Friday, September 7, 2012

Crazy Cooking Challenge: Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning

I'm excited to be participating in my first ever Mom's Crazy Cooking Challenge.  I've seen other bloggers doing this and it seemed like fun.  Basically the concept is that each month there is a set theme and participating bloggers go off and make something related to that theme.  Then on the 7th of each month the real fun begins because everyone reveals their challenge recipe and the blog hop begins!

For this challenge, we had two, yes TWO days to complete it. But thankfully it was easy.  I took a little liberty in this challenge in that I didn't make it fully into the dressing/dip...simply because I didn't have any mayo, sour cream, or even yogurt (a first!) in the house to do so.  Besides, now this seasoning can really show off its versatility as a dressing, dip, or seasoning for things like meats and potatoes.  It's completely homemade and literally took a minute to whip up from pantry ingredients.  One step to the recipe.  Seriously.  You'll never go back to the packaged stuff again!

I didn't have garlic salt or onion salt as the original recipe calls for so just used more regular garlic and onion powders and added roughly 1 tsp of salt.  I figure you can always add more later depending on your final application!

Upcoming challenges:
October 7, 2012 - APPLE PIE
November 7, 2012 - STUFFING Recipes
December 7, 2012 - PERFECT SUGAR COOKIE

Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning



Yields: ~1/2 cup

Ingredients
  • 4 saltine crackers (I only had Ritz crackers around today...time to go to the store!)
  • 4 Tbsp dried parsley
  • 4 Tbsp dry minced onion
  • 1/2 Tbsp dill weed
  • 1.5 Tbsp onion powder
  • 1.5 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
Directions
  1. Add all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until you form fine particles.  (I LOVE the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments...so versatile and the perfect size for this application!)
To make into Ranch Dressing: Add 1 Tablespoon of the ranch seasoning to 1 cup of mayonnaise + 1 cup of buttermilk.  Stir to combine and if necessary, season with salt and pepper.

Source: Modified from Kayotic Kitchen

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5 comments:

Vicki said...

Crackers? Never heard of adding them to make ranch dip, but now I've gotta try it!!

Love Bakes Good Cakes said...

Welcome to the CCC :) I love how you made yours a homemade packet! Why have I never thought to do that?! I'm following you on FB, Twitter and Pinterest! :) I'm #4 in the CCC.

Tina @ MOMS CRAZY COOKING said...

Perfect - thanks for jumping on board! :-)

Ann from Sumptuous Spoonfuls said...

I love this! I like making my ranch with fresh herbs but my kids won't touch it ... they want the hidden valley ranch so I have been buying the seasoning mix but I'd much rather make it at home! Thank you ... I've gotta try this.

Jennifer said...

Putting crackers in the mix is very clever! Jen