Hi again, Adam-- 'Can't believe this thread's still near the top of the page. :) If it helps any, here are two healthy homemade ranch recipes I've found online. They both sound good to me, but as I said before, I think any ranch recipe would taste even better with minced veggies mixed right in. Maybe you could doctor one of these recipes to your liking. Good luck, again! :) -------------------------------------------------------- 1.) Low-Fat Ranch Dip (quoted from FoodReference.Com): Makes 2 cups Provides 1 vegetable serving per cup portion This fabulous dip is full of cancer-fighting nutrients and it contains the secret of a good dip-texture. The secret is beans. It's true! Canned Great Northern beans can be pureed to a silky smoothness and then made into a delicious ranch-type dip. Whiz a can of rinsed and drained beans in a blender with up to ¼ cup of water for 2 whole minutes and then scrape into a bowl. Now add ½ cup of plain yogurt, a tablespoon of roasted garlic, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and some finely chopped chives, parsley, and dried tarragon. Mix and serve with fresh spring vegetables like carrots, asparagus, and sugar snap peas. You'll get great taste with every bite. 1 15-ounce can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained ¼ cup water ½ cup plain low-fat yogurt ½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 tablespoon of roasted garlic pinch cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley ¼ teaspoon dried tarragon ¼ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1. Whiz the beans and garlic in a blender, adding enough water to achieve the desired consistency. Blend for 2 full minutes to make it silky-smooth. Use a spatula to scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. 2. Stir in the yogurt, cayenne, chives, parsley, and tarragon, salt and lemon juice. Serve in a bowl surrounded by spring vegetables such as sugar snap peas, tiny radishes, baby carrots, and lightly steamed baby new potatoes. Nutritional Analysis per serving: 40 calories less than 1 g fat 10% calories from fat 0 g saturated fat 0% calories from saturated fat 8 g carbohydrates 246 mg sodium 2 g dietary fiber --------------------------------------------------------- 2.) Ranch Dip (quoted from BitsysKitchen.com): Ranch Dip 1 clove garlic, peeled 3 small green onions cut into 1 inch pieces 8 oz. nonfat cream cheese, softened 2 Tbsp. reduced calorie mayonnaise 1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt 2 tsp. lemon juice With food processor on, add garlic clove and then green onions through food chute, and process until minced. Add cream cheese and mayonnaise, and process until smooth. Add yogurt and lemon juice; pulse 3 times or until well blended. Cover and chill. Serve with raw vegetables. Yield: 1-1/3 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon). -----------------------------------------------------------

During peak herb season, I like to go and cut fresh sprigs of what ever needs a pruning, sage, loveage, the various thymes, chives, rosemary, basil, ect, it's a matter of personal taste and what's growing at the time, and then stuff them into a cavity of a chicken or rabbit. I'll also throw in some onions, garlic, carrots. Nothing is chopped, just cut or folded small enough to fit inside, us working girls have to find shortcuts where we can. Slow roast covered at about 200 to 250 degrees for a couple hours as you go about your gardening chores. Then uncover, turn the heat up and put some butter or oil on the skin to brown it. Let that cook until brown, take out, remove what ever you shoved inside and serve. The meat will be be fall off the bone tender and infused with all the flavors of whatever you shoved inside. I also like to take my lemon thyme and lay it on fresh fish before I bake it. And for those drinkers amonst us, take a stalk of loveage and put it in your bloody mary instead of a celery stalk, just crush it a little first, it does have a stronger celery taste than cerery, adds a kick to the drink. Loveage is also good in anything that calls for chopped cerery, turkey stuffing for example. Just remember, it has a stronger taste and the stems do tend to be tough, just chop the leaves and use less than you would of celery. Loveage seeds are also interchangeable with celery seeds in a recipe. Loveage is a plant well worth growing if you have the space, mine get's about 6 to 7 feet tall. I use it to hide my ac unit, the only down side, it will fall over after a hard rain, it's best to stake it up. And if you do kabobs, especially lamb, use the woodier stems of rosemary to string them on. If it's fresh cut rosemary, you really don't have to soak it, just strip the leaves. But if you dried rosemary stems for this reason, soak them first. Woodier sage stems are also great for chicken kabobs. Nasturgium leaves and flowers add a extra kick to any salad, especially if you you use the flowers, they add such a pretty accent to any salad. Sorry the hostaholic in me talking here, also throw in some chopped hosta leave for texture and color. Yes they are perfectly edible, are a food source, not a decorative plant, in their native land, I chew on broken leaves all the time as I garden. I just don't use the ones I paid $100 for, only the more common, can't get rid of if I paid you, varieties. Lol. PS, take a hosta leaf, take out the main rib, spread with some cream cheese and ham, salami or pepperoni, roll and cut into bite size pieces, taste great. a wonderful appitizer and conversation piece at your next party. If people don't think your nuts before then, they sure will after that, lol. Somebody stop me, I'm a herbaholic when it comes to cooking, I use so little salt, my herbs supply all the flavor I need.

Here's a couple simple things that sell like hot cakes at our craft shows; Diane's Home Cookin 4.8 Chapter: Candy White Trash =========== 3 Cup chex type cereal 3 Cups cheerios type cereal 2 Cups salted Peanuts 1-1/4 Pounds White Dipping Chocolate (melted) . Mix first 3 ingredients. Pour melted white chocolateover mixture-toss to coat. Spread into waxed paper and cool. Break up clumps. I package this in sandwhich sized ziplock baggies & sell for $1.25---also do Moose Droppings Buy a lrg bag of caramel popcorn from the bulk section of groc store---melt a bag of chocolate dipping wafers & toss with the caramal popcorn-spread out to cool & break up clumps--package & sell like the White Trash. WE also do plain white popcorn ( salted) covered with melted white chocolate & use the colored candy coating wafers to do brown, orange & yellow at our Fall shows, white-- green & red at our Christmas shows. And small ziplock bags (3 x 4 inches)of Tiger Bark sell well at $1.25 Diane's Home Cookin 4.8 Chapter: Candy Tiger Bark =========== 1 Cup milk chocolate chips 2 Cups (12 ounces) vanilla milk chips or almond bark 2 Cups peanut butter chips 1/2 Cup chopped peanuts . Line jellyroll pan with foil. In microwave, melt 3 types of chips separately, stirring until smooth. Pour melted peanut butter chips into prepared pan, spreading level. Sprinkle on peanuts. Pour melted vanilla and chocolate chips on top, drizzling each randomly. To marbleize, use knife to pull through chocolate in wide curves. Refrigerate until set. Break into pieces.

Wow! I love the recipes. I was searching for truffle recipes and these are great. My daughter and I are thinking about starting a small chocolate candy biz and are looking for ideas. Here is a great quick recipe we use. Crush 1 package of Oreo cookies in the food processer. Soften 1 8 oz package of cream cheese and add to cookies. Roll into balls and refrigerate for about an hour. Temper milk or dark chocolate and dip. Let cool and keep stored in refrigerator. They can also be rolled in cocoa, powdered sugar,chopped nuts,coconut, etc.