Streets.  I LOVE FARMERS MARKETS!!!!!  So we spent some time looking and tasting.  Beautiful produce, fresh shrimp and eggs, inexpensive and perfect plants, fresh baked goods, etc. abounded in this parking lot.  My treasures from there were little jars of Homemade Lemon Marmalade and Pear Jelly from White Wood Farms. 

The point of my story is:  Sometimes Life gives you Lemons, but sometimes Life gives you Lemon Marmalade! (and in this case Pear Jelly too!)

The day was lovely and weather just beautiful.  We had a full day of window shopping, eating, talking and then visiting together with my stepson before saying our goodbyes and heading home.  It always brightens our day and rejeuvinates our life when the kids come to visit, no matter how long they stay.

The Recipe:  Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits with Lemon Marmalade and Pear Jelly
Today is Sunday and the weather is cool again outside on this second day of the official Spring Season.  Jelly and Marmalade just so happen to be on my husband's list of favorite things.  Hot Buttermilk Biscuits anyone?

Hardware:  Baking Stone (preferrably) or baking sheet, 2 1/2" or 3" round biscuit cutter (or anything round such as a glass)

Makes 5 very nicely sized biscuits. 

Ingredients: 
2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour, divided in half
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tblsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sugar
3/4 stick (or 6 tblsp) Butter, COLD and diced small
1 cup Lowfat Buttermilk, plus more for brushing tops

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In large bowl whisk together  1 cup of Flour, Salt, Baking Powder and Sugar.

Dice the Butter and drop small pieces into the flour mixture.  Use a Pastry cutter to cut butter into flour mixture until slightly crumbly in appearance with a few larger lumps still remaining.

Add in remaing 1 cup Flour and give a quick toss to mix together.

Next fold in Buttermilk to moisten the flour mixture.  If there is still dry flour at the bottom of the bowl, you may want to add approximately 1 tblsp more buttermilk until all flour mixture is moistened.

Gather together the dough and turn out onto a floured surface.  DO NOT ROLL FLAT.  Shape with hands into a circle and flatten with hands to about 1 1/2" thick.

Use round Biscuit cutter to punch out biscuits (probably will punch out 3 and need to gather the remaining dough together to punch out two more)

Place on the baking stone (or sheet), brush the top of the biscuits with buttermilk using a pastry brush (or use fingers to moisten the tops if you don't have a pastry brush).

Bake in the over for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Serving Options:  Today I served these with Lemon Marmalade and Pear Jelly, a side of thinly sliced pork tenderloin sauteed in brown gravy and poached eggs.  I think they would also be great with thinly sliced pork tenderloin and a country gravy (I'll post a recipe for this at a later date).  Honey and butter would be Delish too! 

As always, your feedback is welcomed in the comment section of this post.  Have a wonderful Sunday!