2 8 ounce rib eye steaks, trimmed of excess fat and bones
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
pepper
salt

1. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Rub steaks generously with spices.
3. Heat vegetable oil in the skillet and pan fry steaks on either side until well seared, about 5 minutes for medium rare.
4. Allow meat to rest and then serve.

Makes 2 servings

19 ounces canned black beans
19 ounces canned corn
1/4 small red onion, chopped
1 medium grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspooon ground cumin
1/8 red chili flakes
salt

1. Drain and rinse beans and corn and combine in a bowl with red onion.
2. Combine cilantro, lime juice, olive oil and cumin and pour over the other ingredients.
3. Season with salt to taste and red pepper flakes for additional heat.
4. Garnish with grapefruit slices and serve.

Makes 4 servings

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine or shortening
3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
3. Cut in margarine or shortening with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
4. Add the buttermilk and stir in just enough until the dough sticks together.
5. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, knead lightly and pat out to 1/2" thickness.
6. Use a small glass to cut circles out of the dough, bringing it together and re-rolling as necessary.
7. Place the dough circles on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until golden, about 12 minutes.

Makes 12 biscuits

I spent a good half hour searching for buttermilk recipes and aside from desserts, pancakes and dressings. The only thing I could come up with was Buttermilk Biscuits. My culinary epiphany seems a little shattered since I thought this was going to open up many new doors of discovery.

Typically I buy bread and make everything else. I used to bake my own bread all the time but it's very time consuming. Biscuits, on the other hand, are extremely quick. It barely took 15 minutes to prepare a dozen tonight and I was able to toss everything else together while they were in the oven. I can't specifically taste the buttermilk in the recipe, but they seemed fluffier than normal. I'm not sure if that's a pleasant side effect of using the buttermilk or not, but it surely doesn't hurt.

When we made steaks last week we picked up rib eyes as well as sirloin and never got around to preparing them. Obviously I couldn't waste a perfectly good steak, so I fried it up tonight. I topped those biscuits with some sliced Southwest Rib Eye Steaks. I am partial to the fattier cuts of beef, so this worked well for me. If you're looking at the plate and wondering what the red sauce is, it's ordinary ketchup. I couldn't think of anything more suiting to biscuits and beef.

On the side I prepared some Black Bean Corn Salad. Again with the cilantro. I'm really trying to get over my disliking of it. The flavor of cumin overpowers it quite well, so I liked this salad. It's a simple salad that tastes like what you'd expect from the ingredients; like a pungent, citrus flavored bean and corn mixture. I garnished it with sliced grapefruit for no other reason than a love of grapefruit.