Garlicy Green Beans

As we roll into spring time, we begin to see fresh veggies looking delicious once again at Farmer’s Markets and in our local grocery store.  While we are a few months away from having green beans fresh from our garden, this recipe makes me so excited for that season. 

You can easily make these with fresh and frozen green beans, and they are a perfect side dish to so many meals. 

Garlicy Green Beans

Ingredients

• 1/2 T butter
• 12-16 oz green beans (fresh or frozen)
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp. minced garlic

Directions

Begin by melting butter over medium heat in a large skillet.  When the butter is melted, add in the minced garlic and toast slightly.  Then, add the green beans.  Stir to coat and then cover the green beans in the skillet to steam for 3-5 minutes.  Stir occasionally during that time. 

Remove the cover and continue sautéing the green beans over medium-high heat for an additional 2-4 minutes. 

Serve warm. 

Enjoy! 

Roasted Green Beans & Mushrooms

This side dish can’t be easier, and it is sure tasty. 

We used green beans from our garden, but I would guess even frozen green beans would work!

Roasted Green Beans & Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 4-6 C green beans, ends trimmed
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Parmesan cheese, optional garnish

Directions

Lightly grease a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil. 

Arrange quartered mushrooms and green beans over the top of the tinfoil.  Spritz with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  Mince the garlic clove and sprinkle that over the top. 

Roast at 425 for 10-15 minutes, then stir.  Return to the oven and roast for an additional 5-10 minutes until veggies are crisp tender.  

Garnish with 1-2 T Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!

Ingredient Spotlight: Green Beans

I was really hoping by the time this ingredient spotlight theme came we’d have garden green beans!  But, between the deer and rabbits this year, our green beans have seen better days.  We have a few on the plants, and are hoping more will be ready by the weekend. 

Green beans are a legume, and offer numerous goodies as a part of this green treat:

• They can be eaten fresh (one of the few beans that can)
• A great source of carotenoids (hidden beneath all that chlorophyll)
• High levels of antioxidants
• Great source of the vitamin K
• Perhaps the best source of soluble silicon
• A good source of protein and fiber

Our favorite way to eat them has to be the simple herbed approach:

But, we also love green beans in:

Roasted Green Bean Potato Salad

Green Bean Fries

Roasted Vegetable Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

Did you know, you can freeze your fresh green beans really easily?  We do that a lot too. 

What are your favorite ways to enjoy green beans?  Or, wax beans, or even purple ones?! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie

If you are just joining us, we are in the middle of Crockpot Chicken Week!  All week long, 5 recipes using leftover crockpot chicken… and all recipes are made in the crockpot.  I had a great question yesterday from a reader about if you can feed 5-6 people on one chicken.  While I haven’t tried it, I would venture yes. 

Here’s how: Use smaller amounts of meat in each dish and load up on the veggies.  For example, in yesterday’s soup – use 3/4 C shredded cooked chicken rather than the 1 to 1 1/2 C suggested.  Add more carrots, celery, barley, rice & lentils.  Think of meat as the side dish, adding flavor to your favorite veggies.      

For today’s recipe, up the veggies; go for 5-6 C!  It’s easy and delicious.  The recipe comes from one of my favorite food bloggers, Megan from What Megan’s Making.  It takes about 4 hours from start to finish if you use frozen veggies.  If you use fresh veggies, plan for 6-8 hours, which will provide enough time for the veggies to cook completely. 

Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie – Adapted from Megan

Ingredients

• 8 oz mushrooms, fresh or canned
• 3 T minced onion
• 4-5 C frozen mixed veggies (peas, corn, green beans, carrots preferred)
• 1/3 C white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 – 3/4 C leftover shredded cooked chicken
• 1/3 C chicken broth
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/3 C milk or cream
• Pinch of thyme
• 1 recipe cheesy biscuits

Directions

In a large crockpot (4-6 quart), combine 8 oz mushrooms (we used canned, drained) with 3 T minced onion and 4-5 C mixed frozen veggies. 

Sprinkle the veggie mixture with 1/3 C white whole wheat flour.  All purpose may also be used, but we go for all whole wheat all the time. 

Add 1/2 – 3/4 C shredded cooked chicken, leftover from your whole chicken cooked earlier this week.  Alternatively, if canned chicken is your thing, you could use that here. 

Stir the mixture and season with salt and pepper. 

Pour in 1/3 C leftover chicken broth.  Stir. 

Season with a pinch of thyme.  Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours until warmed through, veggies are hot and the sauce has thickened. 

Thirty-minutes before serving prepare cheesy biscuits.  You can find the directions here.  Additionally, at this point, add 1/3 C milk to the pot pie cooking away in the crockpot.  Turn the heat up to high and cook until the biscuits are done. 

Top each serving with 1-2 biscuits. 

Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

Okay – this should really read “Sweet Potato” – but for some reason people are more inclined to take a second look if the word pumpkin is in the title. 

I don’t know why that is, especially since sweet potatoes out perform pumpkin in nearly every nutritional category. 

When you add all the vitamin C, A and fiber of a sweet potato together with the amazing nutrition {and taste} of roasted veggies, you have one great mac & cheese dinner. 

Roasted Vegetable Pumpkin Mac & Cheese – Inspired by Gimme Some Oven & FJiMK

Ingredients

• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, quartered
• 3 C broccoli florets
• 8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1 C green beans {optional}
• 1 medium sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 C sweet potato puree
• 2 C chicken broth
• 1 T corn starch
• 1/2 C milk or half and half
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 8 oz. whole wheat pasta
• Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Directions

Begin by boiling the pasta according to package directions.  Drain. 

Meanwhile, place all the diced veggies onto a large cookie sheet.  Spray the veggies with olive oil and season with salt & pepper. 

Roast veggies at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring 1-2 times during that timeframe. 

While the veggies are roasting, prepare the sweet potato roux.  To do so, toast the minced garlic for 1 minute over medium heat.  Then, add in 2 C chicken broth.  Add in 1 C sweet potato puree and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Combine 1 T  cornstarch with 1/2 C milk.  Whisk until well blended.  Slowly, pour the cornstarch and milk mixture into the sweet potato-chicken broth mixture.  Stir as you add and increase the heat until the sauce begins to thicken.  Then, reduce heat to low. 

When the veggies are ready, toss them into the sweet potato base. 

Then, add in the pasta.  Stir to combine. 

Season with salt & pepper, as needed.

Serve warm, garnished with Parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy!

Kitchen Tip: Freezing Green Beans

It’s green bean season!!

If you have a garden, or, if you get your local green beans from the farmers market, now is the time to preserve these beans for winter!

Beans – green beans & wax beans (our garden produce) – freeze well, but, they should be frozen very soon after picking to maximize all their good nutritional value. 

To do so, requires a simple blanching.  And, I’m here to share with you how to do just that!

Equipment

• Large stockpot
• Slotted spoon
• Strainer or colander
• Ice
• Large bowl
• Clean dish towels (preferably ones that don’t lose a lot of fuzz!)
• of course… green beans!

Directions

Begin by washing your green beans. 

To do so, soak them in a large bowl – completely immersed in water.  Allow them to soak for 3-5 minutes, moving them around in the water to rinse them well.  Then, drain using your strainer/colander, and rinse in cool water. 

Next up – pop the ends off the beans.  You can easily do this by hand – and it’s a great task for kids in the kitchen. 

Place the prepared beans (washed & ends trimmed) into a large bowl or your strainer. 

Meanwhile, prepare a large stockpot full of water.  Bring the water to a boil.  At the same time, prepare a large bowl of ice water. 

When the beans are ready and the water is boiling, carefully add the beans to the boiling water.  Turn your timer on and set it for 2 minutes beginning at the moment you place the beans into the water. 

When the timer beeps, use the slotted spoon to remove the beans from the boiling water and place them immediately into the ice cold water.  This stops the cooking process!

Allow them to sit in the ice water for 2 minutes. 

Then, remove and place them onto a surface to dry.  We lay them on dish towels. 

Blot the green beans dry and allow them to finish cooling off. 

Then, layer them on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them (10-20 minutes).  Place the mostly frozen beans into a freezer bag or container. 

To prevent freezer burn, get as much air out of the freezer bag as possible before sealing. 

Label with the date and store in your freezer. 

Reheat and use as you would store-purchased frozen vegetables. 

A few notes:

1) You can use your water 3x over again – bring the water back to a boil in between the green bean batches. 

2) Start the timer for the 2 minutes right when the beans enter the water, even if the water isn’t boiling when you add the beans (adding the beans will decreasing the boiling). 

3) Fresh beans are the best!  Grab them at your farmers market – the beans keep well in the freezer for up to 12 months. 

Linked to: Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Whole Foods Wednesday

Green Bean Fries

These delightful “fries” make a great afternoon snack or pairing with a grilled dinner. 

Have you ever tried green bean fries?

Green Bean Fries – Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Ingredients

• Green beans
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Garlic powder, if desired

Directions

Toss washed (and thawed, if using frozen) green beans with olive oil.

Spread the green beans on to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Season as desired.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30ish minutes; flipping beans every 10 minutes. In the last 5-6 minutes of baking, turn up the oven to 375 or 400 – but watch the beans carefully as they will burn! 

Serve warm.

I would imagine leftovers keep in the fridge, but won’t reheat in the microwave nicely.  We polished off an entire tray, just the two of us, so if you end up with leftovers – let me know!

What other kinds of fries should we try?  Carrot? Zucchini?  Let me know in the comments below!