Ranch Dressing Dry Mix (Heavenly Homemaker's)

I've been on a quest off & on for years to find a healthy version of ranch dressing, but while *I* really like this recipe, the kids didn't (though in retrospect, I think the garlic was too strong for them. Next summer when fresh herbs are readily available, I'll try it again with less garlic and see if they'll go for it).  But in the meantime . . . as I was writing up my menu for Christmas dinner, I decided to try Heavenly Homemaker's recipe for ranch dressing and see how it went over. I figured in a big group dinner like that, if the kids didn't like it, there would be other people to help me eat it, so that I didn't have as much left over, and they were less likely to think it might be something "healthy" than if it was just us. So, I mixed this up the day before, but made it with plain full fat yogurt instead of sour cream or creme fresh (I've been wanting to make creme fresh forEVER but haven't gotten around to it yet, so figured organic yogurt was a healthier option than conventional sour cream, and the grocery didn't have organic sour cream as I was madly doing my grocery shopping the day before). I have no idea if the girls ate any of it on Christmas day, but they just polished off a half-bag of baby carrots with a bowl of the dip for lunch today, and no comment was made about it tasting "weird", much less "gross", so apparently I've accomplished my healthy alternative :)

So, in case the above site ever deletes the recipe, here's Laura's awesome ranch dressing mix recipe:

5 Tbsp dried minced onions
7 tsp parsely flakes
4 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Combine and store in an airtight container.

For dip: combine 1 Tbsp dry mix with 1 c sour cream, kreme fesh, or plain yogurt

For dressing: Combine 1 Tbsp dry mix with 1/2 c mayonnaise and 1/2 c buttermilk or sour cream.

Mix at least a few hours in advance to let flavors blend together.

Broiled Grapefruit - 2 ways

Several years ago we went to a bed & breakfast for our anniversary & as part of breakfast they served Broiled Grapefruit (or perhaps they called it baked grapefruit, I don't remember). It was delicious & I always meant to find a recipe and try it at home, but for some reason, I never did. A recent conversation with the girls, reminded me (don't ask me how it came up, I don't remember LOL) and I decided to try it. So I went online, read various recipes and kind of combined the parts that sounded good . . .

The way *I* like it:

Cut grapefruit in half, use a knife to cut around each section (I found it hard to get the sections out with a grapefruit spoon after it was hot, the "walls" weren't as stiff, so I prefer to pre-cut it). Dot approximately 1 tsp (I don't measure, just cut off a small slice of butter and break it into "dot"-size pcs) on each half. Combine approx 1 Tbsp sucanat (natural sugar, or brown sugar, but sucanat is WORLDS healthier than commercial brown sugar, which is about the stupidest product idea I've found yet) and 1 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture to lightly cover the top of the grapefruit halves. Broil for 6-8 min until the top is all "poofy".

The way dd likes it:

She doesn't like the sugar and cinnamon but she likes the "hot grapefruit", and she likes to "dig it myself", so for her I just cut the grapefruit in half, dot a little butter on top (not sure if that's really necessary, but seems like it should make it brown abit better?) & broil for 6-8 min.

(and just to be different, my other dd likes her grapefruit un-broiled.  The toddler steals bites from all of us LOL).

Mediterranean (I think) Flatbread Sandwiches (or salad)

This was a total dump recipe, and the girls liked it, so I figured I'd better write down the "recipe" such as it is. It's a great, quick lunch:

I had some flatbread (think pita bread w/o the "pocket")  I needed to use and was in a hurry. I threw together the following:

feta cheese (I THINK it was roughly 4oz, I think I'd used "half" of an 8oz package and this is what was left)
1 can chick peas, drained
1/2 a can sliced water chestnuts
some chopped tomatoes
Some fresh spinach (sliced into strips)
Dried herbs (I don't remember which ones)
salt
lemon juice & olive oil

Stirred it all together, put some in a bowl for Little Bit to eat as a salad. The rest of us put some in whole wheat flatbread and ate it like a sandwich, YUM!!

Sabbath Roast

My aunt makes a vegetarian roast called Sabbath Roast, that my dd, A2 really likes, here's the recipe (with a couple adaptations I've made):

SABBATH ROAST

1 cup dry burger granules (TVP) reconstituted with 1 cup hot water (next time I'm going to try replacing some of the TVP with cooked lentils)

½-1 cup shredded cheese

1 medium onion,  chopped fine in food processor

1 cup crushed cracker crumbs

¾ cup cream

1/8 cup oil

¼ tsp sage

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp mace (I couldn't find this in our grocery store, so left it out)

½ tsp poultry seasoning

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients well; spray baking dish with Pam  and bake 45-60 minutes at 350. 

(My aunt said she uses a 7x11 pan for 1 recipe and a 9x13 pan if doubled or tripled, I used an 8x8 pan for a single recipe)