My grandpa has been gardening for years and years. As far back as I can remember, my grandparents always had fresh tomatoes and fresh strawberries growing in their garden. Of course, I’m sure they had more than that, those were just my favorites, so I remember them best!
I’ve never been much of a green thumb. I always kill the house plants that I have because I forget to water them. I guess they just don’t ask often enough for a drink, like my kids do! My grandpa, who is still very healthy and still gardens, called me up at the beginning of gardening season and asked if I’d take the food that he grew if there was any excess. I, of course, jumped at the chance. Do you realize how much food 8 people go through? Any extra food is always appreciated. In addition, he also sent me home wit 2 tomato plants that needed to be potted into a larger pot. He even provided one of the pots. They are sitting in a wagon in our front yard. We put them there so we could move them to the sun, but it turns out that they’re in enough sun where they are. The funny thing is, I rarely forget to have them watered because we walk by them every day and notice all the yummy fruit on them!
Not too long ago, he called me up and said that the first batch of green beans is ready for me to pick up. When I was a child, we’d grow green beans in our family garden and I would assist with snapping them, but I don’t remember ever knowing how to cook them. So now that I had a large bag of green beans, I had to figure out how. I could’ve just asked my grandpa or my mom, but that would mean admitting that I didn’t know how to cook them, lol…so I did a little research on my own.
This is what we came up with:
Let me just tell you, these are DELICIOUS! I had to take our meal the other night to the ball park and my 12 year old let a friend of hers try one and her response was “Those are good and I don’t even like green beans!”. My 6 year old who can’t get enough greens, of course gobbled them up. My 10 & 3 year old didn’t really care for them, but they don’t like many vegetables anyway.
Garden Fresh Green Beans Recipe
Ingredients:
Green Beans (I did enough to fill my largest skillet)
Onion, Chopped
1 T. minced garlic
1T butter
1T olive oil
1 cup of chicken broth
Salt
Directions:
Melt butter in skillet and add olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil.
While they are cooking, cut or snap ends off of green beans. You can also snap them into smaller bite sized pieces, but I like mine bigger, so I didn’t.
Once they are ready, add them to the skillet with the onions and garlic. Stir it all up, evenly coating the green beans with the onions and garlic. Add one cup of chicken broth and simmer for about 20 minutes covered. You’ll want to let the broth cook off. If there is still broth after 20 minutes, remove the lid and let the liquid cook off. Check to see if they’re as tender as you’d like, serve and eat!
Do you have a garden? What is your favorite way to cook fresh green beans?
KimH says
My most favorite way to eat green beans is to put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, and then add the still wet (from rinsing) green beans to the skillet, cover & cook on medium for about 5 minutes and then turn/stir them and repeat until they all get a little almost burned/crusty/darkened and are cooked to your desired doneness. (I like mine pretty well done). Then I add about 1/8 cup of salted slivered amonds, add lots of salt & pepper and toast the almonds in the pan with the green beans.. YUM! We rarely have enough for everyone to get all they want.. They are ohh so yummy!
Another way I cook fresh green beans is to add green beans, new potatoes (about the size of golf balls) , onion, garlic, water & chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil & simmer until the potatoes are done. Yum!
For years, the only way I would eat green beans was to add diced onion & chicken bouillon to a can of green beans. Its still pretty good but I prefer the first one I shared the most.
. You can also make a foil packet to cook over the campfire or grill.. In a large piece of heavy duty foil, add green beans and any other veggies you like, new potatoes always go good, a few pats of butter and a tablespoon of Italian dressing, salt & pepper. Fold the foil up so none of the ingredients will leak, and cook over the grill/fire for about 30 minutes until the veggies are tender. We used to do this camping with all sorts of mixed veggies. Its yummy too.
Enjoy!
Sidetracked Sarah says
oh wow, Kim. Thanks for sharing! I have a whole bunch more green beans to do something with. I'll have to try some of your methods!!
Dusty says
We just harvested our first batch of green beans yesterday! I typically just steam them with salt, pepper, and a little butter, but this recipe sounds yummy! I think I might give it a try tomorrow!
Keri says
I made your recipe tonight for supper, substituting turkey broth for the chicken because that's all I had on hand. Delicious! My husband raved about them, and even the kids ate them up. I have always struggled with finding a good recipe for fresh or frozen green beans, but yours is our new favorite! Thanks for sharing!
I'm a new follower.
Keri @ http://www.growinginhisglory.com
Sidetracked Sarah says
Thank you so much for sharing that with me Keri! It sounds like you enjoy them about as much as our family! 🙂 Thanks for following!
Kasey says
We just had green beans from our garden today. I just boiled them because everybody loves them that way, but this sounds delicious! I'll give it a try! Thanks, Sarah!
Sidetracked Sarah says
You're welcome Kasey. I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!
mrskinsey says
This came at the right time! A neighbor gave us a bag full of green beans and squash. We're having them for supper tonight!
Sidetracked Sarah says
wonderful. Let me know how you like them!
SharonMarie says
Thanks for posting this recipe! I usually have a garden, but don't this year because of moving. My daughter does and will be giving me fresh green beans and I never had a good recipe for cooking fresh green beans so I want to definitely give this a try! It sounds really good!
Sidetracked Sarah says
I don't think that you'll be disappointed!