Goat Cheese and Smoked-Beet Sandwiches

On September 11, 2025September 11, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eatingLeave a comment

I was introduced to smoked beets as a sandwich filling, and it’s still one of my favorite ways to enjoy them. As I’ve been explaining in my most recent Twice as Tasty columns for the Flathead Beacon, beets need to be cooked—preferably roasted—and peeled before you smoke them, so it is an extra step. But smoking makes them twice as tasty.

The flavor and texture of smoked beets make them a natural fit for a Vegetarian Smoked-Beet Reuben, but you can slide them in with any sandwich fixings you have at hand. They hold up well against robust ingredients, so the recipe in this week’s column suggests mustard, roasted garlic, goat cheese, and arugula and other spicy greens. Mellower layers include aioli, egg salad, and sliced avocado. Create an even more filling sandwich by spreading on hummus or another bean dip.
Learn to make Goat Cheese and Smoked-Beet Sandwiches

Roasted Golden Beet and Garlic Salad

On October 19, 2023November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

I plucked my first beets in August, but somehow I always think of them as a fall crop. Earlier in the summer, I toss them into all sorts of mixed-vegetable recipes and no-recipe-required meals. They then become pickles when a large batch is ready; they keep so well in vinegar that I included four beet recipes, from quick to canned, in The Complete Guide to Pickling. Yet I often wait until fall to make the salad I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

The wait is primarily for our apples to fully ripen. Even though I like slightly tart ones in this salad, the ones on our trees typically have a starchy, chalky texture when picked too early. If you’re buying apples or grow ones that ripen early, this salad really can be made with the season’s first beets.
Learn to make Roasted Golden Beet and Garlic Salad

Quick-Pickled Beets

On July 17, 2018December 1, 2019 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Ingredient, Refrigerating, Using5 Comments

For any meal, refreshing, easy pickles take minutes to make and are gobbled up in as little time. Learn to make Get quick-pickle recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I spend much of my summer pickling produce; it’s my favorite way to preserve vegetables. As the harvest grows and I haul pounds of cucumbers, snap beans, summer squash, and more from the garden to the kitchen, my canning shelves fill with vinegar-preserved pickles and every other available surface holds fermenting ones. There they wait for weeks, if not months.

So for any given meal, you can also find me making pickles—refreshing, easy ones that take mere minutes to prepare and are gobbled up in as little time. Quick pickles are defined by their name. They won’t satisfy your pickle craving through winter or preserve the bulk of your garden, but they will extend shelf life a bit and give a new flavor spin when you tire of eating a particular fresh vegetable, like beets.
Learn to make Quick-Pickled Beet Snacks and Orange-Sweetened Marinated Beets