Low-Fat Ranch Dressing

Today, it is kind of humid and sticky and I was in the mood for a salmon lettuce wrap for lunch. Although, I love to cook, today was just not the day for whipping out the pans and making the kitchen hot enough for the devil to strip down naked. I've been playing around with a ranch dressing recipe because most , if not all, bottled ranch dressings, just don't suit my taste.  Below you will find the recipe for the finished product along with the wrap I chose to make. There's really no need for step-by-step photos with this recipe because it truly is THAT EASY! You just dump all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and whiz away. The recipe I wrote calls for dried herbs such as dill and chives, but you can certainly use fresh herbs as I did today, if you happen to have them on hand.

 I just dumped these ingredients along with the rest into my blender.

This is what I ended up with.  If you want your dressing to be more of a dip, you can always cut back on the amount of buttermilk or omit it all together.

I used the dressing on a salmon lettuce wrap.  I used a romaine leaf, thawed frozen corn kernels, a couple of sprinkles of rinsed and drained black beans, and  half of a  chopped green onion. Drizzle the whole leaf with a tablespoon of the dressing and voila! Lunch in a flash!

Low-fat Ranch Dressing©

Ingredients

·         ½  cup light or reduced fat mayonnaise

·         ¼ cup of reduced fat sour cream

·         ½ cup of low-fat butter milk or 2% milk

·         ½ teaspoon dried parsley

·         1 garlic clove, minced or  ½  tsp. garlic powder

·         1 teaspoon onion powder

·         8 chives finely chopped

·         ½ teaspoon dried dill

·         1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Put of the ingredients into a blender or food processor or mix by hand until blended.  Makes approximately 1  cup.

Honey Barbecue Sauce

Ever wanted to make barbecue chicken and discovered that you ran out of bottled barbecue sauce? That is what happened to me today! I had my mouth all set for some barbecue meat of any kind, but had NO SAUCE!  I decided to take a look in my pantry and see what ingredients I could toss together to make my idea of the perfect sauce. This is what I came up with and if you prefer a sweet barbecue sauce, it is pretty good and extremely easy to make. The recipe for the sauce is below the instructions.

                        

Saute the onions, jalapeno pepper, and garlic in oil until slightly softened.  

 

Next add the honey, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire & steak sauce along with all of the other spices.

Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes and then thicken with 1 Tbs of Cornstarch and a 1/4 cup of water, if it isn't as thick as you desire.

Once its reached the desired consistency, cool and store in the refrigerator for later use or use right away. The recipe makes approximates 2 cups.

I decided to grill up some pork chops and they surely were tasty!

Here is the recipe: 

Honey Barbecue Sauce©

• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
• 1 tablespoon meat tenderizer
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch & 1/4 cup of water (optional for thickening sauce)
• finely chopped onions
• finely chopped jalapeno ( optional)   

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, sauté the onions and jalapeno for approximately 5 minutes, or until softened. Next stir together the honey, ketchup, cinnamon, paprika, ginger, seasoned salt, meat tenderizer, ground black pepper, salt, oregano, garlic, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and brown sugar until well blended. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes or until the flavors are well blended. If thicker sauce is desired, mix cornstarch and water together, before adding slowly to the sauce. Increase temperature and heat until desired thickness.