Tag: recipe

Fall Muffins

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, TopicLeave a comment

Doubling down on flavors gives savory and sweet muffins a Twice as Tasty spin. Get muffin recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Baking can be less appealing in summer’s heat, but once fall sets in, firing up the oven can take the chill out of the kitchen in the morning or add a cozy element at dinnertime. Just like last week’s filling salad recipes, you can make the most of the season by baking with the flavors of fall. And by baking muffins and other quick breads, you can use your time in the kitchen to your advantage: by the time you’ve prepped your main meal, your freshly baked goodies are ready to eat.

This week’s recipes get a Twice as Tasty spin by doubling down on their flavors: fresh corn and cornmeal or fresh apples and homemade applesauce. The results explode with flavor, and the texture makes it clear you’re eating fresh ingredients. They’re also a sneaky way to use up the whey left after draining homemade yogurt. And if you’re not yet making your own yogurt and generating whey, these muffins are a perfect excuse to learn.
Learn to make Corn Kernel–Sage Muffins and Double Apple Muffins

Filling Salads

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, 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

Classic Zucchini

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Ingredient, Refrigerating3 Comments

My mom tried every way she could think of to feed us zucchini. I still rely on her classic and newer recipes. Get zucchini recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
As I was growing up, my mom tried every way she could think of to feed us zucchini. My dad always planted several hills, plus a couple extra in case one failed, and Mom found endless ways to sneak it into dishes once the crop started coming in. Chocolate zucchini cake was her favorite way to disguise the squash: the texture gave it away, but that didn’t stop us from reaching for a slice. She also processed it as pickles, relish, and even salsa.

My favorite way to save zucchini today is grated and frozen for pancakes and quick bread. But if you’re short on freezer space, pickled zucchini becomes far more attractive. The year before I was born, my great-aunt Verle gave my mom a classic zucchini relish recipe that Mom made for decades. She claims we liked it even better than Cucumber Relish. Zuke relish doesn’t stand out in my memories, but I loved relish as a kid, so I must have been eating a lot of these jars. It’s stood the test of time; my great-aunt’s original recipe required only minor tweaks to match today’s safe-canning standards.
Learn to make Zucchini Relish and Bread-and-Butter Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles

Classic Pickles

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, TopicLeave a comment

I’ve learned many tricks for keeping classic cucumber pickles crisp—and to set aside extra cukes for relish. Get pickling recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Dill pickles fit the “classic” category on so many levels. They have a long history among home canners, and in my home in particular. While my mom boiled vinegar brine and tended the canning kettle, my sister and I were given the job of packing whole cucumbers into quart jars because we had small hands. Weeks later, I’d start pulling jars from the packed shelves to munch on the crisp, sour vegetables.

Since I first learned to can pickles, I’ve found many tricks for keeping cucumbers crisp throughout the heated processing that lets you store them on shelves at room temperature. My mom always added grape leaves from our homegrown vines, harnessing their tannins to help keep the cukes crisp; I found horseradish leaves have the same effect. I’ve also started pasteurizing the jars instead of dropping them into a boiling water bath. Pasteurizing takes a little more time at my altitude, but the lower temperature still gives a crunchier pickle. Set aside any cucumbers that are blemished or won’t squeeze into the jars for relish.
Learn to make Processed Cucumber Dill Pickles and Cucumber Relish

Classic Jams

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, TopicLeave a comment

I’ve turned from my mom’s classic recipes to more fruit-forward jams. Get homemade jam recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
As a kid, jam making dominated the summer berry and fruit season. My dad grew much of the fruit: rows of strawberries ripened not long after school let out, and raspberries, boysenberries, and loganberries, which my dad started with cuttings from my grandfather’s vines, came on midsummer. Raspberries were always my favorite: I learned from my mom to fill small canning jars with fresh berries using a classic recipe straight out of the Ball Blue Book, with fruit, lemon juice, powdered pectin, and lots of sugar.

