We live in Texas. As such, we LOVE our Tex-Mex, and not just on "Taco Tuesdays."
If you saw the January Menu Planners, this week was my older daughter's week to do meal planning for Home Ec. She had planned to have enchiladas for lunch. I found a THM Oat Fiber Wrap recipe last night on he Trim Healthy Mama recipe website and had all he ingredients to make them, so I figured I would.
While I have masa to make homemade corn tortillas - and even have some store bought corn tortillas around, to lose weight, my husband and I need a low-carb tortilla. These fit the bill perfectly because they have no net carbs and are non-fat, too. With my modification, they may have 1 net carb per tortilla.
Today, we had breakfast burritos that had my husband saying things like, "These are AWESOME!" "I can't wait for you to make them again!" "You should sell these!" My daughters each had 2 1/2 breakfast burritos.
For supper, we had chicken enchiladas using these tortillas. After supper, my husband exclaimed, "These are the best tortillas I've ever had!"
Top: Breakfast burritos with bacon. Bottom: chicken enchiladas and Caesar salad.
I still LOVE her taco seasoning mix and onion soup mix recipes and use them regularly, although we personally find the sugar in the onion soup recipe unnecessary.
Unfortunately, while the ranch dressing recipe was one that others I knew used (because they would send me theirs and it was the same), I didn't care for it as much as the store bought because of the overpowering onion flavor it had.
I tried and experimented and came up with my own recipe which follows. (Please note: different brands of garlic powder have different strengths. You may prefer to start off with a tablespoon less garlic powder and increase by teaspoons as you make up the batches. And just add a bit more garlic if needed to your prepared ranch dressing as needed.) We like it this way.
Following the recipe as is makes a great dip when refrigerated. If you are not using it right away and want to serve it as a dressing, add 1/2 cup of milk to the mix. If you are using some now and then refrigerating the rest for later, just add milk as needed to thin the dressing.
Without further ado, Tammy's Ranch Dressing:
In a 1/2 pint mason jar, measure the following ingredients: 6 Tablespoons Onion Powder 16 teaspoons Garlic Powder 14 teaspoons parsley (4 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons or 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons) 8 tsp salt (2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons)
(Put a decorative lid, bowl, and instructions for a gift at this point if desired).
Put your seal and ring or mason jar screw-on lid on, then shake well to distribute the ingredients equally.
Here is the video for making the Ranch Dressing Mix, plus a bonus of my Season All mix for seasoning proteins such as fish, poultry, pork, and beef.
Directions:
1) For immediate use on salad or for a dip if refrigerating for a few hours: Use 2 Tablespoons of above mixture in 1 cup of mayonnaise and 1 cup of plain yogurt. Whisk together to mix well. Use immediately and refrigerate the rest.
2) For later use as a salad dressing after being refrigerated:
Use 2 Tablespoons of the ranch dressing mixture in 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1 cup of yogurt, and 1/2 cup of milk. Whisk together well. Refrigerate.
3) Use the dressing mix on it's own in ground meats for hamburgers.
4) Make your own version of ranch, cheese, and bacon coated meat by mixing the ranch dressing mix with shredded cheddar (or your favorite cheese), and either homemade bacon crumbles or store bought real bacon pieces. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put all the ingredients along with black pepper, a bit more salt and garlic powder, and turmeric if desired in a one gallon zip top bag. Put 1-2 pieces of raw meat in the bag. Shake to coat the meat. Put on a baking sheet covered with parchment or a silicon protector. Repeat for each piece. You can either put the remainder, if any, in the refrigerator to use within a week to two weeks, or just distribute the remainder on top of the meat. Bake thawed meat until it is at 160 - 165 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the type of meat. (Always use a meat thermometer to ensure the moistest meat that is done to the proper temperature.) This is great for boneless chicken, pork chops, etc.
