Category: Topic

Adapting Desserts

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Freezing, Topic2 Comments

Make easy desserts and three-ingredient cookies from your freezer and pantry. Get dessert recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I went so big on adaptable dinner ideas last week that I decided to step back and focus on just a few favorites when it comes to desserts. At least that’s my excuse—I actually find it easy to skip dessert, far easier than running out of cheese. When I do crave dessert, I’m often just as happy with a couple of squares of dark chocolate alongside a nightcap. But the rest of my family would disagree that dessert is expendable. My dad just bragged about how since he’s buying groceries less often, he’s cut back to two desserts a day.

So for those with a sweet tooth, I highlight some recipes that can likely be made without a trip to the store. As a bonus, some take minimal prep time, and some don’t require dessert staples, like flour, that may be in short supply. I also give you the simplest cookie recipe you’ll ever find—shortbread—and plenty of ideas for gussying it up.
Learn to adapt desserts and make Improv Shortbread Cookies

Adapting Dinners

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, Using1 Comment

What happens when you combine an unfamiliar ingredient, Web access, and creativity? Gluten-Free Cauliflower-Crust Pizza and other adapted dinners. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
I have a confession: I often cook without recipes. Even when I use them, I alter this and change that to fit what’s in my cupboard and what I think I want to eat. And I rarely make a dish the same way twice. I mainly develop and write out recipes so that I can share my favorite foods more easily with you!

So almost every recipe on Twice as Tasty can be adapted and even free-formed. There are some exceptions: You’ll have greater success with sourdough baking and cheesemaking if you follow the recipe as closely as possible, particularly as you’re learning. For canning and fermenting for long-term storage, using the given ingredients and instructions ensures food safety. But when it comes to adapting dinners and other meals, you can typically use your judgment and experience in deciding how closely you’ll follow a recipe—like I did for my latest adaptation, Gluten-Free Cauliflower-Crust Pizza.
Learn to adapt dinners and make Gluten-Free Cauliflower-Crust Pizza

Adapting Breakfasts

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

Working from home, my first meal of the day is healthy, varied, and enjoyable. Get breakfast recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
If you’ve been staying home these last few weeks, one of the biggest changes to the way you eat may be at breakfast. If you have a job outside the home, or kids to get to school, or a daily routine that start with a gym or other leave-the-house activity, you likely rush out the door with little thought for breakfast—or perhaps no food in your belly. Cooked breakfasts, and particularly family breakfasts, might be reserved for weekends or even holidays. If you want to turn staying at home to your advantage, using it to break old habits and improve routines, I can’t think of a better place to start than the first meal of the day.

That doesn’t mean you need to wake up in the morning ready to spend hours slaving in the kitchen while your family eyes you hungrily. If “slaving” is the word that comes to mind over preparing any meal, then something is out of sync. And just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you have any more time to cook breakfast than you would normally. But it does mean you have access to a fuller kitchen than is found in your car or corporate office, and you have at least some ability to stock it with a wider variety foods than will fit in your day bag or desk drawer.

As someone who has worked from home for years, I’ve found plenty of ways to make my first meal of the day healthy, varied, and enjoyable. Here are some of my go-to breakfasts at home.
Learn to make pantry breakfasts and Improv Smoothies

Staying Home

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Giveaway, Topic, Using1 Comment

Be happily occupied in the kitchen and well fed at every meal. Read more about eating well while staying home. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
So much has changed in the last few weeks. As our personal worlds narrow to our homes and backyards, many of us are changing what and how we eat. Most of us are spending more time in our kitchens, cooking more often and trying new recipes. I had no trouble scratching my original plans for this month’s blog posts to focus on eating well while staying home. But with such wide variation in what’s available in stores, in backyard gardens and from local farmers, and in pantries, it’s hard to know what I should emphasize. So I’m spreading my net wide, hoping that you’ll each find something on Twice as Tasty that makes your life a little easier and more enjoyable.

Like you, I have been focusing on staying home and have been spending plenty of time in the kitchen. On the downside, we canceled our sailing adventure planned for this month. On the upside, I’m busy writing my first cookbook! Focused on pickles, it’s scheduled for release before the end of the year. Read on to discover how you might win a copy, as well as to learn more about eating well while staying home.
Read more about eating well while staying home

Quick Stock and Soup

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, Using3 Comments

During your soup prep, you can make a quick stock just for your evening meal—or to share with housebound family and neighbors. Get stock and soup recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I always have containers of various soup stocks in my chest freezer, just waiting for me to pull out and add to risotto, sauces, bean dishes, and chowders. But even my 5.5-cubic-foot chest freezer may be a luxury in your home. That doesn’t mean you need to miss out on the benefits of homemade stock.

