101 (More or Less) Uses for Ranch Dressing

 This week some friends from New Jersey are visiting the house, and one friend, who had been reading our blog, leaned over to me after a few days here and said "You really weren't kidding about every meal being the same".  I have mentioned before the slight lack of variety in the local diet. So, remember that old gem "necessity is the mother of invention"?  We have taken what we have and have made some delectable (read: edible) fusions that I am sure will make you want to run to the grocery store and make them for dinner tonight.

As background, I should let you know that in a care package a little while ago, a blessed event occured: an angel (you know who you are!) sent along a bottle of ranch dressing. Oh, glorious day.  This was treated in our household as a cause for much jubilation and celebration. Since we have recieved this little bottle of white gold (memo to our readers from Baltimore: not that white gold.) we have created a culinary game of exploration, to see how we can creatively use this delicious blend of spices, buttermilk, and a bunch other other ingredients that I can't pronounce and that are probably toxic preservatives. For good measure, we will also allow other surprising condiments that have arrived by care package in our little competition. But I digress.

101 (Okay, Maybe Less) Unconventional Uses of Ranch Dressing (And Other Blessed Condiments From the Continent of North America)

peas and ranch = definitely edible
ugali (ground cassava flour paste) and ranch = doable, but not for the faint of heart

ugali and ketchup = no, no, no.
pineapple and garlic = only in dire circumstances

pineapple and ranch = not recommended
boiled potatoes and ranch = the "why haven't I tried this before?" winner
bananas and ranch = ...try at your own risk
plain ketchup squeezed in to the mouth = classic.
plain ranch dressing squeezed into the mouth = somewhat less so.
fried plantains and ranch = eh. could be worse.
parmesan cheese = good on anything and everything (even pineapple).
lima beans and ranch = this should come with a warning label

rice and ranch = begs the question "why?"

peas and ketchup = only if Pepto is handy

pineapple and ketchup = face-puckering

Grand Prize of Culinary Creativity goes to our lovely friend Grace, for her incredible burst of innovation: rice with pineapple, soy sauce, and dried garlic and onion - we might be on to something.