But the other night I combined a few of the recipes I'd tried and then tweaked them for spice and tartness. Cashew-based sauces are a little sweeter, so you have to go the opposite direction to get that tang ranch has.
I did mine in my Vitamix, after soaking the cashews. Another thing a lot of these recipes tended to do was start with a cup or a cup and a half of cashews, which is a) expensive and b) enough ranch for Michael Phelps, who I am not. So mine is much more reasonable for just a few salads' worth for me.
Lydia's Personal Best Vegan Ranch Dressing
1/2 C. cashews, soaked in water for an hour (longer if you don't have a high powered blender)
1/2 C. additional water
4 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. dried chives
1/2 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. dehydrated onions
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Discard soaking water from cashews, add cashews, water and all other ingredients. Blend until smooth & creamy. Drink from the container or be civilized and have it on a salad or in your fave recipe that calls for ranch.
So now that you're fed - how about some cards?
I found the most fabulous masking pen a few weeks (or months - who knows?) ago and filmed my first experience with it for my tutorial today. It's so cool. I've struggled with masking fluid on several grounds. Most of it smells terrible, and I don't do stinky supplies. The one I found that didn't smell bad worked great, but solidified in the tube in short order. I just wanted a fine, non-stinky pen, and I finally got it. It's this raised, dimensional glaze pen - much more 3D than regular glaze pens - and it masks perfectly PLUS adds a shiny, textured detail to your cards - so it does double duty. I'm super happy with it.
I added the details first, and then did an inked background with the new color family of water-reactive inks from Colorbox - the new colors are beautiful, and we are reviewing them today at Splitcoast.
So here's my card - I used this butterfly sympathy set, added detail with the pen, smooshed Bumblebee, Capri, Tahiti and Aster inks on it, and then added these enamel dots. I used this background paper.
Look how crisp the white stays underneath the watercolor! Love it. And it's 3D and super shiny. The pens do come in other colors, so I'll be trying the same thing with those.
So here's my tutorial for this card. You can click here to watch in HD on YouTube. Supplies are below the video.
here
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The art is beautiful. When I clicked on the pen, I got gel pens. Is that right?
ReplyDeleteThey are not regular gel pens - they create a raised lip
DeleteWhat a gorgeous card! <3 I love all the ink smoothing! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat is the name of the masking pen? Is it a gel pen?
ReplyDeleteIt's all in Japanese! :D They're the first thumbnail in my product list above. They come in a set.
Delete