Balsamic-Roasted Radishes

On May 29, 2026May 29, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

This time of year, I balance daily green salads with hot dishes, both featuring spring vegetables but providing different flavors and textures. Arugula changes from crisp to silky in Cheesy Wilted Arugula Penne. Asparagus transforms from grassy and bright to smoky and charred when grilled. And as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, radishes shift from peppery to sweet when roasted.

I emphasize salad radishes in this week’s recipe—a group that includes classic red-skinned Cherry Belle, multicolor Easter Egg, oblong French Breakfast, and green-and-pink Watermelon varieties—since they’re in their spring flush and we typically think of eating them raw. A giant daikon radish, which is typically sown in late summer to fall for a fall or mild winter harvest, can also be roasted but needs slightly different treatment. Peel this long, dense radish and then cut it into half-moons or cubes before roasting. When cooked, daikon radish holds more of its spicy flavor than round salad radishes.
Learn to make Balsamic-Roasted Radishes

Spring Pearl Barley Salad

On May 21, 2026May 21, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn ColumnLeave a comment

It’s easy to think of spring salads as light and delicate, because many of the first vegetables available to mix into them are tender greens and herbs, rather than the meaty tomatoes and sweet peppers that ripen in the summer garden. By mixing spring crops into a hearty, filling base, a salad like the one I share this week my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon can carry a meal.

Grains like pearl barley and farro, beans and other legumes, starchy vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes, and breads like a sourdough loaf for panzanella and Twice-Baked Sourdough Pita Chips for fattoush all turn a couple of handfuls of raw vegetables into a full meal. On the weekends, I often cook a double batch of Bulgur Taco “Meat” or beans to turn into Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice and then fold the rest of the batch into fresh lunch salads throughout the week.
Learn to make Spring Pearl Barley Salad

Tomato and Herb Salad Dressing

On May 16, 2026May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, salads2 Comments

In winter months, when the ground is frozen and blanketed in snow, I rarely buy and eat fresh greens. But as the soil warms and spring greens sprout in my garden, I start eating salads—daily. The first ones feature mounds of greens and herbs sparsely dotted with other vegetables. When my lettuces bolt and turn bitter, tomatoes, cucumbers, and snap beans take over. Beets, carrots, and kale, plus a small flush of spinach, bump up against the first snowfall.

This type of seasonal salad building means you rarely find a mix of lettuce, tomato, and cucumber in my bowl. But as I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, you can still enjoy flavor pairings produced in different seasons. The secret is simple: make your own salad dressing. Homegrown frozen cherry tomatoes and dried basil have far more flavor than the fresh options you could buy at the store right now. In an easy dressing, they give summery flair to spring greens.
Learn to make Tomato and Herb Salad Dressing

Rhubarb-Ginger Seltzer

On May 7, 2026May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn beverages, ColumnLeave a comment

As temperatures warm, I’m drawn to refreshing chilled beverages, but most store-bought versions are too sweet, fizzy, or artificial-tasting on my tongue—and the best brands are expensive. So I make own my fizzy beverages instead, to drink as a substitute for soda and mix into cocktails. The one I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon uses spring’s first flush of rhubarb.

Rhubarb grows prolifically in my garden, so this all-natural seltzer concentrate costs me pennies to make. I have full control over the sweetness, as well as the fizziness of each drink, thanks to a countertop carbonation unit. Making my own flavored seltzers also reduces the number of cans and bottles I have to haul to a recycling center. The process takes minimal hands-on time and creates a long-lasting concentrate that flavors a large batch of drinks. I can’t think of any downside to creating this seltzer and similar versions with other fruit.
Learn to make Rhubarb-Ginger Seltzer

Paneer Tikka Masala

On May 2, 2026May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

I developed the recipe for the classic Indian dish that I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon to showcase not just traditional spices but also homemade cheese and homegrown vegetables, even out of season. When I started delving into spices commonly used in Indian cuisine and teaching workshops on how to create spice blends and make fresh paneer at home, I couldn’t just sit down in a local restaurant and enjoy traditional Indian cuisine. Northwest Montana’s food offerings have become far more varied over the years, but I still enjoy simmering homemade cheese in spices in my own kitchen.

In spring, I’m just planting the onions, tomatoes, and peppers that will become this recipe’s savory sauce, and it will be months before I can make a fresh-from-the garden version. But I can make it tonight from vegetables I grew last summer: I simply pull them from my freezer.
Learn to make Paneer Tikka Masala

Fresh Paneer

On April 24, 2026April 23, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cheese, ColumnLeave a comment

Before I started to make cheese at home, I saw each type I’d ever tasted as distinct. They were all cheeses, just like snap beans, carrots, and cabbage are all vegetables, but they seemed as dissimilar.

