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

Recipe Swap: Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Time for another What's Cooking Recipe Swap and with it comes a pretty new badge (Thanks Coleen at Does Not Cook Well with Others for creating it!) and linky hop party (setup by our hostess Sarah at A Taste of Home Cooking) for instant theme browsing satisfaction!  How cool is that??

The theme for the week was desserts and given that my schedule has been crazy lately, I requested something simple.  Enter these cookies from Joanna at Newly Wed and Newly Cooking.  She's fairly new to cooking and blogging as her blog name would suggest.  In her notes accompanying the recipe, Joanna said it is an old family recipe that her mother or grandmother had found a number of years back.

I'm glad that she chose to share these with me because not only do they form a beautiful, delicate lacy pattern, but they're just plain addicting to eat.  This is a cookie like none other that I have tried!  Very unique!  They are extremely thin and crunchy...almost like a sugar candy.  The flavor is rich and buttery with a hint of chewiness and added nutty flavor from the oatmeal.  You could almost pop them in your mouth one after another as if they were potato chips...but don't do that unless you want to weight 10000 pounds!

I found that I preferred mine cooked only 5 minutes.  By the time they cooled enough on the pan to hold their shape, they got more toasty and caramelized than I'd like.  Some people might like this but I prefer a lighter colored cookie for the aesthetic value and still plenty of crunch.  Last but not least, this made A LOT of cookies...I think about 6 dozen.  So, to balk at temptation, feel free to halve the recipe.

I submitted the Macademia Lemon Bars and hope whoever received them enjoyed them as much as our guests and I did.  I'm pretty much drooling thinking about the buttery, tart goodness of that dessert...

One Year Ago: Swiss Chard Lasagna Florentine
Two Years Ago: Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
Three Years Ago: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• pinch salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c oats (not instant)
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix together until well blended.
3. Using a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, drop heaping spoonfuls about 4 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake for 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.  (As stated above, I preferred 5 minutes)
5. Let cool a few minutes before removing from baking sheets.

Source: Unknown as submitted by Newly Wed and Newly Cooking

Buttermilk-Grilled Chicken with Garden Vegetable Salsa

Are you always looking for ways to use up your leftover buttermilk like I am?  Lucky for you I have a buttermilk tag on my blog just for this exact purpose!  Of course, you could always "cheat" and make fake buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a regular cup of milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes.  This makes it get a bit curdled and sour just like buttermilk.  It works in a pinch but for me, I like the real thing so I buy the jug of buttermilk at the store.

My CSA continues to churn out lots of wonderful garden-fresh veggies and so when I saw this on Josie's blog, I knew it would make the menu sometime this Summer.  Finally the stars aligned and the farm supplied all of the vegetables that I needed to make this recipe (even the mashed potatoes which I made as a "bed" for the chicken and veggies to rest upon).  I gathered some fresh herbs from our work garden and happened to have some buttermilk leftover from when I had made Tomato and Corn Pie (still easily the best dish from the Summer!) and Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream.  Perfect.

I've heard of using buttermilk for fried chicken before but never grilled so the concept was intriguing to me.  I found that allowing the chicken to marinate overnight in the buttermilk mixture resulted in meat so juicy and tender after grilling that I about died of happiness.

As a side note, this is my last month of my CSA subscription :(.  But, to preserve some of the fresh flavors of summer, I took on canning 60 POUNDS of tomatoes with my mother-in-law.  I'll post soon about that adventure so stay tuned!

One Year Ago: Oven Baked Sweet Potato Chips

Buttermilk-Grilled Chicken with Garden Vegetable Salsa

Ingredients

For the Chicken

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed
• 2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

For the Garden Salsa

• 1/2 cup finely diced cucumber
• 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper
• 1/2 cup minced scallions
• 3/4 cup corn, cut from the cob (about 1-2 ears)
• 2 medium tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1/4 cup minced fresh herbs (such as basil, chives, oregano, and parsley)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. In a gallon-sized ziplock bag or shallow baking dish, combine the chicken with the buttermilk, garlic, and spices.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
2. When ready to cook, preheat the grill to medium-high heat.  Oil the grates and cook the chicken about 7 minutes per side, turning once, or until the internal temperature reaches 165F.  Remove from the heat and cover loosely with foil.  Allow to rest at room temperature about 10 minutes before serving.
3. While the chicken is cooking, combine the ingredients for the salsa in a medium bowl.  Taste and season with salt and pepper before serving on top of chicken.

Source: Pink Parsley