Homemade Ranch Dressing

If there is one thing our family eats a lot of, it's salad. We eat salad up to four times a week with dinner, not counting what Mom and I consume for lunches. That adds up to a lot of salad dressing consumed as well! There are only a few different dressings we like, ranch is on top. We usually buy the bulk size mix at the store, but that's proving a little pricey with how much we use of it.

The other night we were completely out of mix, so I opened the cabinet and made my own. The result was so yummy (the kids were licking their plates), I don't think we are going to be buying the mix again.

The recipe I originally concocted in my head included fresh parsley and chives. The refrigerator was not stocking those ingredients at the moment, but I've added them to this recipe anyways. If you don't have either of those two ingredients either, don't worry, the dressing was delicious without them!

Ranch Dressing

In a large glass measuring cup add:

1 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. dill weed
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. apple cider vineger
3/4 cup milk

Happy Monday! ~Jessica

Popcorn Balls

I made these yummy treats a week or so ago, and we loved them! They taste like rice crispy treats, except with fluffy popcorn. We love rice crispy treats, but rarely buy the rice crispies part, so we seldom make them. These are a delicious substitute! (especially since we buy popcorn kernels in 50 lb. bags!)

For this recipe we popped a little over 20 cups of popcorn. I have especially been loving making popcorn since I got a Cuisinart popcorn maker ;) You only need 1 tsp. of oil per 1/2 cup of kernels.

In a pan, melt 1 stick of butter.

Add 2 10oz. bags of marshmallows (large or mini, doesn't matter)

Cook and stir over low heat until the mixture is smooth and creamy (don't boil, you'll have rubbery popcorn balls!)

Pour over popcorn

Butter your hands lightly and mix together until every piece of popcorn is coated =)

Have the children butter their hands, and pull off small apple-sized pieces of popcorn and gently squeeze into balls.

Place on parchment paper to dry for 1 hour. Yummy!

They certainly didn't stick around long...


Many blessings on your Spring! ~Jessica