skinny dippin'

i love dip.  it's almost ridiculous how much i love dipping everything in some kind of condiment.  ketchup, hummus, honey mustard, greek yogurt, salsa (especially salsa)--love them all.  FACT: one day my husband came home and caught me eating a bag of chips and a jar of salsa.  he claims i was eating over the trashcan in a frenzy, exclaiming, "wow, you really went to town on those chips."  i think it was a little less ferocious :)

maybe it's because i like when my veggies, chips, fries, hotdogs, etc. have a little buddy to weather the violent digestion cycle together (no one should go through that alone.)

here's the thing, though.  one of the easiest ways to cut out a few extra calories/sodium/preservatives here and there is to get rid of the dips and condiments and all that jazz.  well, that depresses me.

to my delight, i've been finding, trying, and enjoying a lot of healthy dressings and dips...and i'm going to share them all with you in what i hope will be a recurring feature on this blog: skinny dippin'

without further adieu, i give you,  

CREAMY DILL DRESSING 

 ingredients:
1/2 cup low-fat mayo (i like Kraft with olive oil--the green on the bottle makes me happy and it tastes good)
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill (i can't keep herbs fresh in this house so i just use 1/2 tbsp of dried dill weed)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

directions: dump all the above in a bowl.  whisk feverishly until smooth.  yields 8 servings; 1 serving = 2 tbsp.

nutrition info: 21 calories per serving, 1 g of fat!

i use this dressing for A LOT of stuff.  if you add a little bit of greek yogurt or light sour cream, you can thicken it up and use it as a dip for veggies or pita chips.  otherwise, it's a great dressing for chicken salads.  i recently started mixing this dressing with 3 oz of tuna (bagged, in water) and the dill and lemon really brighten up that sad looking bag of tuna.

i served dill dressing (thickened with a 1/4 cup light sour cream) to my sister at our first-annual "deck day" (aka crazy booze-fest day)  the kid really liked it.  i served it again at crivitz (aka crazy booze-fest weekend) and it got good reviews.  i guess mentioning that both events had a lot of alcohol at them kind of makes you wonder if the dip really was edible. just gotta keep it real with you.

rule of thumb: when people not watching what they are eating and actually like the healthy stuff you make, that means it is legitimately delicious. i don't know about you, but it's easy for me to talk myself into liking foods because they are healthy regardless of what they really taste like (i use a lot of mental energy playing that game.)

howevsies, this dill dressing is a winner.

recipe adapted from:

(CookingLight: Fresh Food Fast, Weeknight Meals)