The Prince Family In Swazi...: Recipe: DIY Hidden Valley Ranch Mix...

"Convenience" is tough to find in Swaziland -- or any third world country I would imagine. It just doesn't happen here. And that's okay. We're pretty used to it. Everything takes longer in Swaziland.

In the States, I was usually the one who loved to figure out a DIY for something that I could do cheaper... and better. Inside, outside, you name it. And, if the DIY happens to be in the kitchen, I'm especially fond of that.

I grew up watching my mother cook -- every day, each and every night. Her favorite reading at night involved a cookbook. She was a fantastic cook... and still is. And so, I love cooking too -- and it's a good thing. Because, as I mentioned above... everything takes longer in Swaziland. I had better enjoy the time I am in the kitchen. And I do. It's a love thing.

The shortcuts that existed in the States -- well, they're not here -- all those little things that quicken our prep time, speed things up, etc. But, I've quickly learned that food here just tastes so much better... probably because everything's from scratch and not riddled with preservatives.

For example... take salad dressing. We don't have an entire aisle of dressing -- we maybe have 8-10 choices at best -- that's on a good day... a well-stocked day at Pick N Pay. And half of those choices are "greek"... and the rest are an oily mess. Nothing creamy. We even have "french" here... but it's oily. It's nothing like you'd think french should be. So, soon after we arrived here, we found some great make-from-scratch dressing recipes, and also learned that "Hidden Valley Ranch" packets were highly coveted. I had never (really) ever had HVR in my life. Until Swaziland.

So, now we're living in Swaziland, and these ranch dressing mixes have been one of the things on our "wish list." We've been blessed with packets in the past, but really... if I can DIY it, it becomes one less thing on the list! And so, I've had ranch mix on the brain. After all, a salad can go from good to spectacular with a great dressing. And who doesn't love ranch?!?

After finding a recipe to attempt yesterday, the kids and I whisked down the hill (read: mountain) to Manzini -- about 45 minutes. But, well worth each and every minute, because Spice World is there. So much more to offer than our Pick N Pay, and so much less expensive than what's in the spice aisle. They didn't have everything we needed for the DIY ranch dressing mix, but TIA (this is Africa). We've more than learned to improvise.

And here is the recipe. I tried it -- it's legit. If you're looking for a HVR-ish mix that you can add to greek yogurt (it's how we roll in Swaziland), or sour, or mayo and buttermilk, this may be it. The great thing is -- I didn't have to add the so-called "modified food starch" or MSG to get it to taste like the real deal. For my friends in Swaziland (and other countries lacking in ingredients), see my notes below.

Directions: Put crackers through blender until powdered. Add parsley, minced onion, and dill weed and pulse until powdered. Stir in remaining ingredients. Store in a glass container -- the dry mix will keep fresh for up to one year. Use ONE tablespoon (more or less to taste) of mix to make sixteen ounces of dressing/dip.

I know saltines are hard to come by here -- rumor is that Wooly's carries them, but I just used cream crackers. They worked well. As for "minced" onion -- I found onion flakes (essentially dehydrated onion) and used them... be sure to blend them really well. I used just salt in place of the onion salt, and omitted the onion powder (because it's nowhere to be found).