Day: February 26, 2018

How To Make Your Own Ranch Dressing

Home Made Buttermilk Dressing

My wife has, over the years, come to find commercial salad dressings products to avoid. Between too much sugar and too much tart, which is a curious combination, we can no longer find a dressing we wish to eat. So, what’s a chef to do? Well, duh!, make his own.

As my wife is a Southern girl through and through, of course, the base for this dressing needs to be buttermilk and mayonnaise. If you haven’t been to the South, well, how sad for you. Add that to our bucket list and get there. The food is amazing and so are the people. But, travelogue later. Now, we mix.

A few notes about ingredients in homemade dressings. While fresh is almost always best, I have found that dry, in a dressing such as this, work better because they last longer. Fresh herbs are tasty but they also spoil rapidly and therefore, so too does the item they are in. Dry garlic and dry onion also for the same spoilage reason.

I also use vinegar instead of fresh lemon juice, for the same reason. My herb choices are mine, of course, and you are welcome to add or delete any of them. I had an idea that some grated Parmesan cheese might be good. Play with it. As it stands, it is a good dressing and makes also an excellent dip for raw carrots or cakes or crudites. Yum-Yum!

Print

Ranch style dressing

Home made is always best, and in this case, quick and easy too.  Plan a few hours, or a day, so the flavors have a chance to really develop.  There is a good chance you already have most of these ingredients which makes this a money saving and flavor boosting dressing.

Course Salad
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

  • 1 C Mayo 250 g
  • 1/2 C Buttermilk 125 g
  • 1 T Dried chives
  • 1 T Dried parsley flakes
  • 1/4 t Onion powder
  • 1/4 t Garlic powder
  • 1/4 t Ground white pepper
  • 1/8 t (pinch) Salt

Additional flavors

  • 1/4 t Dried mustard powder
  • 1 t Dried onion flakes
  • 1 t White wine vinegar herb vinegar is good too: avoid white vinegar

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients together and store in a snap tight container or sealable jar.  Keep refrigerated.  

    Let stand at least 4 hours to reconstitute dried herbs and allow flavors to develop.

Look for some bread recipes on my recipe page.

Pick up a copy of my muffins e-cookbook here.

Easter Baked Treats

Easter Treats You Don’t Need To Hide

See the links at the bottom of the page for accompaniment ideas for dinner.

Print

Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

A classic holiday treat made even better because you made it.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Chocolate coated eggs, Peanut butter eggs, Reeses copycat Eggs
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 24 portions
Author OliveNation

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1/3 C Graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/3 C Powdered sugar
  • 3/4 C Smooth peanut or almond butter
  • 1 T Honey
  • 1/2 t Vanilla extract
  • 1/4 t Sea salt
  • 1/4 lb Milk or dark chocolate, chopped or discs

Instructions

  1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and sea salt in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

  2. Mix on medium speed until filling is well combined and resembles cookie dough.

  3. Divide into 24 (2-teaspoon) balls or larger. Form into an egg shape. Chill until hard.

  4. While the filling is chilling, melt chocolate in a double boiler until perfectly smooth. Dip "eggs" in chocolate and place them on a tray lined with parchment or waxed paper. Chill until hard. Store in plastic or container with lid.

Kitchen Tools & supplies banner


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Super moist (or M-word) brownies.

Print

Guiness Dark Ale Brownies

Alcohol does not 100% cook out of foods.  A trace remains in case that's an issue for your guests. 

The flavors of the Guinness and the cocoa are simply wonderful.  If the stout is not suitable, replace that quantity with strong room-temperature coffee.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Guinness Ale Brownies, Stout brownies, Stout in baking
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Cooling 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 12 people
Author OliveNation

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 C All-purpose flour
  • 3/4 C Dutch Process cocoa
  • 1/4 t Salt
  • 8 oz Bittersweet chocolate
  • 3/4 C White chocolate chips
  • 1 C Semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3 oz Unsalted butter
  • 1 C White sugar
  • 4 each Eggs, room temperature
  • 1 2/4 C Guinness Stout
  • 1/2 C Chopped pecans
  • as needed Confectioners sugar for sifting

Instructions

Procedure

  1. Place oven rack in the center position.

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

    Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter.  Be generous here.

  2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt together in a bowl.

  3. Melt bittersweet chocolate, white chocolate chips, and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching. Remove the bowl from the pot when the chocolate is just melted.  Place on the counter.

  4. Beat white sugar and eggs together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

  5. Slowly add melted chocolate mixture and mix until just combined.

  6. Mix in the stout.

  7. Add flour mixture and pecans, if using, and until the flour has been absorbed then stop mixing.

  8. Pour batter into the prepared baking dish; sprinkle semisweet chocolate chips over batter.

  9. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out with moist crumbs, 25 to 30 minutes.

  10. Cool to room temperature; dust top with confectioners' sugar. 

    If you dust the sugar on too soon, it'll be absorbed by the brownies.  It isn't bad; it has just melted.  Tastes great looks less great.

    If you can stand it, wait at least half an hour, but no one will think less of you if you can't. 

For Easter, Mother’s Day or any other Sunday Brunch, make some muffins.  Here’s my free muffins e-book with some easy and delicious muffin recipes. Just give your email address to get the link to download the book.

In case you missed my podcast episode about brownies, you can hear it here and here is the link to the recipe I discuss 228 Brownies.

Some recipes for your dinner (breakfast) table

Fluffy Pancakes

Dinner Rolls

No Knead Bread

The Recipe File