Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Recipe - Simple and Delicious

I found this recipe in a video on Facebook. Not sure where it came from, but this is definitely the best homemade ranch recipe that I have run into. It is quick to put together using pantry staples.

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch

• 3/4 cup mayo
• 3/4 sour cream
• 1/4 liquid buttermilk (not powdered)
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder or granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 tsp dried dill
• 3 tsp dried parsley

Combine all of the ingredients into a pint mason and stir and/or shake to combine. You can see that this recipe will pretty much fill up a pint mason jar. The thickness of the ranch will be closer to a dip than a salad dressing.

If you want your ranch dressing to be more pourable, upgrade to a quart mason jar, use a 1/2 cup instead of a 1/4 cup of buttermilk and a 1/4 cup of milk instead of just 1 tbsp. That should make the dressing pourable and perfect as a salad dressing.

Other easy additions to change your ranch style. Just add one or two of the suggested ingredients below to see what works best!

• 1 tbsp of fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp of siracha or your favorite hot pepper sauce
• 2 tbsp of chopped up canned Chipotle peppers and sauce
• 2 tbsp of chopped up fresh jalapeno pepper
• Use a quart mason jar, leave out the 3 tsp dried dill and substitute a 1/2 cup of pureed caramelized onions for a homemade French onion dip
• Replace the 1/2 tsp salt with 1 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp teriyaki sauce

Fresh Caprese Sandwich

My social media feed has been full of varieties of fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, balsamic glaze and breads. Sometimes it shows fresh peaches, sometimes it shows prosciutto, sometimes they also use brie. Sometimes it's a dip or a sandwich or a tooth-picked appetizer... So many yummy suggestions!! 

I don't want to forget this one, so here you go! 

I bought a loaf of sourdough (from Sam's Club- inexpensive and yummy!) fresh mozzarella (happy to discover it was already sliced), beefsteak tomatoes, and some fresh basil. I also bought prosciutto and fresh peaches, but those weren't part of the first plan. Then the prosciutto was suggested and I still forgot to pull it out. 

My husband did a balsamic glaze, according to The Pioneer Woman blog HERE. 

I put all the slices of bread on the pampered chef baking stone (circa 2000- not dishwasher safe!) and drizzled some olive oil on the top side. Then I broiled it in the oven for about three minutes.

(above shows before the went in the oven. You can kind of see the oil drizzles...)

That single slice was cut in half for my kiddo. To the toasted side, I added fresh sliced beef steak tomato, then fresh mozzarella, then topped it with the other half of the bread.

It went in the air fryer for four minutes, at 400*. (ours has a pull out basket)
For the half sandwich, I added just a few drops of the balsamic vinegar glaze, and just a little bit of torn fresh basil leaves.

Below is my husband's dinner.

It was SO good!! 

My husband said it would have been even better with the prosciutto, he really wanted that hit of salt. Honestly, it could have stood a bit of freshly ground black pepper, so why not salt too? But it was so yummy and I am glad that was our dinner tonight! 

My kiddo asked if we could have pancakes next time. hahaha! 

How To Make Ice Cream: The Sweet Cream Base

This comes directly from the Ice Cream Geek Blog. I am putting it here so I don't have to keep looking for it. Here is the link to the original blog post. Ice Cream Geek Blog Post.

The place to start when making ice cream is with the Sweet Cream Base. It contains the basic ingredients for lots of recipes, and then you can add flavorings to make whatever you want.

A great book to start with is Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. It’s filled with no-nonsense recipes that are easy to make, and taste fantastic. Their recipe for the Sweet Cream Base is a pretty common one, and I’ve used it enough times to have it memorized. I like recipes with eggs because I think they make a creamier, more custard-like texture, but see the second recipe below if you want to make an ice cream without eggs.

If you’re looking to duplicate your favorite super-premium ice cream, this is the one you’ll want:

Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base #1

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar

Makes about one quart at 19.1% butterfat.

The basic process:

Mix the cream and milk together and heat over medium-low heat.

While that’s heating, mix the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl.

