Heather says:
Ranch dressing from scratch with no MSG. Who knew? I spent maybe five minutes on this, ten if you count the phone call from the grocery store asking Mr. Heather to double check the recipe. Why then have I not bothered to make ranch, if it’s so easy? We could come up with a lot of reasons, but it comes down to I couldn’t be bothered, that is until I recently had a mind blowingly good salad. The secret? The restaurant made their own dressings. I used to make dressing at my last restaurant, ginormous proportions, but still. I knew it was better, but I slipped into the it’s just easier mindset.
This brings me to my obligatory Fearless Friday Spiel.
Fearless Fridays are an exercise in kitchen bravery. It’s not about grossout games like Fear Factor, no, Fearless Friday is trying to learn a new skill. It’s a time to stop making excuses and try to cook, even if it doesn’t turn out perfectly. It’s serving a vegetarian dish to your meat and potatoes family or taking a walk down the freezer aisle deciding to try make one of those items on your own. For some, Fearless Friday is cooking a meal or not eating out. We all have our starting point, the key to becoming successful is to keep going, even if it doesn’t turn out perfectly.
Got it? Then tell me, what did you do for Fearless Friday? If you have a blog, share your link. If not, please share in the comments. Here’s a badge to add to your post, but it’s not a requirement.
Simple Ranch Dressing Mix
Ingredients:
- 17 Saltines, finely crushed
- 2 cups (470 ml) parsley flakes
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) Onion Flakes
- 2 Tbs (30 ml) Dried Basil
- 6 Tbs (3/8 cup)(90 ml) Kosher or sea salt (Sorry Heidi, I never have sea salt on hand)
- 5 Tbs (75 ml) Garlic Powder
- 5 Tbs (75 ml) Onion Powder
See the ingredients above? Mix and store in an air tight container. A 1 quart canning jar is perfect. If you have a reasonable source for spices, this is a great Christmas gift, unless you know me, because. Yeah. I’m going there, sorry to ruin the surprise.
- 1 Tablespoon Ranch Dressing Mix
- 1 cup mayonnaise (Preferably Dukes or Hellman’s if you’re a West Coaster it’s Best Foods, and yes, I just got brand snobby)
- 1 cup buttermilk (If at all possible, full fat)
At least one hour before serving, mix the three ingredients. Cover and refrigerate. The flavors must mingle. If you taste the dressing before it has had time to chill, it’s going to taste like mayonnaisey, tangy, spices and I hate mayonnaise. Be patient. Once in a while the magic ingredient is time. So chill out and make your salad.
Enjoy.
Once you’ve made your own dressing, try making your own croutons. You’ll never go back. It also works well for ranch seasoned potato wedges
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Heather, this dressing looks really good – a little different than what I usually make, but . . . different is good!
Alas, nothing fearless from me this week (again!) – we’ve been trying very hard to get our poor, hurting puppy back on all four feet.
Here’s a little west coast jingle, for ya:
“Bring out the Best Foods.. and Bring out the Best!”
From one Mayo-snob to another.
I can’t eat Mayo, anymore, unless its mixed into a dressing or dip.
I’m rather loving the Grape Seed oil, lately, and, especially Vegenaise “Mayo” made with Grape Seed Oil. (The purple one.) I have hit the ultra in snobby.
Did I tell you I tried to make my own HM Mayo? I was fearless for five minutes, on that one. It would probably mix, well, into Dressing and Dips, though.
~Heidi
Heidi, I’m from the Midwest, and I know the same jingle…all most
To me it goes:
“Bring out the Hellman’s….and bring out the best!”
I’m from the midwest, too, and that’s the version I know!
I can’t wait to try this!! I’m really loving figuring out how to make different things from scratch this year, and this is a terrific recipe to add to my “arsenal” – thanks so much for sharing!!
What interesting timing! We usually keep a jar of bleu cheese dressing and a bottle of Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette on hand. Husband and I are about to go on a diet (it’s a good one!), and so have been letting things run out.
We made salad the other evening, and he said, “But we don’t have any salad dressing.” I said, “Oh, it’s easy, I’ll just whip some up. We need to get into the habit anyway for the diet.” So I put some olive oil and a little red wine vinegar and some Italian herb blend and some smoked salt and a tiny squirt of local honey into a jar, shook it up and let it sit until dinner. After Husband tried it he said, “Why on earth have we been buying salad dressing? We’ll never buy it again!”
For the diet we’ll have to leave out the honey and the RWV will be replaced with some lemon or lime juice, but it will be equally delicious!
I like home made ranch dressing too. We use buttermilk and mayo in ours.
This fearless Friday I made pizzas with alfredo sauce base, a blend of Italian cheeses (had this and that in the frig) thinly sliced, saute’d zucchini (two down, twenty to go), mushrooms, thyme, caramelized onions, red pepper strips, little chunks of leftover grilled chicken and a little more cheese.
They were a HUGE hit and dissapeared. A mostly veggie pizza using up the garden’s abundance and refrigerator drib and drabs. Who knew? (They were REALLY good.)
Thanks, I’ll try this.
Yummy! Why the saltines?
They add a shelf stable thickener and fat to the mix. Saltines have shortening, but shortening doesn’t give me headaches the way MSG does. You could make it without them, but you’d definitely want to use full fat buttermilk and consider adding some (just a little) corn starch. It would take a little experimentation to keep it from being very runny.
It’s chilling in the fridge as we speak. Can’t wait to try it.
Can the Saltines be replaced with another type of cracker? I try not to eat hydrogenated oils, which they have. However, I love the idea of having my own mix ready to go. I love good ranch dressing, but have found it amazingly hard to find in any type of bottled dressing. I think mainly I've had the best stuff in restaurants.
Omit them completely and just use less of the seasoning mix. We don't eat much with hydrogenated oil, either, so I do understand. I gave it a pass in this case as it's not an every day item.