Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

Sorry for the lack of posts.  We had our three days of spring break (yes, we only get 3 days!) and I enjoyed every second of having my kids home, even while watching the blizzard raging outside Friday.  It's been so nice since then, I've been spending a lot of time outside, too.  We had a great Easter, too, except for the part where I went to whip up some easy skirts for Chloe and Maddie on Saturday and my sewing machine wouldn't work.  Nice!  I spent a good couple of hours trying to fix it to no avail.  Eventually, I gave up, ran to town to get them something different for their Easter baskets and borrowed my mom's sewing machine.  So hopefully I'll get those done tomorrow and can show you.  Then yesterday and today I've spent most of the time catching up on what I didn't do while we were playing (including taking my machine in to be repaired.) 

Anyway, on to today's post.  I'm having good run of Pinterest recipes for the past couple of weeks.  It's been great, especially following the bad run I had about a month ago.  My family was getting pretty leery of hearing me say, "I found it on Pinterest."  Last week in our Bountiful Basket (an awesome food co-op program, check and see if there's one by you) I got several tomatillos.  I'd never had one before and was excited to try them.  A couple days later, several of my friends had pinned this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen for tomatillo ranch dressing, supposedly like Cafe Rio's.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I made it for dinner to go along with our enchiladas we were having.  I've never had Cafe Rio's so I can't compare it that way, but it was delicious!  So yummy you'll want to try it too!

Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Salad Dressing

Makes about 2 ½  cups of dressing

2 cups prepared Ranch Dressing (I used a packet of Ranch dressing mix, but you can make your own dressing if you prefer)
1 small bunch cilantro, large stems removed (about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro)
2 large or 4 small tomatillos
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp. Green Tabasco sauce or 1 diced jalapeno pepper (I used a Mexican red hot sauce.)

Prepare Ranch dressing according to directions on the package or recipe you're following and set aside.

Remove large cilantro stems, then wash leaves and spin dry or dry with paper towels. Add cilantro to food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until finely chopped. (If you don't have a food processor, chop all ingredients well by hand and then blend dressing in a blender.)

Add tomatillos, garlic, lime juice, and Green Tabasco or chopped jalapeno to the food processor and pulse until ingredients are finely pureed. Add the 2 cups of prepared dressing and pulse just a few times, until ingredients are well combined. Chill dressing for an hour or two and serve.

Variations:
~To make a roasted tomatillo dressing, dice tomatillos, place on a baking sheet, and roast at 400F for 15-20 minutes before adding them to the food processor.
~If you'd like even more tomatillo flavor, use 4-5 large tomatillos and decrease the buttermilk or milk in the Ranch dressing by about 1/4 cup.

So what are your new found favorite recipes from Pinterest?  Are you finding it a good source for new inspiration?