Gluten free (and guilt free) ranch dressing...

We eat a lot of salad in our home. Its one of those intentional foods with a lot of nutrients and benefits that we enjoy. However, the additional of salad dressing so quickly turns a salad of intent of good things into a calorie-laden, additive-laden meal.
As you know, I like pure things, so we make our salad dressings from scratch. The dressings, I feel, should be as intentional as the contents of the salad itself! Vinaigrettes are simple to make, but so are creamy dressings. And I prefer to make mine in a fashion so that portion is not so much an issue either, and also so that the dressing has intent when eaten, rather than merely just flavor.
This dressing adds calcium, and pro-biotics (if you use yogurt that has them). We make our own yogurt full of probiotics, so this is another way to get all those good things into our system than jsut at breakfast with the yogurt! Plus, there are very few calories in this dressing at all, so the 2 tbs. serving limit does not apply!
This dressing works as a salad dressing, or make my 'dip' version for a veggie dip, sandwhich spread, or as people around here like, a dipping sauce for pizza.


Salad Dressing:
I use plain yogurt as my base. Any store-bought kind will do that you prefer (low or non-fat, organic or not...buy what you like). Start with two cups of yogurt and to it add:
¼ cup chopped fresh dill (or 2 tbs dried dill)
¼ cup chopped fresh scallion (or 1 tsp onion powder)
Generous salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs vinegar (any kind you have will do)
Place all of this into a glass jar and shake away! It makes a creamy herbed ranch-style dressing.

Ranch Dip:
Purcahse greek style yogurt (very thick). Stir in the same amount of ingredients to make the dip. Allow to sit for 1-2 hours. You can thin this if you choose, use 1 tsp. milk at a time to thin to your desired consistency.The possibilites...


Well, you can now create from this base anything you want to.

• Add different herbs, fresh or dried.
• Stir in salsa to make a salsa ranch
• Add into a buttermilk biscuit recipe to add flavor
• Mix with tuna instead of mayo
• Add to a potato salad recipe

Want ranch-in-a-minute? Use a prepacked ranch salad dressing packet and simply stir that into yogurt! Simply Organic makes a nice one.