Ranch dressing
 

Do any of you guys make your own dressing from the hidden valley ranch dip? I do and find the taste WAY better than the light of fat free versions. I make it with light mayo and 2% milk. It comes out to 25 calories per Tbs. My only copmplaint is that it thickens up like mayo, so I add 1 tbs of water to 2 tbs of dressing and get a fabulous 3 tbs of ranch dressing for 50 calories. Love it!

I was thinking of trying to make a healthier ranch by mixing some ranch dip in some plain non fat yogurt. I already use it for salad dressing by mixing herbs into it, but haven't tried ranch yet. I love the texture and consistency of it and I use 2T for about 8 calories. Are a lot of the calories coming from the dip itself?

I don't care for ranch dressing but I only make/buy/eat full fat dressings with the exception of the bolthouse farms dressings. I hate the way all that lf/ff stuff tastes. Nasty! I'll skip cheese on the salad or whatever to have the real deal.

Most of the calories come from the mayo. I wonder what it would taste like if i subbed yogurt for mayo, I will have to try.

I bet that would work great! I believe mayo is the reason I hate ranch dressing... hmmm... I might make some with yogurt and see if I like it any better. My dressing of choice is blue cheese.

My mom has been using that dressing for ever!!!!!! I never thought about substituting with healthier ingredients! Thank you! I will definitely mix some up with better stuff! Especially because I haven't had ranch in 24 days and oh boy do I miss it!

I buy ranch dressing powder in an 8 ounce tub from a spice store. I use it all the time for dressings and other seasoning uses too.

I shake veggies in a bag with a little bit of oil (just enough to dampen the veggies so the ranch powder sticks). Then add a tablespoon or two of the ranch powder (about the amount in a Hidden Valley ranch packet), shake again and pour into a baking dish and roast the veggies at 425 degrees until tender.


For dressings, I usually use Hellman's canola mayo (only 50 calories, and doesn't taste like a "light" mayo to me) and thin it with skim milk or lowfat buttermilk, and stir in the ranch powder.

I also make a veggie dip of 1/2 cup Hellman's canola mayo, 1/2 cup fat free sour cream, and stir in the ranch powder to taste (a couple tablespoons).

It also makes a great seasoning for baked fish (I dredge the baked fish in the ranch powder and then spray lightly with olive oil before baking).

I absolutely LOVE ranch dressing from the packet, I had no idea it was so much lower calorie than the regular Hidden Valley kind. I guess I just figured that since I am dieting I couldn't have any of it anymore, and I definately can't stand the low fat versions. Thank you so much, 3 tbsp for 50 cal you have no idea how excited you have made me! :)

My thoughts exactly. I have been spraying my salad.

You all have inspired me. My children eat hidden valley ranch on everything. Maybe I'll give this a go and see if they'll eat the healthier version.
Thx :)

This is definitely worth a try. I tried using the low fat mayo with buttermilk but my family did not like the buttermilk. I will try with 2% and maybe it will go over better.

I got some ranch mix yesterday (I got the cannister to make it easier to just make one serving at a time). I just tried the ranch yogurt dressing with my lunch. Fantabulous! I used about 1/8 cup of plain fat free yogurt, 1/2 tsp. of the ranch, and just a splach of fat free milk to thin it down to dressing consistency. Awesomeness for only 21 calories for 1/8 cup (I have a really big salad today).

Plain yogurt is so awesome. I replace so much with it. I put other seasonings in it to make various flavored salad dressing, sauces for pasta or whatever else you want to put it on, use it in place of mayo on sandwiches, in place of sour cream in recipes and on potatoes, blend a little in my rice for yumminess (it goes especially well with a brown and red rice blend).

Blue Cheese and Ranch are my 2 fave salad dressings! Unfortunately both of them really suck in the low cal version, they are just way too sweet (why oh WHY must companies insist on adding so much sugar/corn syrup/whatever to low cal products?!?!). Making my own ranch is an excelent idea that I'm going to take advantage of! Unfortunately there's really no way to lighten up the blue cheese dressing enough since it's CHEESE that gives it that yummy flavor.

Has anyone tried making it with unsweetened almond milk? Do you think that would make it taste too weird?

So glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like the fat free stuff! I've got extra points to use per week with Weight Watchers, so I'll just have to use them for regular ranch and cheese, which I also can't stand the taste of the fat free substitutes - I gave up sodas dang it, but I refuse to give up everything I enjoy, haha!! :drool: