By March is here next week. The month of Jayden's birthday, my birthday, and — in four months — the baby. March is always the fullest month. The month where winter concedes and spring arrives and everything that was waiting under the ground starts pushing up. Including babies. Including Mitchell women. Including crocuses.
The virus news is escalating. Italy. South Korea. It's not just far away anymore. It's everywhere-away. People at work are talking about it — patients are nervous, the dentist is watching the news between appointments, and the front desk ordered a case of hand sanitizer that arrived in a box so large it blocked the hallway. I am a dental hygienist. I am a healthcare worker. I am pregnant. The intersection of these three facts is a Venn diagram that keeps me up at night.
Terrence called. He's worried about me being pregnant during... whatever this is going to be. He said: "Should you stop working?" I said: "I can't afford to stop working." He said: "I can help." I said: "You're already helping." He sends money every month. He drives to Nashville every month. He bought a crib mattress and onesies and the stuffed elephant that Jayden has claimed. He is helping. But the helping doesn't cover a mortgage — apartment rent — and two kids in school and a car payment and groceries and prenatal vitamins and the hundred other expenses that don't care about your relationship status or your co-parenting arrangement or the fact that a global pandemic might be about to make everything harder.
Mama said: "I survived Kevin and Amber and you without a pandemic and without a man and without a dental hygiene degree. You're already ahead of where I was. You'll be fine." She's right. She's always right. She survived worse. She survived everything. She survived on Kroger wages and God and cast iron and I have all of those things plus a degree and a co-parent and a community screening program that serves ninety-three people. I am ahead. I am ahead and I am terrified and both things are true and the cornbread doesn't care about either one.
I made loaded nachos. Not a recipe — an assembly. Chips, beans, cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, guacamole. Everything on top of everything else in a pile on a sheet pan. The laziest meal I know. The meal I make when cooking feels like too much and assembling feels like enough. Jayden ate the cheese. Chloe ate the guacamole. I ate everything else. The nachos were a team effort. Three people, one pan, zero complaints. That's the platonic ideal of family dinner: food you can eat with your hands while watching a movie about a talking fish and not thinking about viruses.
The nachos were already gone before I thought to write anything down — which tells you everything about what kind of night it was. But the dip we had alongside them, the cool tangy ranch that Jayden kept double-dipping into, that one’s worth keeping. When dinner is chips and survival and a talking fish movie, you want something you can stir together in under five minutes and set on the coffee table without ceremony. This Greek yogurt ranch dip is exactly that — lighter than the bottled stuff, better than the packet kind, and completely at home in a pile of nachos or next to whatever you’re holding in your hand while the world figures itself out.
Healthy Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
Prep Time: 8 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 8 min (plus 30 min chill) | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
- Tortilla chips, sliced vegetables, or crackers for serving
Instructions
- Combine the base. In a medium bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt and mayonnaise until smooth and fully incorporated.
- Add the seasonings. Stir in the dried dill, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper.
- Brighten it up. Add the lemon juice and stir again. Taste and adjust salt or lemon as needed — the dip should be tangy, creamy, and well-seasoned.
- Fold in the chives. Stir in the fresh chives, reserving a pinch for garnish if desired.
- Chill (if you can wait). Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors come together. It gets noticeably better the longer it sits, but it’s perfectly good straight away.
- Serve. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with extra chives, and set out with tortilla chips, sliced bell peppers, cucumbers, or whatever’s in the crisper drawer.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 72 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 3g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 195mg