This post is sponsored by Naturally Fresh® Brand Dressings. The opinions are my own. #NaturallyFreshRecipe
In the winter time, I love my soups, casseroles, and comfort foods, but I love the opportunity that spring time brings to freshen up our menu! We get to embrace fresh ingredients, eat a little lighter, and enjoy new things. Today I’m sharing tips on how you can join me and freshen up your menu this spring, and I’ve got a quick and easy recipe for fresh Ranch Pizza!
1. Find better for you food products and products made with no artificial ingredients.
At our house, we LOVE ranch dressing. It is a must-have product not just for salads but also for dipping with so many of our snacks, and I also use it with a lot of recipes! But most store bought dressings just aren’t all that good!
Naturally Fresh® is a line of high-quality, home-style salad dressings and dips with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.
- Classic Ranch: Made with Naturally Fresh’s own buttermilk.
- Lite Ranch: Made with Naturally Fresh’s own nonfat buttermilk with half the calories of the original.
- Bleu Cheese: Made with Naturally Fresh’s own buttermilk and aged bleu cheese chunks.
- Lite Bleu Cheese: Made with Naturally Fresh’s own nonfat buttermilk and aged bleu cheese chunks.
- Ginger Dressing: Made with sweet carrots and spicy ginger.
- Coleslaw Dressing: Made with sweet relish and whole celery seeds.
- Balsamic Vinaigrette: Made with rich balsamic vinegar and aromatic spices.
- Honey Mustard: Made with tangy mustard balanced with sweet honey.
You can find Naturally Fresh products at retailers like Kroger and Publix. It is a found in the refrigerated area in the produce section.
2. Serve up the smoothies.
Our family definitely struggles to get our recommended servings of fruit each day, so one strategy I advise is having everything you need on hand to make fruit smoothies. Smoothies are a great way to start out the day, especially when you’re short on time! They are also great snacks for in between meal times and late nights!
3. Salad Time.
Spring is the perfect time to serve up delicious salads! I love a delicious Chef Salad any day of the week, and I think spring is the perfect time to serve chicken salads and tuna salads, as well as cool side salads like pasta, broccoli, carrot, or potato salad.
4. Lighten up the desserts.
With fresh fruits in season, this is a great time lighten up your desserts and still bring something sweet and tasty to the table. Consider yummy items like homemade ice creams and popsicles, fruit pies, cream cakes and cream pies, mousse, tarts, trifles, cheesecakes, and pudding!
5. Bring on the seafood.
Another thing I associate with the spring time is seafood! I love to season up a little tilapia and shrimp, and then we just wrap it in some foil and throw it on the grill. It’s an entree you can serve up with steamed vegetables or your favorite pasta, for a simple yet complete and delicious meal.
6. Freshen up with fresh veggies.
Nothing could make your menu fresher than fresh vegetables! If you have a small spot in your yard, this could be the year to grow your own garden. Otherwise you can find the best and freshest vegetables at your local markets. Chop them up and eat raw with a little Naturally Fresh salad dressing. Season your favorites and steam them to make a delicious side dish, or use them creatively as a vegetable medley or kabob recipe, and you can use extras for baked recipes or canning.
To help you freshen up your menu even more, I’ve got a recipe for Ranch Pizza! This is a quick and easy recipe as well as a versatile recipe that you can make with any toppings you like. And if you use the mini pizza crusts that I’ve used here, it’s fun and affordable way that everyone in the family can have their own custom pizza!
Recipe for Ranch Pizza:
Ingredients:
Pizza Crust
olive oil
Naturally Fresh Ranch Dressing
Mozzarella Cheese
Your Favorite Pizza Toppings**
Directions: Start with a pizza crust. You can bake a homemade crust or use a store bought refrigerated crust or premade crust.
One you’ve selected your crust, spread a little olive oil on top of the crust. You’ll need a tablespoon or two for a smaller pizza and about 4 or 5 tablespoons for a full size / large pizza.
add your Naturally Fresh Ranch Dressing. For a full size (10 to 12 inch pizza) you’ll need about 1/2 a cup of ranch dressing. For a mini pizza (6 to 8 inches) you’ll need about 1/4 cup of Ranch dressing. Spread the dressing evenly over the crust.
Generously cover the pizza with mozzarella cheese. Then add your favorite pizza toppings.
**Here I’ve obviously used pepperoni, but a Ranch Pizza is perfect with so many toppings, including fresh vegetables like peppers, mushroom, and spinach, as well as chicken, and so much more!
Bake according to crust instructions. For the pre-made crust I used, I baked at 425 degrees for 8 minutes.
Giveaway! Giveaway! One Simply Sweet Home reader will win one set of 4 12 oz. Naturally Fresh Salad Dressing Coupons (each coupon valued at up to $3.99).
To win, use the Rafflecopter form below.
How do you freshen up your spring menu? I’d love to hear your ideas! Please share them by commenting on this post!
I’d love to try the Ginger dressing!
Ohhhh… ginger dressing! I love bleu cheese but ginger… ooohhhh!