Ranch Dressing and Dip

If you couldn't tell, during the month of July I have fallen behind on posting recipes. The reason for this is that we have been shopping for a new car, so most of my mental energy, not already expended upon taking care of the girls and the house, was used up researching cars and how to buy a car. Fortunately, we have now purchased a car and Michael brought it home on Friday, so now my brain can relax and go back to posting some of the recipes that I have come up with recently.

One of these recipes is for ranch dressing and dip. Ranch is Michael's favorite salad dressing. He is also quite particular about how his ranch dressing tastes. For a while Trader Joe's carried one that Michael really liked, but then a few months ago they stopped carrying it. We tried out several other bottled ranch dressings, but none of them lived up to Michael's expectations. So I decided to go back to the recipe I had for homemade ranch dressing, which I used to make in BC (as in both British Columbia and "before children"). I tweaked the recipe a bit, and now we have a ranch dressing that we can enjoy any time we want. In addition, the recipe can be used to make ranch dip if you substitute sour cream or Greek yogurt for the milk.

You'll notice that our mayonnaise requirements have changed. Back in the spring Sabrina and Naomi both tested positive for a soy allergy, and when Michael went through food allergy testing last week, he tested positive as well. Therefore, our favorite standby of Hellman's Real Mayonnaise is no longer a good option since its first ingredient is soybean oil. Although several websites say that people with a soy allergy can still eat soybean oil, we think that Naomi reacts to it. Therefore, this past week we purchased several brands of soy-free and corn-free mayonnaise in search of an acceptable alternative to our beloved Hellman's. The only one we like so far is Naturally Delicious All Natural Real Mayonnaise. If you cannot find that one, then just stick with Hellman's, which should be okay for Michael and Sabrina in small quantities. Both of the two other brands that we tried -- Cains All Natural Mayonnaise made with canola oil and Spectrum Canola Mayonnaise -- taste more like Miracle Whip and just don't taste right to us.

Ranch Dressing and Dip
serves 2 adults

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Hellmann's Real mayonnaise (unless making it for Naomi)
  
• 2 Tbsp. Lactaid milk (Or if you would like to make a dip, use 3 Tbsp. sour cream in total and no milk.)
  
• 1 Tbsp. sour cream (not low-fat). I recommend Daisy brand, or another brand that contains just cultured cream.
  
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried chives
  
• 1/4 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/8 tsp. onion powder
• dash of cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Whisk together all of the ingredients. The dressing can be served right away, but it tastes best after it has sat in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and preferably about 2 hours.