Dressing & Sauce

This post is a part of Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

I'd like to share with you a couple of things that have been twisting in my kitchen this week.  First of all, I finally found a homemade "Ranch" type dressing that I like.  Before I went all "real food" there was always a bottle of Ranch salad dressing in our refrigerator.  The whole family preferred it over anything else.  That is, until I discovered all the nasty stuff they put in there (even organic ones).  I've tried to make my own a few times with less than stellar reviews, but this time I combined the elements from different dressing recipes & I was very satisfied with the results.

Creamy Ranch Style Dressing
1/2 c. plain whole milk yogurt or sour cream
1/3 c. buttermilk
3 T. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried chives (or 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried dill
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix ingredients together in a bowl with a fork and then whisk to combine completely.  Lasts about one week.

I also made another batch of my Homemade Barbecue Sauce.

The first time I had made it using soy sauce, and this time I used apple cider vinegar.  It is really good either way.  Even my ultra-picky 11 year old said it was yummy & wanted extra for dipping in.  It could be a little less sweet, so next time I may try decreasing the honey & see how we like it.  Even though my directions suggest making it 24 hours ahead of time, I had not planned ahead so I made it moments before I put it on top of some organic chicken legs & tossed them in the oven to bake.  No problem!  I'm using the rest of it today to marinate some steaks.

Enjoy!
Lisa

Fun with Cream!

This post is a part of the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival

This week I bought some fresh lightly pasturized cream from a local farm & I have to share with you two great things that came out of it!  First was Creme Fraiche using the recipe from this website.  We were having taco salad & I wanted something sour cream-ish to go with it.

When I was looking for the buttermilk for this recipe I could not find organic, but I did find "Cultured Bulgarian Buttermilk" by Darigold and it actually has active live cultures!  Sure it is twice as much as the other buttermilks, but I'd rather have "live" food than fake food.  I made my creme fraiche according to the directions, setting out for 24 hours.  At first it did seem quite thin, but after a couple of days in the fridge it has a consistency identical to sour cream.  The flavor of mine is a little more mellow- more "cream" than "sour", but still went well on our taco salads.  Then tonight I wanted something to go with my fresh red peppers and lettuce, so I sprinkled all purpose seasoning on top & used it as a dip- very satisfying!

(Nice repurposed container for my creme fraiche, eh?  It's glass so you better believe I was reusing it!)  When made this way creme fraiche is another great way of getting more probiotics into your diet too!

Now, I had about a cup of cream left & after a few days I was afraid it was starting to turn, so I decided to try and make "Cheat's Ice Cream" that I learned about here.  I whipped up the cream, adding in about a teaspoon of vanilla, a packet of Stevia sweetener, and a tablespoon or two of coconut.  Instead of raking with a fork every 30 minutes, I re-whipped (3 times) til it seemed frozen enough.  It's not exactly ice cream, but it is yummy!

My daughter informed me today that we must have green shamrock pancakes tomorrow for St. Patrick's Day!  No problem, I've got my sourdough starter out & I will use this recipe for sourdough pancakes.  You know what I love about this recipe?  No soaking of grains!  You're turning your sourdough starter into pancakes (also a great way to use up some starter if you've got too much).  My daughter really liked these last time- she said, "They taste like bread!"  She's my carb lover.  I might throw on a dollop of our "Cheat's Ice Cream" just for fun too!

The other fun thing happening in my kitchen today was I got my first order from Azure Standard.  I found a local buying group & I was so excited to get a lot of staples for frugal amounts!  And I learned a few things from my first time buying from them.  Five pounds of beans is a lot!  One pound of almonds is not very much.  And when or how am I ever going to use all those bay leaves?!  LOL  That's a lot of shredded coconut there too, but I'm sure we'll find a way to use it- I already started tonight!

Check out the Tuesday Twister blog carnival to see what is twisting in other people's kitchens too-

Enjoy!
Lisa

P.S. Next post I am going to tell you about my new found *favorite* pancake recipe...