Since Christmas is so fancy, I always end up purchasing a lot of things I'll use for only one recipe, things that don't normally adorn my shopping list. Buttermilk. Fresh dill. Green onions. Horseradish. Eggnog. We somehow ended up with 3 jugs of eggnog over the past week. Each one is open, each one is different. Regular. Low-fat. Alcoholic. If you want some eggnog, I'm your woman.
So, what to do! I hate to waste things. Especially pricey things like fresh herbs. With the amount of eggnog I'm hording, I'm planning on making eggnog french toast on New Years Day. Perhaps eggnog bread pudding one day next week.
If you know me, you know there are a few things I really love. And few things do I love more than ranch dressing. I love it with a capital L! I could drink it. I know, that's gross. And I honestly don't think I've ever done that. But don't put it past me. I'm not a huge fan of bottle ranch (I am, after all, a connoisseur) and prefer to use the mix. But the mix isn't that good, either, and it's full of preservatives. Funny, I act like I care about preservatives while knowing full well I picked up a bag of jalapeno Cheetos at CVS today. Forget about the preservatives. Back to my leftovers! Imagine the smile on my face when I realized that my fridge contained every single ingredient to make a homemade ranch dressing! The heavens opened and....never mind. So, I've never made a ranch dressing from scratch. I did some research and found that it's basically mayo, sour cream, buttermilk and any ole herbs you want! I'm going to making ranch from scratch for forever now. Especially since I stumbled on the "make your own" buttermilk trick.
Did you know that if you add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk, you get a buttermilk substitute?
I didn't.
So, this afternoon, I got busy, mixing my sour cream, buttermilk, and mayo. I love recipes like this. Where you just start mixing and pouring until it looks good. No measuring, just mixing and mingling!
I chopped up a big handful of dill, minced up a few green onions, smashed some garlic, and harvested some flat leaf parsley that, for some reason, has survived the recent freezes and is still alive and kickin. Maybe it doesn't die in the cold weather. Who knows. But I'm glad it's there. Threw it all in there, gave it a stir, and there you have it, home made ranch dressing that is really really good, and low fat to boot! Light sour cream, light mayo, and low fat buttermilk. That's not too shabby. 
2 comments:
You do love some Ranch dressing!
Remember making it in the big vats at the Baldpate? and the bleu cheese?
here's what i do remember. dropping a huge pitcher of bleu cheese on the foor on the slope right inside the kitchen. it was oil. it was nasty. it was slippery. i hate bleu cheese.
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