We ran out of store bought salad dressing so I proceeded to make some this morning with a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch. It calls for a cup of mayo and a cup of milk + the seasoning. Now, I started thinking about milk being a no-no and got concerned. Even so, on the packet of seasoning it says that "prepared" it's only 1% of your total carb intake. It didn't list how many grams of carbs in the "prepared" version. What do you think about this? Is it safe to eat? I guess I could do some math & figure out the total carbs but I thought I'd ask here first. Thanks!

Paty

I use half and half instead of milk, and it comes out good!

Buttermilk works really well - I think the slight tartness of it improves the taste of the dressing. And there's no real need to pay the outrageous price that Hidden Valley charges for a few spices, either. A bit of salt and pepper, some garlic and onion powder, and a few green onion tops -- you're there.

As for the carb issue -

According to the authors of the GO diet, buttermilk and yogurt are actually 4 grams per cup (as opposed to the 11-13 listed on the labels) because the active cultures digest most of the lactose. But even if you assume the full amount of carbs, your 2-cup batch of dressing should have no more than about 15 grams total. So a very generous 1/4 cup serving would have less than 2 grams of carb at the very worst, and probably much less.

I've used buttermilk and yogurt using the GO diet assumptions, and they've never caused me a problem.

--Ruth