Ranchy, Revisited

Last night James brought home Big Mouth Burgers from Chili's for the two of us to eat after the kids were in bed. Between my meeting with a wedding client and his help with our church's mid-week evening service, grownups had to put off dinner in favor of getting the rest of our tasks done and getting the kids fed and in bed. We don't often eat takeout from regular restaurants (favoring Taco Bell for our takeout!), but it just sounded so good.

Harrumph. Our burgers were odd. The meat patties were in pieces in the burger (did they cut them for a reason? Were these scraps?? And why is one of his pieces way undercooked?), mine wasn't made correctly, his side dish was about a third the normal size, and worst of all, they forgot my Ranch. The ticket that said "SIDE RANCH" was taped to my takeout box with a sticker that said "Made Right by ___________". The sticker blank was not filled out. I guess so! You know what they say about the drive-through. Guess it applies to takeout too.

Now, to Chili's credit, I called them and detailed our meal's problems and they are sending me a $25 gift card. And the manager was extremely nice.

But I still had no Ranch.

I tried a recipe for making Ranch Dressing a bit ago, but I didn't think it was quite right. We ate and enjoyed it, but I found it too mayonnaise-y and not flavorful enough. And I didn't buy more store-bought Ranch because I was going to make it again. I had thought of working on that yesterday but put it off in favor of other things and now I was really sorry. So today I got on the ball and made some.

It's quite good, at least to my taste in Ranch. It's creamy without being too thick or at all watery and has a good flavor. If you try it, let me know what you think! I only used my fresh chives and parsley because they were handy; you could replace them with a teaspoon of the dried version of each.

Ranch Dressing

1 c mayonnaise

2 c buttermilk

1 T fresh chives

1 T fresh parsley

1 t dried dill weed

1 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

¼ t salt

¼ t ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients well.