That last bit is the reason I’ve turned from my childhood recipes to updated versions using Pomona’s Universal Pectin whenever I want to can any jam with added pectin. It jells with little or no sweetener and is vegan (it’s extracted from citrus peel and activated by calcium). You can get about four batches instead of the usual one from each box of pectin, and although you risk a softer set, I’ve successfully cooked multiple batches at once. The first jam I ever made with it, more than 10 years ago and using a blend of berries, is still one of my favorites. I soon followed it with a version using my favorite sour cherries.
Learn to make Tart Berry Jam and Sour Cherry Jam

One Prep, Two Meals: Couscous

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Ingredient, 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

One Prep, Two Meals: Risotto

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Ingredient, Using3 Comments

Make-ahead risotto rice holds a regular slot on my dinner menu. Get risotto recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Risotto may seem like an unlikely candidate for the one prep–two meals formula: it has a reputation as a fancy meal that requires time and special care. But if you keep the right rice on hand and understand the basic technique, it simply becomes another fabulous way to stretch leftovers—and impress your friends at the same time.

These recipes build on the ratios given in Fresh Improv Risotto. So if you’ve already made versions of that recipe, or participated in one of my risotto workshops, familiarity will make your meals come together quite quickly. If you have yet to experiment with risotto, follow the recipes here and then check out the improv post for other risotto ingredient ideas.
Learn to make Garden Risotto and Last-Minute Shrimp Risotto

One Prep, Two Meals: Fish

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, Ingredient, UsingLeave a comment

A bit of extra prep one night means you can have a second meal ready to grab and go. Get fish recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Photograph by Brenda Ahearn Photography

If we’re lucky, Monday nights are free nights in summer: we are home and can prepare and enjoy a meal without other obligations or projects. It’s the one night of the week that I might make a more labor-intensive meal, like fish cakes. But I always know Tuesday will be a picnic before racing sailboats, and a bit of extra prep Monday night means I have a second meal ready to grab and go.

These fish cakes call for some chopping and mincing and two stages of cooking, but they’re worth the effort. The first time I served batches at a house concert, the host said I could have made three times the amount and the platter would be emptied. They’re less greasy than fried fish cakes and more flavorful than potato-based ones. The recipe here easily serves 4, which means I can reheat the leftovers later in the week. To avoid eating the same meal two nights in a row, I set some fish aside and prep a marinade and the extra vegetables while the fish cakes are cooking. On Tuesday, grilled skewers require minimal effort.
Learn to make Mediterranean Fish Cakes and Grilled Fish Skewers

Birthday Cake: Year 3

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic2 Comments

It’s Twice as Tasty’s birthday month, and that means cake. Get birthday cake recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
This month, we’re celebrating 3 years of Twice as Tasty! I’ve already shared some of the year’s best recipes and most popular workshops. And since my favorite “desserts” are usually served in a cocktail glass, I was quick to pass on my favorite recipe for homemade liqueur. This week’s post is for those of you who prefer to eat your dessert.

As I mentioned in last year’s birthday dessert post, I think a good celebratory cake must be moist, easy to decorate, and delicious. This ginger cake nails all three. The molasses not only adds the requisite gingerbread flavor but also keeps the crumb moist. The caramel glaze simply pours over the top: no fussy frosting time required. And the three versions of ginger—fresh, ground, and crystallized—replicate the flavors I fell in love with in Triple Gingersnaps.
Learn to make Triple Ginger Cake and Fresh Caramel Sauce

More Rhubarb

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Ingredient3 Comments

Paired syrup and jam recipes highlight the essence of Twice as Tasty food. Get rhubarb recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I always think that I have plenty of ways to enjoy rhubarb, and then I come across another idea or recipe. It’s a good thing, because in my shaded, woodland garden, rhubarb grows all summer without bolting, and my two plants can easily yield what I need for this week’s recipes in one harvest.

These recipes highlight the essence of Twice as Tasty food: You start with one basic ingredient. You use it to its fullest extent. And you ideally come out of one prep session with multiple products—in this case, jars of syrup and jam. As you’ll see when you read the recipes, they’re heavily linked to each other. But they also build on two previously posted recipes that use gingerroot and vanilla bean. So really, all this multitasking in the kitchen uses three ingredients to their fullest extent and ties into four products. This is the kind of stuff I geek out on, but hopefully I’ve made it easy for you to enjoy the results.
Learn to make Rhubarb–Ginger Syrup and Rhubarb–Earl Grey Jam