PaleoPlus Ranch Dip (and hot wings)

Like a lot of families who work in the food industry - we don't have a "regular" schedule.  My husband and I both work weekends (even though I am working from home) and evenings.  And our kiddos are teenagers involved in sports and activities and school, which makes it tough to find time for all of us to sit down for dinner at the same time.

I tend to make meals that can be easily reheated so whoever happens to be home when I'm cooking - eats together.  Everyone else still gets fed a healthy, PaleoPlus meal, they just have to heat it up and do their own dishes!

This weekend is my husband's weekend off - very exciting!  Of course we have plans that have nothing to do with eating - BUT - one of his requests is to sit down and watch the Buckeyes play today.  At lunchtime.  All of us.  And that means wings!

 We love wings, but obviously we no longer get the deep-fried, sugar- and preservative-laden wings from any number of places within 5 minutes of our house.  We make our own.

If I had a real recipe, I'd share it...some day I will write down what I'm doing, I promise!  But I can tell you that my wings take 2-3 days to prepare.  Once they are cut, I roast them in avocado oil on sheet pans to cook them just through.  Then I cool them, add spices and bit of melted ghee and put them in zipper bags in the refrigerator overnight (at least).  Then I bring them back to room temperature and grill them over a very hot grill until they are crisp.  Then I toss them in whatever Paleo-compliant sauce I whip up. (When I first tried to make them, I looked up "Buffalo Wing Sauce Recipe" and just substituted compliant ingredients and tasted as I went along until it was right!)

And I like them ten times better than carry-out wings.  Roasting them ahead of time makes the meat fall right off the bone and you never get that creepy not-quite-done bite...which can turn me off wings for a month or more!

So, even though we don't get carry out - I do want the experience to be similar to carry out. 

I like the celery and carrot sticks and we like Ranch for dunking.  I don't want to pretend that my PaleoPlus Ranch Dip tastes just like the ranch we are used to getting in restaurants.  I couldn't duplicate that taste BEFORE I switched to clean eating!  BUT, I love it with the veggie sticks and the way it cools down the spicy buffalo wings.

PaleoPlus Ranch Dip and veggies

I like the texture too.  I have always been more of a blue-cheese-with-wings girl - but with my dairy intolerance - I'm not about to go there.  So, I like the texture I get when I hand-mix cold Whole30 Mayo and coconut cream (here in DFW, Sprout's and Trader Joe's have the best prices) to make the dip...it stays a little bit chunky and gives me that blue-cheesy look and feel without the fever-like symptoms that come with the real thing (for me, at least)!  I'm assuming if you use a hand mixer instead of a whisk, you'll get a smoother consistency.

I think the base is the important thing to know - you can add any spices you like.  We use a version of this dip for crudités, on chicken or fish, with a dash of hot sauce to dip sweet potato fries in and of course, every time we make hot wings.



Here's how I make mine - feel free to be creative when making your own!

1 cup Whole30 mayo - cold
3/4 cups cold coconut cream (here's how to make it if you can't find the canned coconut cream)
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 T onion, grated
3 T fresh parsley, chopped
1 T fresh dill (or 1 1/2 t. dried dill)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 t sea salt

Whisk together the mayo and coconut cream in a large chilled bowl.  Grate the garlic and onion into the mixture.  Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until combined.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let the flavors combine, before serving. 

I started these wings on Thursday, made the sauce and Ranch Dip yesterday morning, pulled them out of the fridge to come to room temperature and can't wait for lunch!!!