Green Bean Salad with Red Peppers and Bleu Cheese

 

This is a salad that I often refer to as a “pantry salad” because it is made up of things I tend to always have on hand. It’s colorful, it’s tasty, and considering one of the main ingredients is canned green beans, it’s quite different from the norm. I tend to make my own croutons out of hamburger and/or hotdog buns that I seem to always have left over, but you can certainly use the boxed croutons. I like blue cheese here, but feta or Parmesan work equally well. It’s a snap to put together and needs to be made ahead of time and refrigerated so that everything is nice and cold. With colors like this, it’s perfect for the holidays.

Green Bean Salad with Red Peppers and Bleu Cheese

 2 14.5-oz. cans green beans*

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

½ red onion, thinly sliced

¼ c. Melissa's Fire Roasted Red Peppers, diced

¼ c. blue cheese or Feta crumbles

Homemade croutons (or store bought, if you must)

Raspberry Vinaigrette

 Toss together beans, tomatoes, onion, peppers, and cheese, and refrigerate, covered, for an hour, or up to eight hours. When ready to serve, add croutons and dress with Raspberry Vinaigrette (recipe below).

 *I used one can of cut green beans and one can of French style; you can use any combination that you like.

 Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

 ¼ c. vegetable oil

¼ c. raspberry balsamic vinegar

2 T. grated Melissa’s shallot

1 t. Dijon mustard

1 t. sugar

Pinch of salt

Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients EXCEPT the oil in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together until blended. Continue to whisk as you slowly pour in the oil. Whisk until emulsified.  Drizzle over salad.

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Connoisseur’s Vegetable Casserole

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Last month in this post I mentioned that I had gone through my mother’s old recipes. In the doing, I discovered quite a few of my own, including this clever little menu card from Thanksgiving 1999 with one of the recipes from that dinner on the reverse. I had completely forgotten that I had done this, and marveled at my own cleverness and creativity. (Insert wry smile here.) 

 

Considering that I hadn’t made this dish in over 20 years, I thought it was time. Because I wasn’t going to be serving a crowd, I made a small casserole of it and put what remained into individual ramekins to freeze and use later. As a lover of both vegetables and casseroles, I really enjoyed this and wouldn’t mind having this as a main dish instead of a side. I’m also going to steal my own idea, and have menu cards with a recipe on the reverse the next time I have a friend or two for dinner. You might consider doing the same. In the meantime, make this casserole.

Connoisseur’s Vegetable Casserole

1 12-oz. can shoe-peg corn (white), drained
1 16-oz. can French-cut green beans, drained
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 2-oz. pimientos, chopped*
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 10.75-oz. can cream of celery soup
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

Topping
1 c. Ritz cracker crumbs
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/2 c. slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all ingredients except topping.  Place in 1.5-quart casserole.

Combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle topping over casserole. Bake for 45 minutes.

*I used 1/4 c. chopped Melissa’s fire roasted red peppers.

 

 

Copycat P.F. Chang's Spicy Green Beans

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Despite the fact that P.F. (for Paul Fleming, in case you didn’t know) Chang‘s China Bistro is quite a popular chain amongst the vast array of Asian-theme restaurants, I don’t particularly care for it. It’s not that I haven’t tried to like it, I have, I just tend to think it’s overrated. That said, I do like their green beans...a LOT. Occasionally, I’ll get a taste for those green beans and whip up a batch. With this ubiquitous copycat recipe, there is absolutely nothing to it.  It makes a wonderful side dish no matter your cuisine, or a tasty meatless meal when served on top of a mound of rice.

Copycat P.F. Chang's Spicy Green Beans

 1-2 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2" pieces

2 scallions, thinly sliced

½ t. red pepper flakes*

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 T. sesame oil

1/8 t. salt

1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper

 Sauce:

2 T. low sodium soy sauce

1 T. rice vinegar

1 t. sugar

¼ c. water

1 t. cornstarch

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 Sesame Seeds

Red pepper flakes

In a small bowl, mix together sauce ingredients; set aside.

Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, and allow it to heat for 30 to 45 seconds until just barely shimmering. Add garlic, scallions, and ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes. Stir-fry quickly for about 30 seconds. Add green beans and stir constantly until they’re almost fully cooked, three minutes. Push beans to the side, give the sauce a good stir, and add it to the skillet. Cook the sauce for 30 seconds; let the sauce come to a boil, then turn the heat to low. The sauce will thicken slightly. Stir the sauce into the green beans to coat. Cook beans and sauce for another 30 seconds, and then remove the skillet from the heat. Place green beans and sauce onto a serving plate or a bowl and garnish with sesame seeds and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. Serve.

 *Feel free to adjust down if you prefer a milder taste.

 Happy Meatless Monday!

 

 

 

Green Bean Artichoke Bake

My O-P used to lament over the paucity of vegetable recipes containing his favorite vegetable, the green bean. He’d look for them, but would always come up short after Green Beans Amandine, and the ubiquitous Green Bean Casserole. I got to thinking about this, wondering why it was the case. Then I started thinking about my Green Bean Salad, and wondered if I could come up with a hot version to use as a side dish, and thus the Green Bean Artichoke Bake was born. I swapped the tomatoes with red peppers, and croutons with Italian breadcrumbs, but it works! Overnight marinating makes the vegetables tender and flavorful, the topping gives it a pleasant crunch.

