Green Beans Tis the Season Yum!

Green beans galore! Yet another thing to love about the Cowichan Valley in August. Yesterday my mother sent me some green and yellow beans that she’d just picked from her container garden. And, let me tell you they were in my tummy less than 30 minutes later. Ahhh, the deliciousness of fresh-picked produce.

Best Way to Cook Garden Fresh Wax and Green Beans

Well, at least in my opinion it is anyway 😉 So I start off carefully washing the beans. Then I cut off the stringy parts and ends. I cook them in a pot of water; boiling for about 10 or 15 minutes depending on how crunchy I want the beans. After straining them, I add a dab of vegan butter alternative and salt & pepper to taste.

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved munching on green and yellow beans straight from the garden.

Growing up wherever I was during the summers, be it at home, at the cottage, or at my grandmother’s, there were vegetable gardens. While we played outside for hours on end, that’s how we snacked. We’d pick and eat green beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, or pretty much anything growing in the garden. For dessert, we’d pick and eat berries along the way to our river swimming spots.

Finding Fun Ways to Serve Green Beans

As much as I enjoy the simplicity of plain or lightly seasoned fresh beans, every once in a while it’s fun to dress them up. Sometimes when I’m stuck for creative veggie ideas I pick a recipe from a really old book and then I tweak it. Take this Italian green bean recipe, for example. The original recipe makes 6 to 8 servings, that’s a heck of a lot of veggies.

For this batch, I’m going to use frozen green beans. Yes, I realize the irony. I prefer fresh veggies, but I ate all the fresh ones, and frozen is the next best 😉 I figure I may as well go ahead and simplify the tomato prep as well and use canned tomatoes. Besides, the fresh tomatoes I have right now are too delicious to cook. Anyway, my point is that I’ll cut the recipe down by about a third to work with one bag of frozen beans.

Original Recipe: Italian Green Bean Recipe From Fresh or Frozen

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of chopped onion
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 10 to 12 peeled tomatoes or 1 large can drained
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 pounds of fresh green beans or 3 packages frozen, thawed
• Serves 6 to 8

I’m an onion and garlic fan so I’m sticking with 1/2 cup of chopped onion and the equivalent to 1 clove of garlic minced. I like flavourful so I’m only going to cut down the salt and keep the rest of the spices the same.

My Revised Recipe: Italian Green Bean Recipe From Fresh or Frozen

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of chopped onion
• 1 large clove or 1 teaspoon of garlic minced
• 5 to 6 peeled tomatoes or 1/2 large can drained
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound of fresh green beans or 1 package of frozen, thawed

Heat the oil in a saucepan; add onion and garlic, sauté the onion for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, and bay leaf; bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

You can cut the beans into thirds, but I prefer them whole. Add the fresh or frozen beans to the tomato mixture. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

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If you’re a bean fan here’s a vegetarian green bean recipe that you might like.

PS – Oh my goodness I fried the leftovers for lunch the next day and added some Daiya vegan cheese. It was sooo yummy.