First time in my life...

Well ladies and gents there is a first time for everything, and today a big first time event happened for me. In my quest to work on and improve myself I have decided that when I just have to have a snack I'm going to do my best to make it a healthy snack. (But I do keep a bag of chocolate chips handy just in case I need to call in reinforcements.) Last night I decided to cut up the celery that somehow made its way to my refrigerator. If you know me, you know I have a more than a dislike for celery, and that I have a fiery hatred for celery. I can't stand the stuff. Anyways, I cut up the celery into smaller pieces thinking that I would sneak it into Mdill's lunches throughout the week and hope that he would either eat it or throw it away and tell me he ate it.

Today as I was working on laundry, lists of to do's, meal planning, etc... I went to the refrigerator and the celery was the only vegetable that was washed, cut up, and ready to eat. So, I grabbed a ziploc of it, got a spoonful or two of some buttermilk ranch, started snacking, and didn't stop until the entire sandwich bag of celery was gone. I found myself enjoying the celery. Even if it was due to the delicious buttermilk ranch then so be it. I ate celery and plan to eat more. Maybe one day I will even be able to celery plain, but for now celery dipped in ranch is a start.

My quest to work on me is well on it's way and I'm getting back into the routine of being me and working on me. More on that later. For now try out this delicious recipe (recipe below) for buttermilk ranch. Courtesy of Ina Garten from the food network. Link to the delicious recipe

Or, if you hate to follow links, here is the recipe: 

Ingredients:
3 scallions white and green parts, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
11/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
1cup good mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
1/2 cup buttermilk, shaken

Directions: Place the scallions, basil, lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Puree for 15 to 20 seconds to make a smooth mixture. Add the mayonnaise, yogurt, and buttermilk and blend until smooth. Transfer the dressing to a container, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour for the flavors to develop.


This takes about 10 minutes to make and yields about 3 cups of dressing. 


A few things that may be helpful:
1: I don't own a real food processor so I simply used my blender and it worked fabulous. 
2: Do not use any flavored greek yogurt. The first time I made this we only had vanilla flavored greek yogurt in the fridge so we used it. NOT GOOD! Be sure to use plain yogurt. *Blonde Moment for sure* 
3: Eat on top of salad, as a dip, or just lick it off your fingers! (It's really that good.)