Category: Using

Mashers

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

Everyone has a favorite mash, but you can please them all with 5 or fewer ingredients. Get mashed potato recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully your kitchen smells warm and spicy and you have many hands at work preparing the day’s spread. This foodie holiday holds many memories for me—from family gathered around Grandma Tiny’s table to “orphans” meals with friends to today’s version with family and friends and the hope that snow will be in the air. It’s been 25 years since I’ve eaten the main attraction of the table, but it remains a celebration—probably because I easily fill a plate before the turkey passes by.

I rarely think of mashing potatoes outside the holiday season (unless I want to use up yogurt whey). Instead, I bake them, roast them, and braise them; I turn them into salad, soup, curry, and gnocchi. Perhaps it’s the cranberries—a dollop sits so beautifully in a pile of mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes. So when these tart berries are in season, the potato masher comes out to play.
Learn to make Tangy Potato Mashers and Sweet Potato Mashers with Coconut Milk

Fall Beverages

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Dry storage, Topic, Using4 Comments

Need cold and hot nonalcoholic beverages for your next gathering? Look no further than Golden Milk and Switchel. Get beverage recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I first tasted golden milk at a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. Who knew that a warm beverage would be so delicious in that hot, tropical climate? But it was the perfect drink to follow an intense day of working our bodies.

When I moved from just writing about good food on the Twice as Tasty blog to making it for live events, I needed cold and hot beverages, alcoholic and nonalcoholic, to fit every season and occasion. Golden milk immediately came to mind as a warm, alcohol-free brew. I enjoyed it under the hot sun, but it’s just as delicious for fall holiday family gatherings and parties when snow is coming down. For home use, I make just the paste and keep it on hand so that I can make a mug or two at a time. For a gathering, you can prepare a full batch; place it on the table next to a chilled switchel, and you’ll find people happily swapping between the two.
Learn to make Golden Milk and Switchel

Pumpkin Pasta

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Dry storage, Ingredient, Using5 Comments

Pasta–pumpkin combinations are overlooked but fabulous weeknight or special meals. Get pumpkin pasta recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
When I told George I was planning to share pumpkin pasta recipes this week, his reaction was, “Nice, I always forget about pairing pasta and pumpkin.” It’s a combination even I tend to overlook. Growing up, pumpkin was reserved for jack-o’-lanterns and pie, and other winter squash was served “on the half shell,” drowning in butter and brown sugar. But these winter staples store so well you should have a collection to use in many sweet and savory dishes all winter: cookies, quick bread, soup, risotto—and pasta.

I offer two variations on pumpkin pasta here, one suited to a weeknight meal and a fancier plate that takes a bit more time to put together. I encourage you to look more at the techniques and think outside the ingredients listed in the recipes. Any firm-fleshed winter squash can be used in either recipe, and aromatics, alliums, herbs, cheeses, and pasta shapes can all be changed to suit your tastes. Whatever you use, orange winter squash creates a delicious pasta meal.
Learn to make Pasta with Roasted Pumpkin and Parmesan and Pumpkin–Goat Cheese Ravioli with Butter–Nut Sauce

Obsessively Orange

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Event, Topic, Using, Workshops2 Comments

Naturally orange foods are loaded with carotenoids, so they taste good and make you feel good. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Happy Halloween! It’s not every year that the final day of birthday month (yes, birthday month) and Halloween align with a Twice as Tasty post day. But you won’t find any cake cutely decorated with Oreos or candy corn here. Instead, I was inspired by the “Halloween” display at Vashon Bookshop when I visited the island earlier this month. The theme was simple: all orange book covers. At first glance, it might seem like an obsessive—or lazy—way to dress a table, but perusing the titles revealed a fabulously varied trick-or-treat bag of goodies.

So today I highlight some recipes featuring, or easily altered for, orange foods. I also suggest some workshops you should consider attending or scheduling in your own home over the next few weeks that will put some extra flavor in your holiday season.
Read more about orange obsessions—and winter workshops