I am ready to start eating "clean" again and get back on my plan with Hannah Freese, RD. I am actually craving salads right now after so much Christmas celebrating. We had family gatherings on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas so it was non-stop there for awhile. Plus, we had the grandkids sleepover at our house beginning the 21st thru the 26th so I made a point of having everything ready for the family gatherings before that. That was a good thing because we had horrendous weather including an ice storm so we couldn't go out much at all. We woke up on the 23rd covered with ice!
Needless to say, it caused major havoc with Christmas traveling since our airport was basically shut down. But it did not effect us. The grandkids are happy playing nonstop at our house especially after going to the Nutcracker. They made up all kinds of Nutcracker games.
We had so much good food during all the celebrations, of course. Our Christmas dinner was divine, if I do say so myself. It was actually very simple; a prime rib roast, some green beans (the grandkids favorite) my scrumptious Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls (another grandkids favorite), and some pineapple with pomegranate seeds to add some festivity to the plate.
For dessert, I made Chocolate Mousse that we've had for Christmas dessert a few times, another grandkids favorite. It's a very simple recipe and looks very festive.
For Christmas Eve we had another favorite of the grandkids; homemade pizza with my Sourdough Pizza Crust. They love putting on all their favorite toppings and preparing this meal is as much fun as eating it.
On the day after Christmas, we had a big family gathering at my nephew's house where all the cousins were able to get-together for a potluck celebration once again. There were over 20 people there and everyone brought food - it was a feast to be had.
We aren't able to gather that often in this era of covid but I hope restrictions continue to ease. We all have a really fun time when we see each other and it is always special when we can get together. And the youngsters seem to grow so fast. They always remind us of how fast time flies. We don’t have anymore parties planned for the holidays at this point so now we can take some time to settle down and get back into a normal routine. I’ve already started taking my long walks each day and I'm doing my weekly Pilates sessions so I'm back to my old exercise routine. I made this salad dressing along with a green salad to take for the cousin’s potluck along with my lasagna. So, now I can continue to use up this dressing by eating salads for awhile. This recipe is a “clean” salad dressing because it does not use any of the toxic oils that Hannah Freese, RD talks about that damages our metabolism; soybean oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, safflower oil, canola oil, and sunflower seed oil. I use avocado mayonnaise in it and sour cream plus it has lots of herbs for seasoning so you won't miss adding sugar. And it really tastes like ranch dressing. Perfect. If you are like me and are now craving vegetables and salads after all your celebrating, get started with this "clean" ranch dressing. You won't want to go back to that store-bought stuff again.
8 servings
1/2 cup avocado oil mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk (to thin to make dressing, leave out if making dip)
1 tsp. dried dill weed
1/2 tsp. dried chives
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. iodized salt
1/8 tsp. ground pepper
2 tsp. lemon juice, adjust to taste
1. Whisk together the mayo and sour cream for dip. If making the dressing option, add the milk and whisk together.
2. Add the spices and dried herbs and whisk until combined.
3. Add the lemon and whisk again. Pour into a bowl with a lid (dip) or a jar with a lid (dressing) and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
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