Homemade Ranch Dressing

Maybe you are concerned about random ingredients in your food (MSG anyone?), or perhaps maybe dinner is in an hour and you don't have time to run to the store (have I complained yet about how I live in the middle of a fairly large city and yet I still must drive fifteen minutes to get to a grocery store?). Regardless of your reasoning, sometimes it is nice to be able to just whip up your own salad dressing. You probably have most of the ingredients on hand, and if you don't you probably wont be disappointed with a little improvisation.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

by: Janssen @ frugalwifewealthylife.blogspot.com

3/4 cup mayonnaise (light is fine)
3/4 cup sour cream (light is fine)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup parsley (this was the thing I did not have)
1 green onion (green part only)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons - 1/2 cup buttermilk

Put all ingredients, except buttermilk, in the blender and process until smooth; add buttermilk until desired consistency is reached. Store in fridge for up to two weeks.

*Kristi's Notes: I had no parsley, but ironically I did have fresh basil so I threw in a couple of basil leaves in lieu of the parsley and enjoyed the results. Also I don't go through buttermilk so I usually keep some buttermilk powder on hand, or you can mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice and let it stand for five minutes. Another handy thing to note is that if you go to the store and buy Italian salad dressing, you can buy a two pack that has a cruet included for less than the cost of two Italian dressing packs. probably everyone in the world knew this already but me, but it was a happy day when I didn't have to store my homemade dressing in a canning jar anymore :)