Fancy Salad with Homemade Ranch

We haven't eaten much salad in this house- the salads I like are drenched in ranch dressing and have lots of toppings and a variety of veggies, which I normally don't take the time to put together.  I normally just serve one veggie at a time; broccoli, spinach, and squash are our standbys.  After I read about 'the pemmican principal' on The Nourishing Gourmet I thought that it was a great idea to put together a few days' worth of salad at once.  I started by making ranch dressing.

Good news for those of us who love rich creamy dressings! If we make homemade dressings, we know that the fats in it are good for us and there are no bad additives.

Homemade Ranch Directions:
I first made mayonnaise using two eggs, and a combination of olive, coconut, and almond oil (coconut oil was heated slightly melt).  I wanted to use all olive oil, but I didn't have enough so I added the rest of the almond oil in the cupboard and filled in with coconut.  Then I added 2 tablespoons of parsley, 4 cloves of garlic, half a red onion, and sea salt to taste and whirred until smooth in the food processor, then added about 1/4 cup of plain yogurt.
*For a more exact ranch recipe, Kelly has one.

My little one and I chopped veggies until we filled our largest bowl.


In here:
Lettuce
Broccoli sprouts
Radishes
Peppers
Bean sprouts

Then we fried some chicken thighs to make salad for dinner more likely to fly with my it's-not-dinner-without-meat husband.  Who could refuse fried chicken covered in ranch... even if it was surrounded by green stuff?

We took out one night's portion of salad from the big bowl, added
Sunflower seeds
Fried chicken strips
Parmesan cheese

And tossed with the ranch dressing. Yum!
It worked too, he loved it and I think we'll be having salad for dinner often!

What additions do you like in your salad? 


(part of Real Food Wednesday)