Ranch Dressing

I miss ranch dressing. It has always been my topping of choice for most any sort of salad, veggies, and occasionally even chips. But, with The Bean's need to be dairy free, I have had to forgo most creamy dressings. HOWEVER, I found this dairy-free ranch dressing the other day, and modified it just a bit to suit my needs. The original recipe is here: Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing Recipe.

Here is my modified recipe:

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoons lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed (I used a bit more of this)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder (I used onion flakes to give it some texture)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard  

Mix the lemon juice and the coconut milk together and let sit for 10 minutes. Then whisk in the remaining ingredients. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. If you prefer a less-thick dip, add slightly more lemon juice and coconut milk. For a soy-free dressing, use canola mayo. 

I forgot to take a picture of it. Bummer! But it. was. amazing. Especially the next day on fresh veggies. Hurray for dairy-free ranch!

Onion Rings

Found a great recipe for onion rings and modified it to be dairy free. Hurray! The original recipe can be found here: Old Fashioned Onion Rings.

Here is the modified recipe: 

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup coconut milk (I'm sure you could use soy milk as well)
• 1 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (or as needed)
• seasoned salt to taste
• 1 quart oil for frying (or as needed)

Place the flour, baking powder, and salt into a gallon sized ziploc bag and shake until thoroughly combined. Add onion rings (works best to add 1/2 of the batch at a time), and shake again until onions are well-dusted, then remove from the bag. After all the onions are covered in the flour mixture, add the eggs and the milk to the bag and mix until thoroughly combined. (The batter will be thick.) Add the onions (1/2 of the batch at a time) to the bag and "mash" the bag until the onions are covered in the batter. Remove onions from bag and place on some sort of rack (cooling rack, roasting pan rack, just something with holes/slits in it) to drip.
Heat the oil to about 350 degrees (use a thermometer!). In a large Tupperware container (or some sort of container with a lid, sprinkle some bread crumbs, add a few batter-covered onions, replace the lid, and shake until the onions are covered with crumbs.
Place the onions in the hot oil and fry until golden brown and DELICIOUS (about 1-2 minutes). Remove from oil and place on paper towels. Continue the process until all the onion slices have been upgraded as previously described.
Add salt/seasonings to taste, (we eat ours with a little salt and KETCHUP), and enjoy!

Onion rings are pretty time intensive, but these are totally worth it. So next time you have a spare hour, give 'em a try.