We're not big salad eaters, but Troy usually likes to have ranch on hand for various occasions. After spending $3 on a bottle of Hidden Valley (and then looking at the creepy ingredient list), I knew there had to be a better way. Thankfully that coincided with me accidentally ordering too much buttermilk from our milkman last week. Note to self: a pint is the small one. Quarts are MUCH bigger.
Per usual, I headed to allrecipes.com* and typed in "ranch dressing". After searching through various options, I selected Ranch Dressing II to try. I made it early Saturday morning and put it in a small mason jar in the fridge to allow the flavors to blend. Within about 5 hours, it tasted pretty much like Hidden Valley ranch! As written, the recipe works best as a dip. My recommendations/recipe edits are below:
Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream (I used about 3/4 cup of buttermilk instead because I wanted it to be more of a dressing than a dip. And um, I had buttermilk. And sour cream is icky)
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed (use WAY less. I love dill, but even using about 1/4 tsp was too much)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (use a smidgeon more)
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
1.In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, chives, parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Let's run the numbers:
- Mayo - $3 for a big jar, and I used a cup, so $.45? One of these days I'm going to make my own mayo. It's on the list!
- Buttermilk - My milkman had it on sale for $1.39 for a quart. There are 4 cups in a pint, so $.35
- Herbs - ballpark, I'm guessing $.15 for everything?
Total spent on dressing: $.95
Hidden Valley, you can suck it. Not only did I make my own dressing that is just as good as yours, but mine is way cheaper and free of icky stuff:
Vegetable oil, egg yolk, sugar, salt, buttermilk, spices, garlic, onion, vinegar, phosphoric acid, xanthan gum, modified food starch, MSG, artificial flavors, disodium phosphate, sorbic acid, calcium disodium EDTA, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate
Mmmm, MSG and disodium phosphate anyone? Just like grandma used to make it! When I went to spell check this post, the only thing the dictionary didn't recognize was the ingredient list from Hidden Valley. That's telling you something!
*I receive no compensation for talking about this website. It just rocks my world and I thought you guys should know!Labels: Don't be a lazy ass - make it yourself, Poverty Cookbook
