Ramsey Farms Ranch Dressing

Since Sonja asked for it, here is my Ramsey Farms Ranch Dressing recipe! Like all my recipes, it's really very easy to make! (I don't have time for fancy, hard-to-get ingredients or time consuming processes!) It'll taste even better if you grow your own dill and herbs! ❤💗 Farmer Chris won't touch bottled ranch dressing from the store anymore and there have been threats of eating it from the jar with a spoon! It's great on salads, for fresh veggies, even pizza crust or whatever you can put it on to eat it! It's that good! 😋

Ramsey Farms Ranch Dressing

Makes about one pint - mix it all up in a pint size mason jar. We save the plastic mayo lids to wash and use to close up the jars. Will keep in the fridge until the expiration date of your sour cream. This is a great base recipe, you can add your own ingredients, spices, herbs to get the flavor you like best. Be cautious about how much garlic you use, otherwise you'll be up all night with heartburn! You can find my original post of this recipe here. Thanks to The Pioneer Woman for the foundation for this recipe! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup (real) mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream* (see below for how to make your own quick sour cream!)
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp+ sugar
• salt to taste
• dill (fresh or dry), to taste (I use about 1 tsp fresh or 2 tsp dry)
• a splash of buttermilk* (or lemon juice or vinegar) (I use about 2 tsp of the sour cream liquid mentioned in the sour cream recipe below)
• other herbs I use interchangeably: parsley, thyme, oregano, rosemary, cilantro, chives
• Optional: paprika and or hot pepper flakes and or cayenne pepper and or hot sauce

Directions

1. Mince your garlic and chop the herbs very finely. 
2. Mix the garlic, sugar, salt, herbs into the mayonnaise. Stir well.
3. Taste frequently and adjust seasonings as desired.
4. Add the sour cream; mix very well.
5. Chill for at least 30 minutes or up to a few hours for best results. 
6. Thin with buttermilk (or vinegar) or milk if needed.
7. Eat and enjoy!!

Make Your Own Sour Cream

This makes a thinner cream than the weird gelatinous stuff in a plastic carton from the store, but it gives a much more authentic flavor to your dressing! We very rarely buy the sour cream in the store anymore since this is just so easy to whip up in a minute and feels healthier to me without the additives. 

1. In a glass mason jar, add one cup milk. (Note the milk's expiration date, this is when your ranch dressing expires too.)
2. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar.
3. Place in coolest part of the fridge for 20+ minutes.
4. This makes approximately 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sour cream.
5. Scoop the cream of the top to add to your dressing!
6. The liquid that is left in the jar can be used as buttermilk!

You can check out all the recipes on my blog here! 

"One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." ~Henry Miller

The Pre-Spring Herb Garden

The bare herb garden ready for spring and new seeds. You can see the lemon balm, cilantro, some dill, the thyme and the tea tree (in the middle).

The biggest ant hill you've ever seen moved in right smack dab in the middle of the chocolate mint plant! What you see there is grits - yes, dry grits - coating the entire mound. Within just a few days, the ants were gone!

The view from the other side. Thyme, cilantro, dill, the tea plant in front of the lemon balm then at the far end the chocolate mint topped with grits.

Spring officially starts tomorrow morning at 5:28! We will celebrate!

Just $100

“It’s just $100”'

A friend of mine shared with me that they spent well over $100 on taking all the kids to see a major new film at the movie theater a few weeks ago.

$100?! I wish you could see the look on my face?! 

They enjoy going to movies and work hard for their money and it is certainly their business and their prerogative with what they with their money, I would use that in many different ways simple because going to the movies is not something I really enjoy doing.

Let’s just for pretend sakes, say we put $100 in an interest bearing savings account at my local credit union (it pays 0.75% APY) and just for fun we add another $100 to the account every year. It would take nine years but eventually you’d have over $1,000! For me, that seems way more fun than lugging a bunch of little children to sit through a long movie in a theater! 

Okay now take your same $100 and put it in that same savings account and let’s say instead of going out to eat or getting my nails done or whatever I can sacrifice, I put an extra $100 a month in that same account! It’d take ten years, but you’d have more than $12,500 in that account!

Put that $100 in an investment with a 7% rate of return, contribute $100 a month for ten years and you’ll wind up with more than $17, 000!

Live and enjoy life, but be sure you’re preparing for the future. It’ll be here quicker than you realize. It may be just $100, but through diligence and discipline you can turn that $100 into a great deal more while teaching your children the importance of steady plodding for investing in their futures.

"Steady plodding brings prosperity" Proverbs 21:5 (TLB)

All of The Best in One Place!

You may have just read our Top Blog Posts of 2016 so if you want a quick glimpse at all the annual favorites, here are the links to the four Top Blog Posts of the Year articles!

• Top Posts of 2016
• Top Posts of 2015
• Top Posts of 2014
• Top Posts of 2013

Don't forget to visit the Facebook page for tons of pictures, check out our Recipes page for all the recipes I've posted on the blog, and be sure to see the DIY Bath & Body Products page for articles and how-to's for making your own healthy, all natural products. 

Thanks! Be sure you get outside and take note of the changes around you in nature! Spring's coming!! Just 19 more days! :)