Ok, I’ve now been sitting here…looking at a blank screen…for 20 long minutes.

Wondering – – how in the world do I post this, without sounding arrogant in any way, shape or form.

“Arrogance” is one of my pet peeves. Right up there with lying and stealing. If EVER I have sounded arrogant, believe me, it was never meant that way and I just plain suck at conveying my thoughts onto “paper”.

I don’t have an arrogant bone in my entire body. I am as humble as they come. If you ever met me in person, you’d giggle and see what I’m talking about. 😉 😀

So when I say, that I will never buy my favorite salad dressing in the bottle again because mine tastes better, ….I truly hope that I don’t sound like some kind of smug, arrogant snob. I’m about as far from that as a person could possibly be.

 

But here’s exactly what happened….

I’ve been fiddling with “cracking the Ranch code” for quite a long time now. Every now and then, I dust off my “current recipe” with a gazillion changes, and play with it some more. I love Ranch salad dressing, but if at all possible, I prefer to make things like this homemade. But I wanted it to be “perfect”.

This last time, I made a few more adjustments, and a few more tweaks and changes, and….I thought I had a pretty darned good, comparable dressing here.

So the only way to tell, of course, is to do a side-by-side taste test.

I got out two small spoons and the bottle of dressing from the fridge to compare flavors.

I tasted mine first. Delicious.

I then immediately tasted the bottled. I must’ve made one helluva scrunched up face. Like a child tasting overcooked, mushy spinach for the first time.

I was SHOCKED.

I could NOT believe it.

I SWEAR to you on my whole heart and soul, that the bottled suddenly tasted AWFUL. And when I say awful….I MEAN really, really horrific.

What……in the world. Was it just me????

I did the taste test again with the same result, tasting the bottled dressing first this time.

By now the bottled tasted a little better than the first time, but I could now really taste their concentrated syrupy sugar in it and it tasted like barely flavored mayonnaise.

I then tasted mine; and mine, again, blew theirs away.

Mine actually tastes like “Ranch”. The name brand no longer does.

Did they change it???

Seriously. Maybe it was just me, I thought. So I decided to get my hubby involved in this experiment, and had him “take the taste test”.

I had him try mine first. He actually liked it, and he’s not a fan of Ranch. Already a win situation.

I then had him try the bottled……and BOY did he ever make a face!!!! He literally had a fit!!

I laughed so hard!!!! I said, “Now I know what I looked like!!”

“So, it isn’t just me, babe?”

“NO! That stuff in the bottle is TERRIBLE!!”

I tried to get him to do it again, trying theirs first, but he wanted no part of it.

 

So there you have it. That’s exactly what happened. I will now never have to, nor want to, buy the bottled stuff again. The ONLY thing I don’t always have on hand, unlike every single one of the rest of the ingredients, is buttermilk. So that will be the one and only thing to purchase when I want a little Ranch dressing. About as easy as it gets.

 

 

 

I seriously want you to try this. And I triple dog dare you to do your own taste test. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you. You’re in for quite an eye-opener. 😉

Take care, and I hope that this soon replaces “the bottle” in your fridge, too. Homemade is always better. 😉

 

 

Yield: 1 small cruet

Homemade Ranch Salad Dressing

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Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy mayonnaise such as Hellmann's
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or heavy cream
• 2 Tbl. apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbl. thick sour cream such as Daisy
• 1 1/2 tsp. very finely chopped onion
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. dried mustard
• 1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground rosemary powder
• 1/16 tsp. ground white pepper

Instructions

In medium bowl, add all ingredients and whisk well.

Chill for 2 hours or overnight to let mellow, meld, and the dried onions to soften.

Leave out at room temperature for 30 minutes before using for a more pourable consistency and best flavor. (*This is easiest served, however, ladled from a gravy boat.)

*If too thick for your liking, thin with milk or buttermilk adding SMALL amounts, (1 tsp.), at a time. Don't add too much or you will thin the flavor. It's actually quite delicious when it's thick, and sticks to your salad better and doesn't run all over the plate.