Most ranch dressing recipes don't taste like old faithful Hidden Valley. I wanted a flavor base like the classic that I could dress up or down with extra flavors, and that could be mixed into a variety of recipes. I use Penzey's dried herbs and spices for this recipe partly because they are high quality, but mainly because I adore the weekly emails that Bill Penzey sends to their customers. Penzey's makes me feel like I'm part of a community of people who want to do good in the world by expressing their heart through cooking. I love their dried red bell pepper, so I added some to make this ranch a bit unique. This mix works for ranch dressing (I use 50-50 labneh and mayo, thinned with milk) but try adding it to fresh hummus, braised chicken, pot roast, creamed spinach, or the pot while you're steaming artichokes. I always get raves when I use it to simply dress chopped cabbage, for coleslaw. —abbyarnold
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