Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

It’s a rare day that I share a non-sweet recipe around here, but as you can probably surmise, I do eat things that don’t include sugar. Cookies nourish the soul, but the rest of me needs far healthier forms of nourishment I received a copy of The Perfect Portion Cookbook recently, and when perusing the recipes, decided to give something savory a try. I’m trying to add more bulk to my diet with extra veggies, but if you’re anything like me, eating vegetables in mass quantities is more of a chore than a pleasure.

Enter: ranch dressing! Vegetables immediately become more enticing to me when smothered with something delicious, and I’ve store-bought loved ranch dressing since I was little. I hadn’t ever tried to make it myself, so this was the perfect opportunity. This recipe is easy as can be, which made it especially appealing over Easter weekend when we were short on time but still needed to feed the family.

We had everything on hand except the parsley flakes, so I omitted those from the recipe, but even without, this recipe was a hit. Everyone really enjoyed it, and we finished almost the entire recipe in one afternoon. I used lowfat everything (but not nonfat!) and the flavor was spot on — a wonderful balance of herbs, delightfully creamy, and just the right consistency so it can not only serve as a dip, but as a regular dressing!

We served this with a platter of fresh veggies, and it was devoured in a matter of minutes.

I haven’t tried anything else from this cookbook yet, but there’s another dressing I’m dying to try — the Creamy Blue Cheese — and a few other recipes as well. The book has 150 different comfort food recipes designed to give you portion sizes that are exactly 100 calories each. The recipes aren’t necessarily meant to be health versions of your favorite comfort food recipes (though they are notably healthier, or use more low-fat ingredients), but rather portioned so that you can still enjoy your favorite comfort foods, just more reasonably! As someone who struggles with portion control from time to time (I’m looking at you, French fries and donuts), it’s nice to be able to eat what I want… within reason.

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