DIY Dips and Dressings Healthified Recipes

It's summer and there's chips and dips and veggie trays and salads everywhere we turn, and oh so many parties! So if your looking to keep on track with your diet or to impress your guests, these dip recipes will do both!

Red Pepper Dip
We lived in Texas for a few years and I grew to be obsessed with red pepper flakes. Obsessed I tell you! It continues to this day. I will put red pepper flakes on almost anything. I have pictures to prove it (of course).  While there I also came across this seasoning mix that was supposed to be mixed with sour cream and mayo, 1:1 ratio. I love mayo but I know in it manufactured form it is not good for us, so I started using less and less until I finally just used sour cream. Now I try to encourage gut health whenever possible so I regularly use a full fat, plain yogurt instead of sour cream. It works in everything except cooking (like my poblano chicken recipe).  And that, my friend, is how this recipe was born. Marrying my love of red pepper flakes, cumin and yogurt. This is awesome with tortilla chips, tacos, salads, eggs, veggies, I'm getting hungry.

All these measurements are to taste in reality, but don't be scared with the heat, it's being mixed in a dairy product so all is good. :)

2 cups yogurt
1 Tblsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
*Here I added Tumeric for the health of it but that's all.

Salsa
Who doesn't love a great salsa that can be ready in 10 minutes or less?
I searched for years to copy Chili's salsa. This recipe is better!
My tweaks are:
garlic powder instead of garlic salt
add salt according to the salt of the garlic salt in addition to salt called for in the recipe
fresh jalopeños,seeded
a healthy amount of cilantro

From Six Sisters:

• 2 cans (14.5 oz each) whole tomatoes, drained
• 3-4 canned, whole jalapenos (not pickled)
• 1 yellow onion, quartered
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons lime juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place all of the ingredients together into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips.

Mix the ingredients together and you got yourself a crow-pleaser! BUT the secret to the best results will come if you make this ahead and refrigerate it. The longer it sits the spicier it gets.

Healthy Honey Mustard
On the sweeter side of things is this yummy, smokey, honey mustard. I had this for the first time at a friends house to dip pigs-in-a-blanket in but I use it for so many things now. I love it on salad-I love almost everything on fresh greens-but once again it really goes well with so much: hotdogs, corndogs, ham, veggies, sandwiches etc

This time I usually add just a smidge of olive oil mayo for a thicker consistency but you choose what's most important to you.

1 Cup of plain, full fat yogurt
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp honey
1 Tblsp mustard
fresh ground salt and pepper to taste