Cilantro Lime Vinaigarette

There is nothing better on summer salads than a light, bright vinaigrette. I love using this dressing to liven up mexican dishes, such as my Corn and Three Bean Mexican Salad.  If you don't have fresh limes handy, I find that Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice makes a fine substitute.

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh Lime Juice (2-3 limes)
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin Olive Oil 
• 1/8 cup chopped fresh Cilantro 
• 1 Garlic clove, minced (optional)
• 2 TBSP Vermont Maple Syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher Salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground Coriander (optional)  

Instructions 

1. Stir all ingredients together. Keep refrigerated. Shake before serving. 
2. Makes sixteen (16) 2 TBSP servings. WW SP=3

Recipe and photo courtesy of Epicurious.com

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Dog Team Tavern Horseradish Cottage Cheese Dip

Anyone who had the pleasure of visiting the Dog Team Tavern may recall placing their order from the little blackboard at the front door, then waiting in the expansive, barn-like bar while waiting (sometimes over an hour) for a table. During that time, you would devour their infamous Horseradish Cottage Cheese Dip...served form a large bowl at the bar with wide-wale, ruffled potato chips. Rarely did one avoid stuffing oneself with chips and dip then sticky buns before the meal ever came. You can find over Dog Team recipes here>

Dog Team Tavern Horseradish Cottage Cheese Dip

Ingredients

• 16 ounces small-curd, whole-milk cottage cheese
• 1/8 cup minced horseradish root or 1/4 cup quality, jarred horseradish
• 1 tsp fresh chopped dill
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine ingredients gently but thoroughly. 
2. Let chill a few hours before serving for floors to blend. 
3. Best served with wide ruffled potato chips, pita or bagel chips, or crudités

Thanks to  bonappetit.com for posting the recipe, and mountainmamacooks.com for the picture.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My Mom was a very good cook. Her Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Stuffed Peppers, Fondue, and Turkey dinners were divine.  But a baker, she was not. We won't talk about her Peanut Butter Fudge that never set and every time you cut a square, would smooth back over as if you'd never taken any. Or the No-Bake Cookies she made on the portable dishwasher--which she then ran--literally baking the cookies to the top of it.

But she had one baked good that was sent from heaven...her German (or as we called it) Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  The recipe was originally my Aunt Patty's, but my mother owned it!  As I hold her vanilla-stained, sugar-encrusted recipe card, I can see her making this, and smell it in the oven. I miss her so much my heart aches.

So I post this today for you Jeffrey...for she loved your visit, and the baklava and marzipan you brought from NY, and the buttermilk fried chicken you made during your stay. Happy Birthday, my basement.

German Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 3/4 cups Cooking Oil
• 1.5 cups Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 3 cups Flour
• 1.5 tsp Baking Soda
• 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1.5 tsp Vanilla
• 1 pt (16 oz) Sour Cream

Brown Sugar Mixture

• 3/4 cups Brown Sugar
• 1.5 tsp Cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 cups crushed Walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar, eggs. 
3. In a second bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Mix dry ingredients alternately with sour cream into the oil mixture.
5. Add vanilla and mix all well.
6. Pour half of batter into a bundt pan (prepared pan I assume, although recipe doesn't say).
7. Sprinkle half of Brown Sugar Mixture in a circle around center of cake batter.
8. Add rest of batter to bundt pan.
9. Sprinkle remaining Brown Sugar Mixture on top.
10. Bake for 1 hour.

Baked BBQ Chicken Wings

In the last year, our ten-year-old son's palette has finally started to expand, and this has included chicken wings. Looking for a healthier and cheaper alternative to take-out wings, we tried these wings, based on a recipe we found on Pinterest. Ingredients have been modified to utilize our favorite Vermont products where appropriate. 

Baked BBQ Chicken Wings 

Ingredients

Wings

• 3 lbs Chicken Wing pieces, tips removed
• 1 cup Gringo Jack's VT Maple Barbecue Sauce

Dry Rub

• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Koshet Salt
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Mustard Powder
• 2 tsp Paprika
• 2 tsp VT Garlic Maple Pepper
• ½ tsp Cumin

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with non-stick spray.
3. Rinse wings then pat dry with a paper towel. Place wings in a gallon-size resealable bag.
4. Mix all dry rub ingredients together in small bowl then pour into the bag with wings, seal tightly. 
5. Shake bag to coat wings completely with dry rub.
6. Place wings onto baking sheet spaced evenly apart, discard leftover dry rub.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes, turning over once halfway through baking. 
8. Remove wings from oven and brush with barbecue sauce. Enjoy!

Recipe based on http://everydaydishes.com/simple-food-recipes/barbecue-baked-chicken-wings/