Choosing Soup Ladles

On September 28, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn ToolsLeave a comment

I’ve put quite a bit of thought into recipes for a wide range of soups, but I didn’t think much about the tool I use to serve those soups until I tested 15 soup ladles for The Spruce Eats. It turns out that how comfortably and cleanly you scoop soup from a pot and pour it into a bowl depends mostly on the ladle shape, size, and material. The latter can be especially important if you have nonstick cookware. Size might be the key consideration if you make soup in a small saucepan or giant stockpot. And shape and other features can be crucial if you’re skimming fat, drizzling gravy, or pouring into an oversized mug or wide, flat bowl.

By testing so many ladles, I developed all sorts of opinions and ideal uses for various ladle shapes, sizes, and materials. I also made a lot of soups, many of which will be lunch and dinner staples now that cool weather is becoming the norm.
Learn about choosing and using soup ladles

Kitchen Favorites: Immersion Blender

On September 26, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Tools1 Comment

The tools I use in my tiny kitchen have to be more than functional: they have to earn their storage space by being small, powerful, multipurpose—or better yet, all three. In my latest piece for The Spruce Eats, I explain my love of one of my well-used kitchen gadgets, a Breville Control Grip immersion blender.

Since I became hooked on this immersion blender, I’ve retired my upright blender and rehomed my KitchenAid, both of which took up too much space. For a while, I didn’t even own a food processor, instead pushing my immersion blender to—and frankly beyond—its limits. It’s the tool I reach for when making fruit butter for canning, sorbet for freezing, fruit leather for dehydrating, or just simply soup for dinner.
Learn about choosing and using an immersion blender

Best DIY Salad Dressing

On September 24, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn saladsLeave a comment

After the heat of summer sent lettuces bolting, recent cool fall temperatures and rain mean salads are back. If you don’t grow your own salad fixings, you may not have noticed the shift from sweet, tender greens to bitter, coarse leaves. But home gardeners will be well aware of the change and have transitioned from lettuce-based salads to ones featuring heat-tolerant or late-season vegetables.

In a piece for Clean Pates earlier this summer, I shared my technique and ratio for making a collection of salad dressings. Even if you don’t grow salad greens, I’m a firm believer that you should make your own dressings. Among disappearing food traditions, one of the most lamentable is scratch-made salad dressing. As Mark Kurlansky writes in The Food of a Younger Land, “What could better spell the beginning of the end than bottled salad dressing, the manufacture of a product that was so easy to make at home?”

Easy is right: Using a basic ratio, you can make so many dressings. A pinch of this and dab of that completely change a dressing’s flavor. My technique clocks in under 60 seconds, and I can now eyeball the proportions without even dirtying measuring spoons.
Learn to make the Best DIY Salad Dressing

Crunchy Cabbage Salad

On September 23, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

Growing cabbage always presents challenges. In my short growing season, each plant produces one head but doesn’t really have enough time to form a second flush. It has a big garden footprint, and I have to protect it under a cover all season if I want to keep cabbageworms and loopers from calling it home. Some varieties need to be harvested midsummer, when everything else is begging for attention in the garden, so I need to check carefully for number of growing days to ensure a long, extended harvest.

Is it worth it? Clearly I’ve answered yes, because as I share in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I now grow several cabbage varieties. Some I enjoy fresh, especially as young, raw leafy greens. Others I ferment to have on hand all winter. But my favorites remain the raw crunchy heads that I shred for salads.
Learn to make Crunchy Cabbage Salad

Shrimp and Summer Squash Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

On September 15, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Column, fresh eating1 Comment

The enchiladas I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon have become household favorites. And that all started with the sauce. Before I began making my own enchilada sauce, I occasionally attempted this rich, cheesy dish when we wanted comfort food, but I never quite nailed the technique of getting the tortillas in that just-right place, ending up with ones that were mushy or crunchy. Then I found a sauce recipe I love and started putting up jars of it, which led me to track down the technique that keeps the tortillas soft and intact, making them the perfect vehicle for the homemade sauce.

