Best DIY Salad Dressing

On September 24, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn saladsLeave a comment

After the heat of summer sent lettuces bolting, recent cool fall temperatures and rain mean salads are back. If you don’t grow your own salad fixings, you may not have noticed the shift from sweet, tender greens to bitter, coarse leaves. But home gardeners will be well aware of the change and have transitioned from lettuce-based salads to ones featuring heat-tolerant or late-season vegetables.

In a piece for Clean Pates earlier this summer, I shared my technique and ratio for making a collection of salad dressings. Even if you don’t grow salad greens, I’m a firm believer that you should make your own dressings. Among disappearing food traditions, one of the most lamentable is scratch-made salad dressing. As Mark Kurlansky writes in The Food of a Younger Land, “What could better spell the beginning of the end than bottled salad dressing, the manufacture of a product that was so easy to make at home?”

Easy is right: Using a basic ratio, you can make so many dressings. A pinch of this and dab of that completely change a dressing’s flavor. My technique clocks in under 60 seconds, and I can now eyeball the proportions without even dirtying measuring spoons.
Learn to make the Best DIY Salad Dressing

Crunchy Cabbage Salad

On September 23, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

Growing cabbage always presents challenges. In my short growing season, each plant produces one head but doesn’t really have enough time to form a second flush. It has a big garden footprint, and I have to protect it under a cover all season if I want to keep cabbageworms and loopers from calling it home. Some varieties need to be harvested midsummer, when everything else is begging for attention in the garden, so I need to check carefully for number of growing days to ensure a long, extended harvest.

Is it worth it? Clearly I’ve answered yes, because as I share in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I now grow several cabbage varieties. Some I enjoy fresh, especially as young, raw leafy greens. Others I ferment to have on hand all winter. But my favorites remain the raw crunchy heads that I shred for salads.
Learn to make Crunchy Cabbage Salad

Shrimp and Summer Squash Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

On September 15, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Column, fresh eating1 Comment

The enchiladas I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon have become household favorites. And that all started with the sauce. Before I began making my own enchilada sauce, I occasionally attempted this rich, cheesy dish when we wanted comfort food, but I never quite nailed the technique of getting the tortillas in that just-right place, ending up with ones that were mushy or crunchy. Then I found a sauce recipe I love and started putting up jars of it, which led me to track down the technique that keeps the tortillas soft and intact, making them the perfect vehicle for the homemade sauce.

The recipe I share here lets you make this delicious sauce in a smaller batch without the effort of canning it. If you fall for this sauce like I did, you can make a larger amount to process in a boiling water bath using the instructions in Tips & Tricks. The enchiladas themselves can have all sorts of fillings: as we transition from summer to fall, my favorite pairs homegrown summer squash with sautéed shrimp.
Learn to make Shrimp and Summer Squash Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Asian-Inspired Dressing

On September 1, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

Tomato season is on. I harvested 45 pounds of heirloom paste and slicing tomatoes in one go earlier this week, and these larger tomatoes already need to be picked again. The cherry tomatoes have been prolific too; bowls of them are currently scattered around my house, waiting to be eaten, frozen, or canned.

As I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, fresh cherry tomatoes and small cucumbers make a delicious salad. Nothing beats the taste of homegrown ones, of course, but local farmers can do the work for you and even a larger tomato and cucumber can be sliced up for a similarly quick, bright dish when they’re in season. Although most people think of a balsamic-based vinaigrette for tomatoes, I love to flavor this pairing with an Asian-inspired dressing—especially if I’m eating it with the recipe I shared in last week’s Flathead Beacon column: Zucchini-Basil Pancakes, one of my favorite was to use zucchini.
Learn to make Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Asian-Inspired Dressing

Zucchini–Basil Pancakes

On August 25, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grains3 Comments

Zucchini. If you grow it, you likely have more of it than you know what to do with. Even if you don’t grow your own, store-bought zukes tend to be large enough it’s easy to buy more than you need. Fortunately, zucchini and other summer squash are delicious in many dishes, whether obvious or disguised by other, more flavorful ingredients.

