Wishbone's Light Ranch has 40 calories and 2 g fat per 2 tablespoons, and doesn't have the nasty fake flavor of the fat free varieties.

That was a great tip about the plain yougrt and the hidden valley mix. I have been just using plain non fat yougrt with cayanne pepper and red pepper flakes and a few other spices in it. I have been eating CLEAN and have to keep extra salts out and I get tired off the vinagers and lemon juice things I also use cottage cheese alot. I have to keep my protien high so it helps to use these as dressings as BONUS protiens.I usually eat about 1200 to 1300 cals aday.

I recently discovered Ken's spray on honey mustard vinegarette @ 1 calorie per spray. It is delicious and guilt free

I LOVE just straight red wine or rice wine vinegar. It's good for you too.

I make my own Balsamic vinaigrette that is so yummy. I use 2 TBS. of a pretty good quality balsamic (not the cheapest in the store), 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp honey, sprinkling of garlic powder (or 1/8 tsp minced fresh garlic), fresh ground pepper, and a tiny amount of salt. Whisk together and enjoy.

Do you have some sort of measurements to go by? I mean, how many packets of dry mix, about how much low mayo, and about how much low fat milk? I use nonfat milk (dry milk mixed with water).... it's not bad at all!

I love full fat ranch, too, as well as a few other regular salad dressings. Usually I just dip my fork in the dressing rather then adding it to the salad. If I do actually add it to the salad (usually because there is cheese on top and it falls to the bottom otherwise), I either measure out an exact TB or just put a little on top.

I also really love a TB of olive oil and a little salt and/or dill (under 100 calories). YUM!

It's one cup of milk and one cup of mayo. I don't care for fat free mayo so I use low fat which is 35 calories for a tablespoon.

I have a couple of base recipes I use, then flavor according to the salad I'm eating.

Dressing 1 is a mustard-based vinaigrette...2 tsp coarse mustard, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp chopped shallot or 1 tsp chopped garlic, and about 1/3 cup chicken broth. I'll flavor with herbs, spices, etc, or vary the vinegars. Sometimes I add a little splenda for a "honey mustard" type feel, or use a tarragon or other flavored vinegar.

Dressing 2 is a fat-free sour cream based cream dressing - 1/4 cup fat free sour cream and 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth (more or less depending on how thick you like your dressing). I flavor it up with any combination of spices, including ranch dressing mix, chipotle or regular chili powder, ground cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, etc. One of our favorites on a taco salad is to add chili powder, chipotle chili powder, cumin, pinch of salt, and a squeeze of lime juice. So great! Chipotle or chili ranch dressing is another favorite...chili powders and some ranch dressing mix. I also have a wonderful garlic dressing mix that I use sometimes...picked it up at an art and wine festival.

Thank you for the ideas. I went to Aldi yesterday and found fit & active ranch dressing. Its 35 cals per TBSP which is a lot better then 70 cals per tbsp. I'm going to give it a try today.

yay i love this thread i am in the same boat, i love my ranch and the ideas on here are great! thanks!

I love all the Spritzers and they have a ranch flavored one now, too. The Ken's sprays, as someone above mentioned, are also very good.

I tried LowFat ranch recently and really liked it (Hidden Valley, I think). So I thought, maybe FatFree wasn't as bad as I remembered it to be, so I bought a huge bottle of it. Ugh. It WAS as bad as I remembered! I hate to waste food, but I think I will be getting rid of it because I just cannot handle the taste.

For the packets of ranch dressing that you mix yourself, is there a lot of sodium in those?

Trader Joe's carries Lowfat Parmesan Ranch Dressing. It's only 15 calories per tablespoon and is delicious!

Oh, I do the dip the fork in the dressing trick too. That really does help...

My absolute favorite dressing recipe is a Honey Mustard version ...

I mix FF or LF mayo, mustard, a little vinegar, black pepper, and Splenda. Tastes creamy and not at all fake.