Balsamic-Roasted Radishes

On May 29, 2026May 29, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

This time of year, I balance daily green salads with hot dishes, both featuring spring vegetables but providing different flavors and textures. Arugula changes from crisp to silky in Cheesy Wilted Arugula Penne. Asparagus transforms from grassy and bright to smoky and charred when grilled. And as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, radishes shift from peppery to sweet when roasted.

I emphasize salad radishes in this week’s recipe—a group that includes classic red-skinned Cherry Belle, multicolor Easter Egg, oblong French Breakfast, and green-and-pink Watermelon varieties—since they’re in their spring flush and we typically think of eating them raw. A giant daikon radish, which is typically sown in late summer to fall for a fall or mild winter harvest, can also be roasted but needs slightly different treatment. Peel this long, dense radish and then cut it into half-moons or cubes before roasting. When cooked, daikon radish holds more of its spicy flavor than round salad radishes.
Learn to make Balsamic-Roasted Radishes

Spring Pearl Barley Salad

On May 21, 2026May 21, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn ColumnLeave a comment

It’s easy to think of spring salads as light and delicate, because many of the first vegetables available to mix into them are tender greens and herbs, rather than the meaty tomatoes and sweet peppers that ripen in the summer garden. By mixing spring crops into a hearty, filling base, a salad like the one I share this week my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon can carry a meal.

Grains like pearl barley and farro, beans and other legumes, starchy vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes, and breads like a sourdough loaf for panzanella and Twice-Baked Sourdough Pita Chips for fattoush all turn a couple of handfuls of raw vegetables into a full meal. On the weekends, I often cook a double batch of Bulgur Taco “Meat” or beans to turn into Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice and then fold the rest of the batch into fresh lunch salads throughout the week.
Learn to make Spring Pearl Barley Salad

Gluten-Free, Nut-Free Granola

On March 12, 2026March 12, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dehydratedLeave a comment

I comfortably admit that I’m a granola girl—regardless social connotations that have been attached to that phrase. I eat homemade granola almost daily in summer, scooped over Homemade Small-Batch Yogurt and barely visible beneath a mound of fresh homegrown berries. In winter, I flavor the yogurt with homemade jams. In summer, I make granola in a food dehydrator, letting its aroma fill my mudroom without heating up the whole house, but I sometimes pop it in the oven in winter when I want that extra warmth.

The adaptability of homemade granola extends beyond add-ins and prep methods, as I explain this week my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The recipe I share there avoids many common allergens, with replacements that make it nut-free, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly. It shows just how easily you can adjust granola ingredients to suit your diet and preferences.
Learn to make Gluten-Free, Nut-Free Granola

Chickpea Vegetable Skillet with Couscous and Feta

On July 11, 2025July 11, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grainsLeave a comment

My garden is bountiful so far this year, and many of my home-cooked meals begin with me spreading out my harvest on the counter and chopping up a little of everything for an impromptu, no-recipe vegetable sauté, salad, or pasta meal. But when I’m not making dinner at home these days, I’m usually making it aboard our sailboat, the Blue Mule, where my range of options becomes more limited. One of the beauties of the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is that you can approach it as garden-to-table meal or as a pantry-focused one that fits neatly in a cooler and kitchen box on the water or in a campground.

As I teach in my Fine Dining: Front Country workshop, the key to making such a veggie-heavy meal in the galley or at the campsite is to choose vegetables that travel well. Whole carrots, onions, and garlic can tumble around as the boat surfs waves or the car bounces down gravel roads, and they’ll still look and taste great at dinnertime. I pack small zucchini, so I don’t have a partial one left with an exposed cut edge that’s more susceptible to damage. I also tuck zukes and other tender vegetables into a plastic storage box that fits inside my ice chest and minimizes their bumping and bruising—and their direct exposure to melting ice.
Learn to make Chickpea Vegetable Skillet with Couscous and Feta

Brined and Seasoned Pot Beans

On March 20, 2025May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn beans, ColumnLeave a comment

When people tell me they never cook dried beans, their most common excuse is that it takes too much time. I get it. When I need a quick dinner, I often pop open a store-bought can of beans. But the more I cook dried beans, the more I savor the improved texture and expanded variety compared with commercially canned beans. The techniques for preparing dried beans that I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon play a big part in my preference for home-cooked beans.