I learned that many cheeses are far more closely related than I’d imagined. A small change in ingredient, time, or technique was enough to earn them a new name. Replace goat’s milk with cow’s milk, and chèvre becomes fromage blanc. Fresh neufchâtel resembles American cream cheese but if ripened develops the soft rind and earthier flavor intended by its French creators. Press farmer’s cheese, or my preferred Lemon Cheese variation, and you create paneer.

As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, pressing freshly made farmer’s cheese instead of hanging it releases more whey, so it becomes firm enough to cube and fry like tofu. I substitute paneer into many recipes that call for bite-size morsels of chicken or other meat, because it doesn’t melt when heated. Toss it into Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry, grill and stuff it into tacos, or use it more traditionally in tikka masala, the recipe I’ll share in next week’s column.
Learn to make Fresh Paneer

Potato and Lemon Cheese Pierogi

On April 16, 2026May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, potatoesLeave a comment

I ate pierogi often as I traveled and lived in Eastern Europe and Russia, and I love having homemade batches in my Montana freezer that I can pull out and throw straight into a frying pan for a quick meal. The dumpling dough recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon uses just a few kitchen staples. The hot water and oil help to slow gluten development, and the ice water helps to keep the dough light and not too soft to roll out.

Although the dough is simple, pierogi assembly takes time, so I typically make a double batch and freeze most of the dumplings. I either set aside a few hours to prepare multiple fillings and the dough from start to finish or spread out the project over a couple of days. Pierogi dough keeps well for 2 to 3 days in the fridge; just let it come to room temperature before you roll it out. Most fillings can be refrigerated for up to 3 days before they should be used, and cold ones are often easier to work with than those that are still warm and saucy. Crimping or rolling the edges gives them a hand-shaped look, but a dumpling press speeds up this stage.
Learn to make Potato and Lemon Cheese Pierogi

Rustic Lemon Cheese Mashed Potatoes

On April 9, 2026May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, potatoesLeave a comment

After I started this month by explaining how to make an easy cheese at home, I wanted to offer plenty of ideas for using it. The recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is both straightforward and versatile. It mixes fresh, homemade Lemon Cheese into basic mashed potatoes for a simple and flavorful side dish.

As I explain in my column, I intentionally leave these mashed potatoes relatively dry so that they work well as a filling for pierogi, a recipe I’ll share in next week’s column. Even though you could mix other cheeses, store-bought or homemade, into a side dish of mashers, my lemony version of farmer’s cheese doesn’t completely melt when heated and won’t become oily and ooze from a pierogi wrapper. This ability to retain its shape, hot or cold, makes this cheese my favorite addition on and in many other dishes.
Learn to make Rustic Lemon Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Lemon Cheese

On April 7, 2026April 9, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cheese, ColumnLeave a comment

For the first time, I’m sharing my homemade cheese recipes in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I’ve been making these recipes at home and teaching them in cheese-making workshops for years, and they’re tasty enough that they should be on your table too.

Cheeses run the gamut from easy and quick to complex and well aged, but the one in this week’s column is about the easiest to create. I call it lemon cheese because I use lemon juice to set the cheese curd, but it’s also known as farmer’s cheese, queso blanco, and paneer. You only need three ingredients and 20 minutes of hands-on time to make this cheese, and just a few specific tools and ingredients: a large kettle, finely woven cheesecloth, an instant-read thermometer, and ideally nonhomogenized milk.

Learn to make Lemon Cheese

Veggie-Stuffed Three-Egg Omelet

On March 26, 2026March 26, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

I’ve been sharing gluten-free recipes all this month in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The first three put a gluten-free spin on meals that many people make with wheat flour and other grains, swapping in cauliflower for Gluten-Free Cauliflower-Crust Pizza, certified gluten-free oats for Gluten-Free, Nut-Free Granola, and a naturally gluten-free grain for a steaming bowl of Buckwheat Porridge with Mushrooms and Eggs. But I make plenty of filling recipes that never raised the gluten flag, including the omelet recipe I share this week.

As I explain in my column, I see American-style omelets as essentially protein-packed vehicles for many ingredients: the first herbs and greens popping up in the garden, dibs and dabs from the fridge, and unusual combinations I might want to sample together before I make them the stars of a main dish. It doesn’t take much to fill a three-egg omelet; just 1/2 cup of bulky ingredients fits nicely into the elegant package without bursting its seams.
Learn to make Veggie-Stuffed Three-Egg Omelet