Homemade Ranch Dressing

This is my mom's recipe and I'm not sure where she got it but it's a staple in our house.
Here's what you'll need:

In case you can't see all that...it's:

Buttermilk

Mayo

Sour Cream (or you can use all Mayo)

Pepper

Parsley

Accent

Garlic Salt

Shaker (a mason jar with lid would work too)

My shaker has measurements listed on the sides which makes it really easy to make this. First I put in 8oz buttermilk. Then add 8oz of mayo (or 4oz mayo & 4oz sour cream). Add a heaping TBSP of Parsley, a heaping tsp of garlic salt, dash of accent and several turns of the pepper grinder...more or less depending on your taste. Shake it up & Viola!!! Delicious ranch dressing. It's better than Hidden Valley. No - you shut up! It's true. :)

Our shaker has this thing that goes inside before you put the lid on. It really helps mix everything up, but get whatever container you like best.

Homemade Rock Candy

I saw this on Pinterest and wanted to try it out. SOOOO easy. And what a fun thing to do with your kids - if they have the patience to wait a week that is!

Rock Candy

1 Cup Water

3 Cups Sugar

Food Coloring (optional)

Bamboo skewer

Clothespin or other handy device (you'll see)

Tall thin clear glass

Boil the water. Keep it at a good simmer. Add the sugar 1/4 Cup at a time and wait until it has completely dissolved before adding more. Continue until all the sugar has been added. Add food coloring if you want. The mixture gets "weird looking". My pictures didn't turn out. The water turns almost yellowish looking and sort of resembles the texture of oil. It was weird. Anyhoo. Let the sugar water mixture cool a little and then pour it into a tall clear thin glass. I used a drinking glass but a Mason Jar would work well also. Honeybear put a couple of knives in the glass to absorb the heat. So smart! If you have a clothespin pinch the bamboo skewer in the pincher part and then rest the clothespin on the top of the glass so that the skewer does NOT touch the sides or bottom of the glass. If you don't - you'll have to get creative. Honeybear grapped a lid to a to-go coffee cup and it worked PERFECTLY! So smart - I think I'll keep him. Then my lid just sits on the top of the glass and I'm good to go. Don't touch this. Crystals will start to form and it should be ready in about a week. I chronicled my rock candy progress with daily pictures.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

  

Day 4 - it's becoming obvious that there is going to be more rock candy on the inside of my glass than there will be on the bamboo skewer. And although it's hard to see it - the candy is "growing" on the skewer!!

So in hindsight - I probably wouldn't do this again. There were waaaay more crystals on the glass than the skewer & boy was that fun to wash off the glass. But a neat little trick for kids of you're up to it! 

Green Onion Savior!

Also something I saw on Pinterest and decided to try. Last Friday I used all of the green from my bunch of green onions. I stuck the ends in a glass with water and rinsed them and refilled the water (almost) every day. They started growing again!!! Perhaps this is not news to any of you but I thought it was fascinating. Here's daily pictures of that phenomenon! :) I put them in the glass on Friday night but didn't take a picture until Monday night. It's hard to tell from the photos but even on Monday you could tell they were growing because you can see the edge where I cut them and the new growth! So cool!!!