Dump Ranch Dressing, First Attempt

My stick blender arrived this morning so I immediately grabbed what I needed to make Dump Ranch dressing.  Without it, I've been having a hard time finding the fat required with my meals when following Whole30 so I've been anxious to try it.  This Dump Ranch recipe uses olive oil and coconut milk, both compliant fats on Whole30, so if I use this in salad or as a sauce over vegetables, I'll meet my fat requirements easily.

I didn't have everything on the ingredient list, so I modified mine just a bit.  I didn't have red wine vinegar and was afraid regular red cooking wine wouldn't be compliant, so I just omitted that.  My herbs were limited, so I just added what I had - a little oregano and basil.  The garlic and onion salts that I have on hand aren't compliant (both have other fillers in them - ugh), so I went with just salt and pepper, and a little chopped garlic.  Sigh - more things I'll have to add to my ever-growing shopping list.

My immersion blender didn't fit down into the neck of the jar that I had planned on storing the Dump Ranch in, so I used a large glass measuring cup, then poured the results into my jar when done.  No biggie, just means I had one extra thing to wash.  I chunked everything into the measuring cup and commenced to blending.  Everything whipped up just fine and looked great, so I did a taste test by dunking my finger in it.

Hmm ... kinda bland.  I added a little more garlic then grabbed an onion and cut a very small chunk, minced it, and tossed that in too.  Tasted again; still needed something.  Added more salt and pepper, and then it ended up too salty.  I poured just a tad more coconut milk into the mix and called it good.  It's not the tastiest thing I've ever made, but poured over other foods, it'll be fine. It'll sure beat the coconut  milk I added to my tea this morning.

I do miss the sweetness of a store-bought dressing, but maybe the red wine vinegar will help with that.  I probably won't miss it as much in my salad because I add apple to that, which will add quite a bit of sweetness.

All in all, I feel I've realized a modicum of success in my first attempt at making Dump Ranch dressing.  I expect I'll be experimenting with this basic recipe as I go along and will be sure to write about my successes (and failures).  I've never used fresh herbs much, but plan on seeing what I can find locally.  Maybe I'll even try growing my own.

Veggies will be on my plate with lunch, and salad is on the  menu with dinner tonight, and I can't wait to try this!

~ Marie Anne