Saturday, April 17, 2010

ranch dressing.

(two posts in one day...you've got to be kidding me?!? :)....But I just HAD to share this recipe!!!!)

So since I was making this for supper....

(which, by the way, was loaded with baby romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, cheese, turkey, and hard boiled eggs!...SO yummy!)

...I needed to have dressing for it, right?! Well, I didn't have any since I can't seem to find the exact flavor that I like in the store. Through our journey to healthier eating, I've come to realize that the typical salad dressing is loaded with junk...high fructose corn syrup, MSG, sugar, and tons of other additives and preservatives...so if I needed to get dressing in the past I usually opted for the organic kind, knowing at least it wouldn't any of that stuff in it....but I still was never truly happy with one, especially ranch.

That's when I found this....a recipe for homemade ranch dressing! I didn't need the amount that it made so I made a little less, and it turned out perfect!

It is SO simple and SO easy and SO fast....and OH SO GOOD! You HAVE to try it! It tastes so FRESH and PURE!

To be honest, I didn't think that it would really taste like ranch since there isn't that much to it, but to my wonderful surprise, it did! We topped our salads tonight with it and we couldn't believe how awesome it was!

So here's what I did!!.....

2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
3 teaspoons parskey flakes
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix together and store in am air tight container. Label and keep by your spices. (You can use this some of this mix for anything that calls for a package of dry ranch mix!...no more buying those and getting all the added 'icky' ingredients! Plus, it's pennies compared to store bought packages!

When you are ready to make the dressing: Mix 1 Tablespoon of the dry mix with 1/2 cup mayo (I use Hain Safflower mayo) and 1/2 buttermilk. (I actually had real buttermilk on hand since I made butter yesterday, but you could take a 1/2 cup milk and add 1/2 T lemon juice and let it sit for 5 mins. Or you could just use milk, even easier :)

I mixed mine in a bowl and the poured it into a small glass jar. Once I was ready to use it, I gave it a good stir and added it to my salad....DELICIOUS!



You might want to mix it up a couple hours before you plan on using it, just to the ingredients have a chance to blend nicely. ENJOY!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

'love your pics, Dawn, they make my mouth water.
You are completely right to be very cautious with what you eat..
as for dressings , why not use the simple French dressing (olive oil, vinegar or lemon and maybe add a few herbs (thyme, origano...)
All the best to you all.
Amarie