I make the best beans when I soak them for at least 6 hours in a cold-water brine and then simmer them on the stovetop. They keep their plump shape and have a consistent, creamy interior once cooked. I sometimes quick-soak them in warm brine or cook them in a pressure cooker, but only when I don’t mind that the skins will split.
Learn to make Brined and Seasoned Pot Beans

Zesty Baked Chickpea Snacks

On February 27, 2025May 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn beans, ColumnLeave a comment

Shell beans and other legumes form such a versatile and nutritious food group that we should all be eating more of them. They go in everything, whether blended into smooth, creamy hummus; softened in hearty soups; or left whole and slightly chewy in salads. It was only a few years ago that I discovered they also can become crunchy homemade garnishes and snacks ready for all sorts of seasonings, as I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

I’ll be using a variation on this week’s recipe to demonstrate the magic that happens when you toast, grind, and bloom spices in my free Seeds of Flavor workshop at Free the Seeds this weekend. Join me Saturday, March 1, in Kalispell in Flathead Valley Community College’s Arts and Technology Building. The free daylong event will be packed with workshops, a giant seed giveaway, booths hosted by local farmers and organizations, and a special keynote speaker to celebrate a decade of this fabulous educational and family-friendly gathering. Find all the info you need (like the full workshop schedule) on the website of the event’s organizer, Land to Hand Montana.
Learn to make Zesty Baked Chickpea Snacks

Shaved and Roasted Carrots with Harissa

On February 21, 2025February 21, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

Most of the snack recipes I’ve been sharing recently in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon benefit hugely from seasonings, but only with a light hand. Sheets of roasted seaweed and kale baked until crisp easily turn soggy, enough to make them chewy or fall apart, if you introduce too much oil or liquid.

This week’s recipe turns carrots shaved thin with a peeler or mandoline into slightly crisp strips that handle moist seasonings better than fragile leaves. The sturdy root vegetable won’t fall apart even when you toss it with olive oil, maple syrup, and harissa, a North African chile paste.

I included a recipe for my version of this traditional chile paste in my cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling. It takes just 10 minutes of hands-on time to make and lasts several months in the refrigerator. It’s worth keeping on hand because its so versatile, giving a little heat to everything from brined olives to grilled shrimp. It’s also a classic flavor in Harira (Moroccan Tomato Lentil Soup).
Learn to make Shaved and Roasted Carrots with Harissa

Homemade Roasted Seaweed Snacks

On February 6, 2025February 6, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

I’m planning to share some crispy snack food recipes this month in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. They’re great for those days when you can’t seem to get rid of the munchies but aren’t really hungry. I often make them before road trips, when it’s easy to plow through a whole bag of potato chips as dull miles of endless farm fields roll by.

My crispy homemade snacks are healthier than that bag of chips, seasoned for flavor, and made from ingredients available year-round. The ones I share this week pare down sheets of seaweed into bite-sized squares—just like the roasted seaweed snacks that have become popular on grocery store shelves but without all of that single-use plastic packaging. Making your own lets you control the flavor too. I often make mine from the scraps left after trimming the sheets down for homemade sushi rolls.
Learn to make Homemade Roasted Seaweed Snacks

Crispy Pan-Fried Tofu

On October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

When I see recipes that aim to make tofu crispy, I’m often surprised by the various ingredients and effort applied—and even more surprised when I find they don’t achieve the desired effect. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, the process of making tofu crispy is simple. It requires just two ingredients, tofu and oil. It can be broken into just four key steps: remove excess moisture, use a hot pan and splatter shield, leave space around each piece, and wait to flip the tofu until it releases easily.

When I make tofu in this way, it comes out perfectly crisp every time, whether I’ve cut the tofu into cubes for a stir-fry, thick rectangles for a satay, or flat slabs for a sandwich. I typically reach for my largest cast-iron skillet, but any well-seasoned or nonstick pan that can be safely set over medium-high heat does the job. I prefer a mesh splatter shield to a silicone one; the latter tends to collect condensation that then drips back into the hot oil.
Learn to make Crispy Pan-Fried Tofu

Hot and Sour Shrimp and Noodle Soup

On October 11, 2024October 11, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, soups2 Comments

This week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon takes the recipe from the prior week, Hot and Sour Broth Base, and walks you through one of my favorite ways to turn it into a full-fledged soup. Just looking at the photo makes me want to fix a bowl for lunch today.

That’s easily done: At lunchtime, I’ll rehydrate a couple of dried shitake mushrooms in hot water and thaw a few shrimp in cold running water while I gather the other ingredients. Cubes of broth base and Homemade Shrimp Stock pulled from my freezer go straight into the pot, as do the noodles. A handful of shrimp take seconds to peel, and I’ll add their shells to the bag in my freezer awaiting my next stock-making day. Shallots, garlic, and cilantro also take seconds to prep in such a small amount. By the time my prep is done, the mushrooms will be soft and I can fill the soup pot, with lunch ready in about 15 minutes.
Learn to make Hot and Sour Shrimp and Noodle Soup