Ranch Dip

Ranch dip is a very good dressing for salads, a fab dip for chips and veggies, good for burgers and you can eat it with almost anything just like ketchup... it is creamy and yummy!! I get the low fat or fat free cream cheese to make this dip... you can use the level of fat you want to eat. If you don't get cream cheese where you live, don't worry, hang some yogurt in a muslin cloth and let it drain completely, preferably over night... you will have a product which will resemble cream cheese very closely. The rest of the ingredients are mostly available everywhere... so make and enjoy!!

Prep time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1. Fat free cream cheese - 8ozSpring onions - 1 bunch, roughly chopped (do not use all of it, just 3/4, eliminate dark green part)
2. Garlic - 1 pods (use less if you don't like)
3. Yogurt - 2 tbsp
4. White Vinegar - 2 tsp
5. Ground Black pepper - 1/2 tsp (more if you like)
6. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp or 1/2 tbsp lime juice
7. Salt - to taste
8. Capers/kabra - 1/2 tsp (optional)
9. Parsley - 1 tsp dry 2 tsp fresh
10. Water - 1 to 2 tbsp to thin the dip if required.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and make a smooth paste of consistency of ketchup or slightly thinner.

Tips:

To give it more flavour, you can add 1 seeded jalapeno and 1 tsp dill leaves.

To make cream cheese from yogurt. Take the yogurt put it in a muslin/cheese cloth or good quality paper towels (ones which wont tear after getting wet like bounty sheets). Tie yogurt in it, place it in a filter, the ones you use filter fruit pulp or you can use a small vessel which has holes in it. The whole idea is to drain the water oozing out of yogurt into a vessel beneath it. Place this filter on the vessel, make sure it coves the mouth of the vessel, it must not fall inside it. Place tied yogurt in the filter and put this in your refrigerator. Let it drain for atleast 8 hours.

Garden Salad with sundried tomatoes dressing

Salads are the best way of getting a lot of fiber, vitamins and some minerals into our bodies. The beauty of salad is that, there is no hard and fast rule of ingredients... you can let your imagination lose and try adding many different ingredients of fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, rice, barley, quinoa and any other thing you want mix it and have a feast. Only one thing to mind with salads is the compatibility of ingredients. A few ingredients don't go with some and some go with everything. I open my fridge and put ingredients I find together, top it with a great dressing and devour a whole bowl of salad. I just love them. For people who are used to eating a lot of spicy food as all three meals a day, it may be slightly difficult to appreciate the taste in salads, however, if you try eating it for a week, you will stop eating all the spicy dishes and fetch for some salad. No salad is great unless it is topped with a good dressing. Again a dressing can be high on fat to low fat to zero fat. I generally make low fat or zero fat dressing... this is one of the low fat dressings.

Salad Dressing Ingredients: (makes for more than one use)

1. Sun-dried tomatoes - 7 to 9, if you are using the ones which are not soaked in oil, just soak them in warm water for 30 minutes.

2. Light oil - 1/4 cup (like salad oil, canola, vegetable, corn or you can use light olive oil)

3. Red wine vinegar - 1/4 cup (if not on hand, use regular vinegar)

4. Dry basil - 1 tsp

5. Dry Parsley - 1 tsp

6. Garlic - 2 small pods\ 1 medium or 1/2 big pod

7. Ground Pepper - 1/4 tsp

8. Salt - 1/4 tsp or to taste

Method: 

Run all the ingredients in a food processor till they blend well. If it is thick, use a little more oil and vinegar.

Vegetables: (All of these ingredients make about a medium bowl for one person)

I have used romaine lettuce, julienne beetroot, roughly chopped vine ripe small tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, sliced black olives and grated Parmesan cheese. You can add the veggies of your choice, pour some dressing on top and lightly toss the salad and eat it up.