I share one of my favorite recipes showcasing zucchini this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon: Zucchini-Basil Pancakes. They use two prolific producers from the garden and are tasty on their own or as the base for other flavors, like Grilled Tomatillo Salsa, Spiked Guacamole, and Chipotle-Marinated Grilled Shrimp with Garlic Scape Aioli.
Learn to make Zucchini–Basil Pancakes

Huckleberry and Cheese Crepes

On August 11, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grains2 Comments

My social media feeds are increasingly featuring photos of huckleberry harvests and the creations made from them. The season is on. As I note this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, huckleberry season is short but sweet, so I always enjoy some now but save a few for the freezer. I tend to savor mine at breakfast—although I do go big when I pile any fruit on one bowl of homemade granola and fresh yogurt. I’ve taken sourdough starter into the backcountry so that I can dot pancakes with berries harvested at the campsite. Wild berries like huckleberries and blackberries are also delicious paired with homemade cheese and rolled into crepes.
Learn to make Huckleberry and Cheese Crepes

Garlic Scape Aioli

On July 14, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, sauces1 Comment

Homemade mayonnaise—and my preferred version, garlicy aioli—is a different critter from Miracle Whip. It’s simply an emulsified sauce, combining egg and oil into a smooth, stable blend. Once you master the technique, seemingly complex, challenging sauces like hollandaise and beurre blanc become easy to whip up.

At its most basic, aioli pairs the rich flavor of olive oil and eggs and the pucker of minced garlic and lemon juice. Leave out the garlic and lemon, and you have a subtle yet creamy homemade mayonnaise. Herbs and other aromatics bump the blend in an even more flavorful direction.

In my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I share one of my favorite summertime aioli blends, with garlic scapes and lemon. An easy spin on that taste is to grill the lemon first, as I do alongside Grilled Asparagus, or roast or grill whole garlic cloves. Mince in a tablespoon of fresh dill, and you get one of my preferred garnishes for sushi. Homemade mustard or spice blends quickly change the profile. You can even use the aioli as the base for a scratch-made ranch dressing.
Learn to make Garlic Scape Aioli

Garden-Fresh Basil Pesto and Homemade Pasta

On June 23, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, sauces4 Comments

When I started this blog 6 years ago, one of the first recipes I shared was Basil Pesto Base, which I make in large batches in my food processor every time our basil plants threaten to flower and then freeze to use all winter. But recently, I had the chance to test mortars and pestles for The Spruce Eats and became hooked on the creamy texture of freshly pounded basil pesto. My reviews haven’t gone live yet on that website, but I couldn’t resist sharing the recipe and technique I developed during testing in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

Once I had several batches of freshly pounded pesto, I also couldn’t resist trying my hand at scratch-made pasta. With some tips and tricks—and a hand-cranked, countertop pasta maker—homemade pasta turned out to be far less messy and far less difficult than I had anticipated, with tasty results that paired perfectly with creamy, mortar-pounded pesto.
Learn to make Garden-Fresh Basil Pesto and Homemade Pasta

Mega-Mint Mojito

On June 16, 2022December 28, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn beverages, ColumnLeave a comment

In my Twice as Tasty blog post and column for the Flathead Beacon last week, I shared Strawberry Shortcake with Lilac Cream, one of my favorite treats for early-summer celebrations (like Twice as Tasty’s 6th birthday!). But I must admit that I tend to drink my desserts rather than eat them. So I would include this week’s recipe on the celebration menu too. It’s sweet enough to count as dessert in my book but simple enough to mix up for a spontaneous party—especially if you have a bottle of mint simple syrup stashed in your fridge.

As I note in this week’s Twice as Tasty column, you don’t really need a recipe to make simple syrup. But if you’re a by-the-book kind of person, I break down the steps here, along with tips and tricks for keeping it light and fresh.
Learn to make Mega-Mint Mojito and simple syrups

Creamy Balsamic Salad Dressing

On June 4, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

If you want to look pro in the kitchen with minimal effort and little expense, a smart move is to make your own salad dressings. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, store-bought dressings are expensive and loaded with additives easily avoided in homemade blends. I eat salads almost daily in summer, but I never buy dressings and am convinced you don’t need to either.

Among the first recipes I ever published on this blog are my base blends for vinaigrette and creamy salad dressing. For one of my more popular workshops, I bring more than 30 ingredients to blend into personalized dressings. This week, I share one of my go-to combinations that builds on those basic ratios.
Learn to make Creamy Balsamic Salad Dressing and other vinaigrettes