Ranch Dip

You know what happens when you attempt to make ranch dressing and it ends up being too thick? You pretend like you were actually making ranch dip, hence the title of my post and name of my recipe.  Before my youngest daughter decided she loved vegetables, she didn't, and we recommended she eat them with ranch dressing, and it worked.  She has loved ranch and vegetables ever since.  I promised her homemade ranch dressing, and finally I made it.  Of course my ranch dressing really was ranch dip, but hey that is a forgivable mistake right?  It isn't is it?  Okay, well then we'll make ranch dressing next time.  This dip is really good with vegetables, like those commercials for a certain hidden ranch dressing where everyone is eating cauliflower like popcorn and they have vegetable eating contests.  Potato chips are really yummy with this dip too.  

 Ranch dip and vegetables, great Summer time snack.

Ingredients:

2 cups Greek Style Yogurt
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/4 Avocado Oil (Olive Oil can be substituted)
1/4 cup Fresh Parsley
2 tablespoons Fresh Dill
5 Small or 3 Large Green Onions
2 cloves Garlic
2 teaspoons Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

 Cut the greens onion, parsley, and dill, press the garlic and mix all of these with salt.

 Lets add the yogurt, sour cream, and avocado oil, stir.

 The flavor wasn't right yet, so add pepper, and Worcestershire Sauce, stir.

 Still not right add smoked paprika and hot sauce, stir.  Perfect!

 Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Dip your favorite vegetables and potato chips.

Enjoy!

Ranch dip

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

2 cups Greek Style Yogurt

1/2 cup Sour Cream

1/4 Avocado Oil (Olive Oil can be substituted)

1/4 cup Fresh Parsley

2 tablespoons Fresh Dill

5 Small or 3 Large Green Onions

2 cloves Garlic

2 teaspoons Hot Sauce

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

Process:

Cut the greens onion, parsley, and dill, press the garlic and mix all of these with salt.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Bread Pudding

I pinned a recipe for blackberry pudding with lemon sauce recently and bought the blackberries and was ready to make it today when I realized the recipe used canned biscuits.  I don't buy canned biscuits and store bought yogurt.   Well since I don't buy either of those foods anymore that meant it was time to start over and remake the recipe my way.  This pudding has very little added sugar versus the pinned recipe and I used Agave instead of sugar, I substituted and changed the desert and well it is similar to the recipe but with my own spin.

It isn't very pretty, but it does taste yummy.

Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheit

 Ingredients for the biscuits are: 2 cups self-rising flour, 1/4 cup coconut oil, and 2/3 cup buttermilk(I used homemade, recipe is here).

 Mix flour and coconut oil together creating small pea size balls. Add buttermilk and knead dough lighty, create a ball.

 Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into triangles.  Place on coconut oil greased cookie sheet.  Brush coconut oil on biscuits.

 Bake biscuits for 10 minutes.

 Break biscuits into 1 inch pieces and put in greased 9x13 cake pan or round 9 inch tall cake pan.

Lower oven temperature 350 Fahrenheit

 Ingredients for custard are: 1 cup heavy cream, 16 ounces plain Greek yogurt(I used homemade, recipe found here), 1/2 cup agave syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 4 eggs, 2 cups blackberries, and 1 cup blueberries.

 Add ingredients to bowl, do not add fruit. 

 Beat with whisk, until mixed.  After mixing add fruit and stir.

 Pour ingredients onto bread.

Bake for 40-50 minutes.

 Test center with toothpick, does it come out clean?

Again it isn't pretty in a bowl, but it tastes yummy.

Enjoy!

Tzaziki Sauce

I wanted Tzaziki sauce, isn't that a fun word Tzaziki?  Do you know what Tzaziki sauce is?  I have homemade Greek yogurt that is destined to be this most yummy sauce.

Where's a pita chip when you need it, want some?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1/2 English cucumber, small bunch of dill, 1 lemon,
4 cloves of garlic, Kosher Salt, 2 cups Greek Yogurt (I used homemade).

 I drained the yogurt for a few minutes in a coffee filter lined mesh sieve over a bowl.
I wanted to have a thick sauce.

 Cut the cucumber into small bits, cut the dill off the stalks and cut some more (not to much
or you'll have pulp).  Press the garlic, and slice the lemon in half.

 I put the cucumber in between several layers of paper towels and pressed it with a large can
in a bowl.  I flipped the cucumber and paper towels over after a couple of minutes.
This step removes extra liquid which could make your sauce thin.

My dry cucumber is ready.

 Dump everything in the bowl.

Stir.

Enjoy!

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Today I made homemade yogurt. Do you like yogurt?  This is the way to go, homemade is better AND you know the ingredients, especially the sugar content.  You will need half a gallon of milk, your choice, whole, 2%, 1%, or nonfat.  Buy milk that you would drink.  You will need a yogurt starter, which is already prepared yogurt.  A single serving cup of good yogurt, not the cheap stuff.  I used Fage Greek yogurt.

Do you like Greek yogurt?

 

Ingredients for this recipe are: 6 cups milk, and single serving cup of Greek Yogurt (room temperature).  I used an 8 qt. Stainless Steel stock pot to cook the milk in, and a 1/2 gallon 

mason jar for the yogurt.

 Pour milk into cold pan, turn burner onto Medium.  Using a thermometer to guide you, heat

 the milk to 185 Fahrenheit,  when it reaches temperature maintain this temperature and 

scald the milk for 30minutes.

 

 After scalding the milk place pan in sink filled half full with water and plenty of ice.
You will need to cool your milk to 110 Fahrenheit before continuing.

Time to pitch the yogurt, put a few tablespoons of you cooled milk with the yogurt and stir.
Do this a couple more times to bring yogurt to temperature.  Pour the milk in the mason jar,
and add the yogurt to it and stir gently (not too much).

 Wrap your jar in a heating pad set to medium.  The yogurt needs to remain warm for 7 hours,
 this will produce the right amount of thickness and tang. 

 After seven hours mix the yogurt, and remove from the heat.

 Strain your yogurt in a cheesecloth lined colander over a bowl and put yogurt in an airtight
container of your choice and refrigerate.  The liquid in the bowl is Whey, you may use it in
place of liquids in a myriad of recipes, bread, pancakes, smoothies, or drink it as is.  Your
yogurt will reach its peak thickness within the first 24 hours.  

The yogurt is complete, and we didn't use any sugar, so you may add honey, jam, cut
up fruit, the choices are endless and all within your grasp.

Enjoy!