Saturday Sides: Seasoned Green Beans
[Saturday Sides is a weekly feature I run to help you combat the side dish blahs. Check here every Saturday to see what’s new and different you can add to your dinner table. Or, you can subscribe here so that you never miss a Saturday Side Recipe.]
Happy Weekend Everyone! Whirlwind week here in the Pangie’s household, we’re seeing spring break come to an end and with that - the beginning of weather that truly looks like spring. That means fresh home-grown produce is just around the corner!! Are you as excited as I am? I didn’t think so, not many people get as excited about food as I do. Ah well, that’s o.k., I’m used to being misunderstood.
So, today’s vegetable side dish comes from Menus for Moms. I’ve been subscribing to Menus for Moms for close to a year now, and I have to tell you, I’m a huge fan. Menus for Moms offers, among other things, a weekly menu plan for dinner that includes sides and desserts. They include the grocery list, the recipes, all of it . . . and it’s all food that regular everyday people eat. It simplifies dinner in every way. Well, anyhow, Seasoned Green Beans was adapted from their menus and my entire family loves them.
Shoot. O.k., scratch that. Lilly hates green beans. But, don’t let that stop you, because Lilly doesn’t eat anything good. This kid doesn’t even like pizza. Or hot dogs. Or chicken nuggets, or soup, or ravioli, or - well you see?? You can’t rely on Lilly for these things. Besides the rest of my family loves these.
This recipe uses Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix. You’ll find it in the salad dressing aisle, next to where they keep the powdered Ranch Dressing.
Seasoned Green Beans
Adapted from Menus for Moms
1 pound fresh green beans, ends snapped (I buy 1 1/4 pound so that after snappng them I actually have a pound left)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2-3 teaspoons Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix
Wash and rinse the green beans well.
Blanche the green beans by plunging them into boiling water for about 5 minutes.
The goal here is not to cook the green beans, but to bring out the bright green color (see the difference?) and to soften them, just a tad. Crunchy green beans are good, but raw green beans . . . well, not so much.
Remove the beans from the boiling water and immediately run under very cold water, or dip them into very cold water. Now we are stopping the cooking process by cooling them off immediately. No mushy veggies allowed!!
Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Combining the two fat sources adds flavor and raises the temperature that the butter will burn. Burnt butter tastes bad. See my awful scratched up pan? That’s how I roll. (Dear Mom, Michigan’s great. I love it here. Send new cookware. Love, Angie. Just kidding, Mom.)
Add cooled green beans and sprinkle 2 or 3 teaspoons of seasoning over the beans and toss.
My kids like these a little less intense than Hubby and I do. You can actually add quite a bit of seasoning and still be safe, but if you’re cooking for kids you might want to cut back a bit (start with 2 teaspoons).
Heat thru and serve. These will burn, so watch them carefully!!
Seasoned Green Beans
Adapted from Menus for Moms
1 1/4 pound fresh green beans, ends snapped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2-3 teaspoons Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix
Wash and rinse the green beans well.
Blanche the green beans by plunging them into boiling water for about 5 minutes.
Remove the beans from the boiling water and immediately run under very cold water, or dip them into very cold water.
Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.
Add cooled green beans and sprinkle 2 or 3 teaspoons of seasoning over the beans and toss.
Heat thru and serve.
8 comments
Okay now we’re over here drooling! Looks sooooo yummy. I’m going out to buy some green beans tomorrow. Which reminds me, have you any idea what broccoli slaw is? I saw that in a recipe but I have never seen it before.
AmyL’s last blog post..Controlling My Control Freak
Broccoli slaw sounds uggy.
Lol. I found it at Meijer but they were out so it’s still a mystery. I got something called “Rainbow Salad” instead. It’s a recipe from the most recent Food and Family. I think it’s called crunchy asian slaw or something. I made it with raw veggies I had lying around. Yummy! I’m still gonna try the broccoli slaw.
Apparently it’s popular, lol.
AmyL’s last blog post..Controlling My Control Freak
Lol!!! She looks so tortured!! Send them beans on over here, we’ll eat em!
Don’t feel bad… my son only likes green beans from a can! How weird is that? I’d much rather have fresh ones any day of the week! I’ll have to try the italian seasoning, maybe he’ll like them that way better!
Angie Hurst’s last blog post..Doctors vs. Guns
I will say, I’m a fan of green beans in general. Can or not, they’re one of my favorite veggies. Still, this particular concoction was the best I’ve had.
I’m so blessed, folks. I get angie pangie to cook for me all. the. time. Don’t you wish you were me?
What in the world are you doing to that child, Angie?!
krysta’s last blog post..Say Hello To My Little Friend(s)!
Made the green beans last night. Can I just say, YUM! My kids ate a larger serving than normal, and even had seconds. (Okay, they had seconds because there were a lot left over, and if they wanted to dig in on their remaining Easter candy, they had to eat more beans. But they didn’t complain.) I did use frozen green beans, because I had them in the house already. I threw them in a colander, ran cold water over them ’til they were ALMOST completely thawed, and I blanched them for about 2-3 minutes since blanching is part of the freezing process. I followed the rest of the steps as written. The beans were still firm. Definitely a keeper!
Leave a Comment