By tacking just a little extra time onto your soup prep, you can make a quick stock just for your evening meal—no storage required. Quick stocks have many bonuses. They suck extra flavor and nutrients out of your soup scraps. That flavor changes every time you make a quick stock, aligning with the ingredients of your soup. Your soup will taste far better than if you just poured in water and far less salty than if you used store-bought bouillon or broth. All those benefits come at the cost of a few minutes spent on prep and a few cents spent on basic ingredients.
Learn to make Quick Top-to-Root Stock and Top-to-Root Minestrone

Stocks and Scraps

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, UsingLeave a comment

Top-to-root eating seems more important than ever as we think about preparing better for the next crisis. Get stock recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
As I mentioned in last week’s blog post and at my earlier workshop at Free the Seeds, top-to-root eating focuses on savoring it all by putting tops, roots, shoots, peels, and other scraps to use. This idea seems more important than ever as we think about how we stock our pantry, plan our growing season, and in general prepare better for the next crisis.

If you haven’t explored the Recipe Index, cruise through it now; you’ll likely find plenty of new ways to use the ingredients you do have on hand. Here, I’ll highlight some ways to put what’s left after you’ve made those recipes—the scraps—to use.
Learn to make Vegetable Scrap Stock

Free the Seeds

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, Using, WorkshopsLeave a comment

Top-to-root eating is at the heart of Twice as Tasty. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Are you ready for Free the Seeds? It’s on its way! The 5th annual fair is happening Saturday in Kalispell, Montana. You can find the details here.

As one of the members of the organizing committee for this free event, I’ve been busy talking about it all over town and on the air. I’ll be presenting just one of the two dozen workshops at the fair, so if you’re local, I hope you’ll join me. But if it’s too far to travel, don’t worry: all this month, I’ll be expanding on my Free the Seeds workshop right here on the Twice as Tasty blog.
Read more about Free the Seeds!

Taking Stock

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Dry storage, Freezing, Topic5 Comments

Amid signs of the steady march toward spring, it’s time to take stock of your last saved harvest. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Growing food has been on my mind: I’ve been busy prepping for a sprout-growing workshop this week and organizing next month’s Free the Seeds event. You too are probably noticing the steady march toward spring as bright seed catalogs arrive regularly and storage vegetables beg to be front and center in your meals. Now’s the time to take stock of what you’ve saved from your last growing season, particularly what you’ve used and what’s left.
Read more about taking stock of stored food

Sourdough Pretzels

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Fermenting, Topic3 Comments

Sourdough pretzel dough is straightforward, there’s a trick to the crisp “shell” and soft center. Get sourdough recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Have you ever decided to try a recipe for the first time for a party? That was our first attempt at Sourdough Pretzel Bites. Several years back, George and I volunteered to prepare a fondue-themed surprise party for a dear friend. We bought about 10 kinds of cheese and made several sweet and savory fondues: classic Emmenthaler, cheddar and beer, Gruyere and wine, gjetost, Brie and shiitake, squash and cheddar, Spanish Manchego, bagna cauda, and of course chocolate. I guess that 30, maybe 40, people passed through the house that night, poking various dippers into every fondue pot we could get our hands on.

Our first sourdough soft pretzel attempt disappeared quickly that night, but in the years since I’ve tweaked and perfected the recipe. The dough is straightforward; where opinions vary widely is in how to achieve a crisp “shell” and soft center. German soft pretzels have long been dipped in lye, an alkaline substance so caustic that it’s used to clean clogged drains and requires gloves when handling. As much as I love traditional flavors and techniques, I wasn’t ready to introduce that element into my kitchen.

The eminent Harold McGee has recommended sodium carbonate, sometimes called soda ash, as a replacement: simply bake sodium bicarbonate, also known as the common kitchen staple baking soda, at a low temperature until most of its water and carbon dioxide evaporate. On the upside, your pretzels will have that traditional bite; on the downside, this “baked soda” will still irritate your skin. So I prefer standard baking soda in my soda water bath. It may be less traditional and less flavorful, but it balances well with the sourdough tang and doesn’t eat into my hands.
Learn to make Sourdough Pretzel Bites and Beer–Cheese Dip

Sourdough Focaccia

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Fermenting, TopicLeave a comment

Sourdough isn’t traditional for focaccia, but it’s one of the few sourdough breads you can cut and eat hot. Get focaccia recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I see all types of bread as an easy snack, but focaccia stands out among them. I’d buy it oven-hot as a street snack in Italy, and that flavor has stuck with me decades later. It’s tempting to think of focaccia as a deep-crust pizza crust or sandwich bread and load up on toppings and fillings, but it really rises best in the oven when it isn’t overloaded and shows off its heavy glug of olive oil when other flavors don’t take over.

Although sourdough isn’t traditional for focaccia, the tang pairs beautifully with silky olive oil. It also makes the dough forgiving of busy schedules; instead of having to watch to ensure it doesn’t overproof, you can slide the pan into the refrigerator and bake it at your leisure. But one of the greatest perks of sourdough focaccia is that unlike many sourdough breads, you can cut it and eat it hot. This also means it doesn’t keep as well, so I make a small loaf in a single 9- by 13-inch pan and bake often. Besides snack food, the hot bread works well with a bowl of Tomato Juice Soup or on an appetizer plate with pickles, homemade cheese, and sliced fruit.
Learn to make Savory Sourdough Focaccia and Sweet Sourdough Focaccia