The recipe I share here lets you make this delicious sauce in a smaller batch without the effort of canning it. If you fall for this sauce like I did, you can make a larger amount to process in a boiling water bath using the instructions in Tips & Tricks. The enchiladas themselves can have all sorts of fillings: as we transition from summer to fall, my favorite pairs homegrown summer squash with sautéed shrimp.
Learn to make Shrimp and Summer Squash Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Onion Lover’s Dip

On September 8, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry stored1 Comment

I’m not sure there’s a vegetable that changes as much in texture and flavor when you apply heat as an onion. Caramelized onions taste completely different from raw ones, whether you cook them low and slow on the stovetop or let them pick up char and a slightly smoky flavor on the grill.

As with the three forms of ginger I use in Triple Gingersnaps, combining caramelized onions with other fresh and cooked alliums builds layers of flavor. I share one of my favorite combinations—grilled onions and garlic with fresh onion greens, whether the tops of bulb onions, chives, scallions, or walking onions—this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. While you can oven-roast or sauté the onions and garlic for a similar effect, I fire up the grill while it’s still so hot into the evening. The recipe in my column outlines my grilling process, making this dip a great primer for grilling vegetables.
Learn to grill onions and make Onion Lover’s Dip

Choosing Ice Cube Trays

On September 2, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Topic1 Comment

When The Spruce Eats asked me to test some top-selling ice cube trays, I had no hesitation saying “yes.” Besides using trays to freeze water into cubes, I rely on them for freezing a range of homemade sauces, syrups, pesto, and other recipes I make from homegrown produce and use in small servings throughout the year.

The website recently published my testing results and photos. I froze and used a lot of ice cubes for this project and even took several of the trays to a Twice as Tasty cocktail workshop for a wider range of feedback. Some of these trays have been in regular use all summer for far more than ice.
Learn choosing and using ice cube trays

Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Asian-Inspired Dressing

On September 1, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

Tomato season is on. I harvested 45 pounds of heirloom paste and slicing tomatoes in one go earlier this week, and these larger tomatoes already need to be picked again. The cherry tomatoes have been prolific too; bowls of them are currently scattered around my house, waiting to be eaten, frozen, or canned.

As I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, fresh cherry tomatoes and small cucumbers make a delicious salad. Nothing beats the taste of homegrown ones, of course, but local farmers can do the work for you and even a larger tomato and cucumber can be sliced up for a similarly quick, bright dish when they’re in season. Although most people think of a balsamic-based vinaigrette for tomatoes, I love to flavor this pairing with an Asian-inspired dressing—especially if I’m eating it with the recipe I shared in last week’s Flathead Beacon column: Zucchini-Basil Pancakes, one of my favorite was to use zucchini.
Learn to make Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Asian-Inspired Dressing

Storing Avocados

On August 29, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn ToolsLeave a comment

Did you know I regularly write about food and kitchen tools and share recipes and techniques on other websites, besides my weekly column for the Flathead Beacon? These pieces aren’t published on a regular schedule, and I try to share them on Facebook and Instagram as the go live. For those who don’t follow Twice as Tasty through social media, I’m making a push to share them here on the blog too.

In my latest piece for The Spruce Eats, I tested seven avocado storage solutions, which meant a daily dose of avocados that George was happy to eat on everything from fish tacos to potato bowls. I found some storage tricks and avocado keepers that I continue to use in my kitchen.
Learn about storing avocados

Zucchini–Basil Pancakes

On August 25, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grains3 Comments

Zucchini. If you grow it, you likely have more of it than you know what to do with. Even if you don’t grow your own, store-bought zukes tend to be large enough it’s easy to buy more than you need. Fortunately, zucchini and other summer squash are delicious in many dishes, whether obvious or disguised by other, more flavorful ingredients.

I share one of my favorite recipes showcasing zucchini this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon: Zucchini-Basil Pancakes. They use two prolific producers from the garden and are tasty on their own or as the base for other flavors, like Grilled Tomatillo Salsa, Spiked Guacamole, and Chipotle-Marinated Grilled Shrimp with Garlic Scape Aioli.
Learn to make Zucchini–Basil Pancakes