When the cream/milk mix reaches about 140° F (60° C), remove it from the heat. While whisking the egg/sugar mix, slowly add small amounts of the cream/milk mix until about a third of the cream and milk have been added. (This is called “tempering”, and prevents the eggs from being scrambled.) Then pour the egg/sugar mix back into the pot with the remaining cream and milk, so everything’s together.

Then continue heating it to kill anything that shouldn’t be in there, especially salmonella, which is a nasty bacteria that can come from raw eggs and make people pretty sick. Heating the mix also gives the ice cream a “cooked” flavor, like the taste of warm milk. Heat the mix over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until it reaches 175° F (79° C) and hold it there for at least 25 seconds (the FDA’s official requirement for pasteurization).

Strain the mix into a container and let it cool for a bit before adding extracts that might evaporate. Add a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, pure peppermint extract, or ground cinnamon at this point to make those easy flavors.

Chill the mix until it’s below 40° F (5° C). This is important, because the mix needs to be chilled before it’s run through the machine, so it freezes faster. The faster the mix freezes, the smaller the ice crystals will be, and the smoother the texture. You can chill it covered in the fridge, or if you’re in a hurry, either stir the mix in a metal bowl that’s inside another metal bowl containing ice water, or use my latest favorite method and put the mix in a zip-top plastic bag and then dunk that in a bowl of ice water.

If you have a machine with a built-in freezer, turn it on and let it get good and cold. If you have a machine that uses a frozen bowl, be sure it’s completely frozen — 24 hours or more is best. Then turn on the motor so the dasher starts spinning, and pour in the mix.

It’ll take about 30 minutes, more or less, to churn. You’ll probably be able to hear the motor slowing down when it gets close, and you should probably stop it before it really starts having trouble. The ice cream will come out like stiff soft-serve ice cream.

If you have other things to mix into the ice cream like candy, nuts, or chocolate, you can sometimes add them to the machine just before the end of the churning, but I’ve found that it’s easier to just freeze the ice cream by itself and then transfer the ice cream to a pre-chilled bowl where you can fold in the ingredients afterward. If you’re mixing in something soft like cookies, or something you want to swirl in, you’ll want to use this method anyway because they don’t do well in a machine.

Use a pre-chilled spoon to get all of the ice cream into pre-chilled containers and into the freezer as quickly as possible. Put it in the coldest part of the freezer, which is usually near the air vents at the back. After a few hours in the freezer, the ice cream will harden and be like what you buy in the store. I use cardboard ice cream containers that freeze quickly and look great. Plus you can write the flavor and the date on the lid.

Of course, you could also just eat it right out of the machine. Especially if it’s the first batch you’ve ever made.

A quicker way:

If the whole idea of cooking the mix just seems like too much work, you might see if you can find pasteurized eggs where you live. You’ll be able to skip the cooking completely, and can even combine all the ingredients using a blender.

Or you can try Ben & Jerry’s second base recipe, which doesn’t use eggs, and therefore doesn’t require cooking.  They recommend eating it right away since it tends to turn icy in the freezer. Just mix everything together until the sugar is dissolved, and then continue with the instructions above starting with chilling the mix before churning it.

How to pasteurize eggs: (from an AI summary, but it checks out)

Option 1: Sous Vide Method (Most Reliable)

This method is highly accurate because it maintains the exact temperature required to pasteurize without cooking the egg.

1. Preheat your sous vide water bath to 135° F.
2. Gently submerge your room-temperature eggs in the water.
3. Leave them in the water bath for 75 minutes. 
4. Remove the eggs and immediately place them in an ice bath for 20 minutes to stop any residual cooking 
5. Dry the eggs and mark them (e.g., with a pencil or sticker) so you can tell they are pasteurized.

Option 2: Stovetop Pot Method

Requires close attention to temperature to avoid accidentally scrambling the eggs.

1. Fill a pot with enough water to fully submerge the eggs and attach a candy or instant-read thermometer to the side.
2. Heat the water to 140° F.
3. Gently lower your room-temperature eggs into the water.
4. Maintain the water temperature between 135° F to 140° F for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Remove the eggs and immediately plunge them into an ice bath.

Important Tips:

• Start at room temperature: Cold eggs dropped into warm water can crack. Let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before starting.
• Storage: Pasteurized eggs must be kept in the refrigerator. Use them within 1 to 2 weeks for best quality