Today was a great day. We bought starts this weekend and, today we banded together, the three kids (a teenager, a tweener and a kiddo) banded with mom and dad and did about two days worth of yard work.
Our soil is rock solid clay. Between $100 in soil additives this year and last year, I've transformed it into nearly rock solid clay minutes after it's tilled. But for a few minutes, it was gorgeous. Between the two beds, we planted, 30 starts of greens (3 kinds of lettuce, spinach and chard), 12 tomato plants, 2 rows of Walla Walla Sweet Onions, and a smattering of zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant and most of my herbs. Most of my recipes have fresh herbs. That's because I plant my own. Otherwise, the cost would eat me alive. Planting three or four kinds (in my case, Parsley, Basil, Oregano and Thyme)will cost $10-$15 and you can enjoy fresh herbs for at least half the year.
So, in celebration of planting a summer's worth of salad, I made ranch dressing. This dressing is not only delicious, but it's low in fat and calories, and it's thick enough to cling to veggies, lettuce, or however you use it. 
Thick & Creamy Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup soy milk
1/3 cup Vegenaise
1/3 cup vegan sour cream
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
1 tsp dried herb (dill, basil, parsley, etc)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Add more soy milk or vegan cream cheese as necessary to thin or thicken the dressing/dip. Makes about 2 cups.
16 servings: 64 cal (5g fat, 4g carbs, 1g protein)
Garlic chana dal.
1 day ago
Very impressive. Gardening is so mysterious to me. I don't even know what "starts" are, or if the kind of soil you have is good or not. I love to eat plants, but growing them is beyond me.
I make a similar dressing, with tofu as the base and lemon juice and just a bit of vegennaise for tang. All your green plants look so great!
I really need to make some ranch dressing.