Cheese-Topped Baked Polenta

On December 18, 2025December 18, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grainsLeave a comment

My husband George will happily eat a bowl of noodles or a baked potato seasoned with just butter and cheese. Give me a simple, starchy base like pasta, rice, potatoes, or cornmeal, and I will bury it in a deeply flavored sauce every time. With the polenta recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I can satisfy both of us.

Homemade stock and dried herbs give polenta just enough flavor to stand on its own, especially when baked or grilled and smothered in cheese. Yet it remains neutral enough to take any of my favorite sauces. I’ve served polenta as a bruschetta-like appetizer, a holiday side dish, and the base layer for a weeknight meal—and then snacked on the leftovers like cornbread. I often make a double batch of polenta and serve half straight off the stove in its soft, porridge-like form. I spread the rest in a baking pan and refrigerate it until the next day to bake and serve as an entirely different meal.
Learn to make Cheese-Topped Baked Polenta

Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies

On December 11, 2025December 11, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookiesLeave a comment

It’s hard to imagine celebrating the winter holidays without a little gingerbread in the mix. The combination of molasses, ginger, and other spices creates cookies and loaf cake that seem made for cozying up next to the woodstove and watching the snow come down.

The gingerbread cookie recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is an old one that I’ve made bolder with extra spices. When I want an even stronger ginger flavor—any time of year—I make Triple Gingersnaps or Triple Ginger Cake. But expanding just the ground spices gives traditional cookies a little kick yet keeps them smooth and ideal for decorating.
Learn to make Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies

Smoky Oatmeal–Cranberry Cookies

On December 5, 2025December 5, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookies2 Comments

I usually make more sweet treats in November and December than I do all the rest of the year, mostly because I’m sharing them widely. Last month I was using homegrown fruit in Crumble-Top Deep-Dish Apple Pie and cherry pie. This month is all about cookies, as I share this week and next in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

These cookies will travel with me across three states when I visit family over Christmas. Some will find their way to gatherings and parties. Others will become my favorite chairlift snack in our just-opened local ski area. So the cookies I make each holiday season vary widely, from aged family favorites, to eye-catching sweets for party trays, to sturdy treats that tuck into a ski jacket pocket.
Learn to make Smoky Oatmeal–Cranberry Cookies

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

Quick Tomato Juice Soup

On November 21, 2025November 21, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, soupsLeave a comment

Soup season has just begun, and my freezer is packed to the brim with ingredients I plan to turn into steaming bowls of homemade soups. Having vegetables on hand that have already been chopped, pureed, and sometimes even grilled or otherwise precooked speeds up weeknight soup prep. As I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, one of my quickest soups starts with tomato juice.

If you buy all of your tomatoes, choose both bottled tomato juice and cans of whole or diced tomatoes outside of the growing season; they’ll have better flavor than fresh tomatoes that were forced in a winter hothouse or traveled long distances. Fire-roasted tomatoes have become popular in recent years for their bonus smokiness. I grow enough tomatoes to grill in batches throughout the growing season, and I freeze or can the solids and juice to use throughout the winter.
Learn to make Quick Tomato Juice Soup

Fresh Yogurt Smoothie

On November 13, 2025November 13, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, frozenLeave a comment

When the smoothie shop craze took off in my college years, I was surprised by how popular such an easily made beverage became, particularly when shops included ingredients that made smoothies more like milkshakes. One reason for the popularity seemed to be the long menu of flavors and add-ins. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, you can create similar smoothies far more affordably and with local ingredients if you have a well-stocked freezer.

If store-bought smoothies always seem more delicious than your homemade ones, you might need to check the label for sugar and sodium content and alter your expectations. You also might need a higher-powered blender to liquify vegetables and break down chunks. As further adjustments, consider the balance of fruit and vegetables, add-ins, and thickener and using my favorite base, Homemade Small-Batch Yogurt.

Learn to make Fresh Yogurt Smoothie

Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Nutty Butter Sauce

On November 7, 2025November 6, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grainsLeave a comment

There’s no way to make homemade pasta look quick and easy when the alternative is to boil a pot of water and dump in a box of dried noodles. But homemade pasta shortcuts do exist, and this week, I share one of my favorites in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon: wonton wrapper ravioli.

Like hand-rolled Homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi, filling store-bought wonton wrappers with squash and goat cheese still creates impressive pasta with a made-from-scratch delicacy. But whereas both squash gnocchi and Homemade Pan-Fried Potato Gnocchi showcase the pasta, the ravioli filling plays a huge flavor role. Its nutty butter sauce and my recommended base of torn arugula or kale enhance the filling—and work equally well as a gnocchi presentation.

Learn to make Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Nutty Butter Sauce

Homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi

On October 30, 2025October 30, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

Look online for gnocchi recipes, and you’ll find all sorts of variations on the classic potato dumplings, from easy substitutes like sweet potato to more unexpected ones like spinach, ricotta, or semolina. Of the replacements I have tried, I have the most success with pumpkin and other winter squash, as I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

Culinary experts who prefer store-bought pumpkin puree to homemade for pie generally give the same recommendation for gnocchi. But with repeated draining and the right accompanying ingredients, Roasted Winter Squash Puree works as successfully in dumplings as in Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Pie. A 3-pound sugar pumpkin or other squash usually creates enough puree for a batch of gnocchi.
Learn to make Homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi

Homemade Pan-Fried Potato Gnocchi

On October 24, 2025October 24, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

It can be easy to write off certain recipes as too much work, but sometimes the effort really is worth it. That’s how I feel about the detailed recipe for gnocchi that I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. When I crave gnocchi, only the scratch-made version satisfies me.

Gnocchi take both hands-on and rest time, and even with a large batch, the results only last a couple of meals—although they do freeze well. Once I start the project and get my hands right in the dough, I find it soothing to feel how it comes together and to repeat the roll, cut, and imprint process until I have dozens of neat rows of dumplings lined up on baking sheets.

Potato gnocchi also became more fun to make when I found just the right balance of ingredients and techniques to use my homegrown potatoes yet keep them light and fluffy. When testing showed that a local chef’s recommendation to pan-fry the dumplings produced less gummy gnocchi than boiling, along with a lightly crisped surface, making gnocchi became one of my favorite rainy day kitchen projects.
Learn to make Homemade Pan-Fried Potato Gnocchi

Double Apple Muffins

On October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

One of my favorite baked goods tricks is to replace some of the fat in the recipe with homemade applesauce. It works well with all sorts of muffins and quick breads, but it’s particularly delicious when you’re already featuring apples, like in the muffin recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

I make two types of applesauce: Frozen Chunky Applesauce and Canned Smooth-Style Applesauce. Both work as replacements for up to half of the oil, butter or other fat in many baked goods that get their rising power from baking soda or baking powder, especially when that fat is liquid rather than solid. Use canned smooth applesauce if you want the substitution to blend in seamlessly. Chunky applesauce does the job when you don’t mind bites of apple in the mix or when pureed before measuring to make it smooth.
Learn to make Double Apple Muffins