Rustic Lemon Cheese Mashed Potatoes

On April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave 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

Tangy, Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

On November 27, 2025November 27, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

The garden has been tucked away, with one final visit this week to pluck spinach blanketed by our first real snow. We’re finishing off the last of the box-ripened tomatoes too, and my meals have started to feature dry-stored fruit and vegetables: apples, cabbage, carrots, beets, squash, and potatoes.

The mashed potatoes recipe that I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon lands nicely on a Thanksgiving or other holiday table. Although still a starchy side dish, potatoes taste lighter when mashed with vinegar instead of cream. The vinegar, roasted garlic, and chives pack flavor into these potatoes, so vegetarians can skip the turkey or beef gravy or contrast the tang with rich mushroom gravy or tart homemade cranberry sauce. To make these mashed potatoes vegan—and extra fluffy—use extra-virgin olive oil instead of butter.
Learn to make Tangy, Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes

On April 12, 2024May 10, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

This time of year, I’m always pairing what remains of last season’s harvest with the first of spring’s perennial edibles. As they push through the ground and show off their bright green tops, I can’t help but snip a handful at a time onto whatever I’m trying to use up from dry storage or the freezer.

That approach to homegrown produce applies to this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. In my unheated mudroom, the last of the potatoes that we dug and cured in October have begun to sprout in their storage box, an old, lidless cooler with a few shims in the bottom to allow air circulation and a towel thrown over the top to keep the light out and the potatoes from turning green. They’re still firm and ideal for mashed potatoes. The final garlic heads and onion bulbs are also trying to sprout but haven’t softened. All it takes is a sprinkling of the emerging onion tops cut from perennial walking onions to make the storage vegetables worthy of a spring meal.
Learn to make Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes