Category: Using

Traveling Snacks

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Using1 Comment

Crunchy cravings when you’re not really hungry can be satisfied with simple home-baked snacks that are healthy and delicious. Get homemade snack recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Do you ever get the craving to just crunch on something even when you’re not hungry? Or find yourself reaching for a bag of potato or tortilla chips when you’d rather munch on a healthier snack? These cravings are what drew me to seaweed snacks, particularly when I’m on a full-day road trip and just eating because I’m bored of being behind the wheel.

Although I quickly developed a love for packets of toasted, flavored, seaweed chips, I just as quickly found I hated the excessive layers of packaging used to keep them whole during transport and on store shelves. They require few ingredients and no special equipment, so I soon began making my own. Then I decided to take it a step further: Could I satisfy my crunchy craving with something from the garden instead of seaweed, which I have to buy? Kale and chard chips became easy homegrown substitutes. Now I tend to make some of each, particularly when I’m prepping for a road trip or sailing adventure, to keep a mixed bag of flavors within reach.
Learn to make Homemade Seaweed Snacks and Roasted Kale Chips

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Filling Salads

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Using3 Comments

Salads are so versatile: chop up some ingredients, toss them with dressing, and your fresh, one-dish meal is ready to eat. Get salad recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Salads dominate my harvest menu. They’re so versatile: chop up some ingredients, toss them with a bit of dressing, and your fresh, one-dish meal is ready to eat. I start making homegrown salads as soon as spring greens show true leaves and don’t stop until the ground freezes.

Most salads fit the “no recipe required” category. Once you find your preferred ratios, even the dressing can be made on the spot with whatever’s at hand. If you follow @twiceastastyblog on Instagram you’ll find plenty of my daily salads. But I still get enough requests for ingredients and proportions that you’ll find a couple dozen salad and dressing recipes on the blog and can even gather your friends for a workshop. Some of these recipes are traditional, like panzanella, sunomono, and the two American classics in this week’s post. But as you’ll learn, all of these salads can be adapted based on what’s in season and what you have on hand.
Learn to make Three-Bean Salad and Taco Salad

Flavors of Fall

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Using1 Comment

Even though September means hours of putting up homegrown food, much of the garden will offer portions suitable for fresh meals. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Of all the growing months, September holds the garden’s greatest bounty. I’ll harvest the widest variety of produce over the next few weeks, some of it from plants that are in their prime but much of it from those that are yielding their final offerings. In my garden, many plants will release preservable quantities this month, including nightshades, cucumbers, squash, and if a frost hits before the month’s end, apples. Plums and pears will be the only new arrivals, but they’ll all be ready at once.

Even though I spend plenty of hours in September putting up homegrown food, much of the garden will offer portions suitable for fresh meals. Broccoli and even asparagus are still putting out a handful or two of new shoots at a time. Corn and snap beans just passed their peak but will continue to give up enough for immediate use. Cherry tomato and basil plants will keep reminding me of summer even as the days shorten and cool. So I’m taking a break from sharing canning recipes this month to pass on some of my favorite ways to savor the flavors of fall.
Read more about the flavors of fall

One Prep, Two Meals: Couscous

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

Quick meals don’t get any easier than boiling water, pouring it over couscous, and adding fresh veg and canned beans. Get couscous recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Hopefully you’ve been inspired by all of this month’s recipes to look beyond leftovers and use the one prep–two meals formula. If couscous isn’t a staple in your pantry, this week’s post may surprise you as much as risotto did last week. But once you try these recipes, you’ll stock up on couscous for plenty of quick, easy meals. Just as fresh pasta outshines dried in any meal, instant couscous can’t compete with semolina grains steamed in stages in a couscoussière. But for quick meals at home, in the woods, or on the water, it doesn’t get any easier than boiling water and pouring it over the couscous. Add some fresh veg and canned beans, and you have lunch and dinner ready in a snap.

Speed and ease are just two of the beauties of the recipes you’ll find here. As I shared with more than a dozen sailors in a workshop this week, the two recipes here can spawn many days of meals cooked in a galley or over a camp stove and grill: I always travel with several heads of preroasted garlic to serve on grilled pizza, sandwiches, and other meals. The extra half-batch of chermoula can be used as a shrimp marinade. Bonus cans of chickpeas can be mashed into hummus. Extra veg can be grilled or sliced for dinner sides or between-meal snacks. And homemade feta disappears so quickly into hungry mouths you could never travel with too much.
Learn to make Vegetable Couscous with Chickpeas and Feta and Couscous Salad with Raw Vegetables