DIY Vegan Ranch

(Photo credit:  Ace Fitness)

Since fresh vegetables are coming back into season now, I have really been eating a lot of salads and fresh veggies.  One of my favorite salad dressings has always been ranch.  After becoming a vegan, I have had a hard time finding a good vegan ranch.  I have been to a few restaurants that have it down.  The Spiral Diner in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas and Rosetta's in Asheville, NC have EXCELLENT vegan ranch, but I have never been able to buy a bottle at the store that I liked or make it at home.  But last summer when visiting some friends out in Portland, Oregon, we had a potluck together and one of my friends made some amazing vegan ranch!  She wrote down the recipe and I tried it as soon as I got home.  It was perfect!  But there was a catch-the recipe calls for 1 cup of Vegenaise.  Yikes!  For those of you who follow Weight Watchers, you know that even one tablespoon of Vegenaise is very high in points.  So I put the recipe aside and decided it would only be a special occasion kind of recipe.  But now Follow Your Heart makes a reduced fat Vegenaise!  I honestly think it's just as good as the original!  So last time I was in Asheville, I bought 3 big jars of it because the expiration date is not until November.  During the last couple of weeks, I have been using my DIY vegan ranch for salads, to go over steamed broccoli and for anything else I can use it for!  :)  Here's my friend's recipe:

Vegan Ranch

-1 cup Vegenaise (Like I mentioned before, I think the Reduced Fat Vegenaise is just as good.)
-1/4-1/2 cup soy milk (or other unsweetened non dairy milk)-it depends on how thick you want your ranch
-1/2 tsp garlic salt
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp onion powder
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-2 tsp fresh parsley (I just use about 1 to 2 tsp of dried parsley and it works fine)
-1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
-1/4 tsp dill

Food process all ingredients-use less soymilk if you want to make a dip.