Vocation and Recipes – Mayonnaise and Ranch Salad Dressing
Truly living an “Authentic Catholic” life means fulfilling one’s vocation while keeping in mind that we are not only serving our community (whether that is one’s family, parish or religious brothers and sisters), but ultimately our Savior. My vocation happens to be wife and mother, so frequently I’ll be posting thoughts and discoveries relating to those activities.
Thursday, I posted about my recent diet changes and effects that has had on my ability to tune into God’s presence in my life. It has also made my vocation much more complex and challenging, since along with raising eight kids, nursing and nurturing the twins and two other daughters I have at home daily while shuttling the four boys to and from school, I also have to find time to cook our meals from scratch, finding or creating new alternatives to family favorite recipes and keeping our diet as varied, interesting and tasty as possible.
Until recently, my sweet husband has been our chief cook, or in his absence (as he has been taking college classes at about a 3/4 class load for the last three years, in addition to his full-time employment) we’d throw something together simple enough that our older children could accomplish most of the meal. Evenings can be a rough time with babies often wanting block feedings and children needing supervision of homework or after school activity transportation. So returning to cooking whole foods has required a drastic reordering of my day. And, even moreso, a dedication to relearning how to cook. Thankfully, culinary TV is widely approved in our house, so at least I have a bit of a knowledge base.
Most things are pretty easy to recreate or modify. Swap some honey for sugar, dairy substitute for milk, ghee (clarified butter, which I can consume without reaction) for cooking oil, and so on. One thing that has taken time to master is mayonnaise. I am a mayo lover, and living without has been difficult. Last week, I finally achieved success!
The key to wonderful homemade mayonnaise is patience. And proper equipment. My initial attempts involved my blender and coconut milk and other egg replacements. I’d not yet returned eggs to my diet. They were tragic failures. And really disgusting! So much so, that I was leery of attempting mayo ever again. But we now own a food processor (though the blender may work, too, but I haven’t tried it with this recipe) and I can use eggs. I tested this recipe by halving it first, so that if I failed I wasn’t wasting a whole two cups of oil.
GAPS Friendly Homemade Mayonnaise
INGREDIENTS:
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1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
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2 tablespoons white vinegar*
**2 teaspoons honey (opt.)
2 cups vegetable oil (olive oil may give your mayo a strong and unpleasant flavor, depending on the quality)
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| 1. | In the container of a food processor or blender, combine the mustard powder, salt, eggs and vinegar. Set the food processor on medium speed and gradually drizzle in the oil*** while it runs. Transfer to a container with a lid and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. |
*I have been using apple cider vinegar without an issue.
** If you follow the linked recipe, the honey is my own addition. Store bought mayonnaise all has sugar in it, which is why I need to make my own. Adding a little honey more closely recreates the flavor of store bought mayo. If you wish to make a Miracle Whip type condiment, you could increase the honey to taste.
***Lastly, this is where the patience comes in. I have found that adding the first few tablespoons a drop at a time until the emulsion is established guarantees success. I have been using an old medicine syringe to accomplish this. Then after one dropper full, I switch to drizzling the oil in as thin a stream as I can manage. You will be standing at your food processor for awhile.
A bonus, with my successful homemade mayonnaise, I can now create a GAPS friendly Ranch salad dressing. This requires slightly more tweaking of the recipe, but it works beautifully. My oldest son, who has not been so gracious about dealing with my dietary changes and it’s restrictions which have occurred in order that we aren’t cooking multiple meals and cross-contaminating my food, has declared the salad dressing recipe “better than Ranch.” High praise, coming from a teenager! Also, the seasoning blend can be used alone to flavor burgers or chicken breasts, etc.
GAPS Friendly Ranch Salad Dressing
INGREDIENTS:
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1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons lemon juice*
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
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1/4 teaspoon garlic powder*
1/4 teaspoon onion powder*
1/4 teaspoon celery seed*
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
water or milk substitute, as needed*
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| 1. | In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, |
*My own additions or adjustments to the original recipe linked in the title. I removed the sour cream and replaced the tanginess by adding lemon juice. Vinegar may also work as a replacement.
Please keep in mind that both these recipes are raw egg recipes. They need to be stored properly in the refrigerator and should be consumed within a week. Enjoy!