Green Bean Artichoke Bake

1 14.5-oz. can green beans, drained
1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1/2 cup diced Melissa’s Roasted Red Peppers
8 oz. Italian dressing, your choice
1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 T. Butter, cut in pieces

Toss together green beans, artichokes, and red peppers. Pour Italian dressing over all, stir to coat, cover, and place in the fridge to marinate overnight. The next day, drain liquid and place vegetables in an ovenproof baking dish (or individual ramekins). Sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on top, dot with butter. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until hot. Serves 4, but can be doubled.

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A crowd-pleasing green bean recipe for a crowd is Smothered Green Beans.

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Top Ten Posts of 2017

It's time for my year-end wrap-up featuring the 10 most popular posts of 2017. It's an agreeable assortment I think, nicely varied, and it tells me a couple of things. First of all, that you like your ramen (It took the top spot by a HUGE margin) and your veggies, second, that you like tablescapes. I'm going to be working on more of both of those for 2018. You all surprised me with the inclusion of the bunny cakes. I’d like to say that I have more such recipes ahead, but I have pretty much sworn off of baking for 2018.

 

Thanks to all of you who visit my blog, I really appreciate having you here. To see the blog post and recipe associated with each of these pictures (shown in the order of popularity), click on the title below the photo and it will take you directly to the post. Happy viewing, and have a wonderful New Year.

Easy One-Skillet Beef and Broccoli Ramen

Smothered Green Beans

Getting Ready for Fall

Home for the “Owl”idays Tablescape

Cabbage Bunny Tablescape

Scroodles

Coconut Bunny Cakes

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Beer-Steamed Potatoes

Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

Smothered Green Beans

When I shared my Boxing Day table with you couple of days ago, and told you what a great success the gathering was, I also promised some recipes. I made good with my recipe for Butter Pecan Cinnamon Rolls, and now here comes another recipe for the very popular green beans. Now I don't want to hear any snorts of derision when I tell you that this recipe calls for canned green beans. Frankly, I like them. When I was a kid I would eat them straight from the can. It may seem crazy, but how many kids do you know who snack on vegetables?

This recipe is so easy, and so good; you'd be wise to add it to your vegetable recipe repertoire. I made it the night before so all I had to do was slide it into a preheated oven the day of the party. Everyone loved it, and when children come back for seconds, you know it's a hit.

Smothered Green Beans

​Adapted from Gooseberry Patch​

5 (15-oz) cans green beans, drained

6 strips bacon

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1-1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pour drained green beans in an ungreased 9x13-inch pan.

In a large skillet, cook bacon until almost done but not too crispy. Remove from skillet, drain on paper towel and chop. Sprinkle cooked bacon on top of green beans.

Whisk together brown sugar, melted butter, soy sauce, and garlic powder. Pour over green beans.

Bake for 40 minutes.

This post is linked to:

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Happiness is Homemade Monday

Inspiration Monday

Art of Homemaking Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday
 Homestead Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Weekend Linky Party
Grace at Home
Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Creative Ways Party
Share Your Style
Simple Saturday Blog Hop

Green Bean Salad

When I was younger I loved going to school; when school wasn't in session I played school. In college I took classes every semester they were offered -- spring semester, winter semester, intersession, summer semester.  If classes were offered, I took them, and, in the doing, I built up a pot-load of credit hours. So much so, in fact, that I defied categorization and, eventually, they asked me if I would just graduate and leave. It was with great reluctance that I did, and I felt set adrift when it came time to sign up for coursework again. Not daring to show my face on the university campus, I grabbed a course catalog from the local community college, and signed up for a couple of extension classes, one of which was Gourmet Barbecue.

Looking back, I can't imagine what possessed me to take this class. I was the only young, single female in a class of, largely, forty-year-old men and their wives. As you can imagine, I was quite popular with the men, not so much with their wives. All's well that ends well, however, once they realized I was actually there to learn, and not shopping for a husband. I ended up learning quite a lot about grilling, and came away with a vast array of recipes. In addition to learning specialty grill recipes, we were also provided with side dishes suitable for whatever main dish we were working on that week. One of my favorites was this green bean salad. Mother loved it as well because the two of us were absolutely ga-ga over green beans, liking them so much that we would often eat them right from the can.

This recipe, a product of the late seventies, calls for canned green beans, but it is so much better when using fresh, and even more fun when using a variety of interesting beans as I have done here using both yellow and purple (they turn green when you cook them -- kids love to watch these) wax beans from Melissa’s Produce. Use whatever you like to make this salad colorful and interesting, and in keeping with your family’s tastes. Serve it chilled or at room temperature. It makes a great addition to picnics, barbecues, salad bars, or serves as an excellent side dish.

Green Bean Salad

1 lb. fresh string or wax beans, trimmed, blanched, and cooled

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

½ red onion, thinly, and I’m talking THINLY, sliced

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Homemade croutons (or store bought, if you must)

Italian Dressing

Toss together beans, tomatoes, onion, and Parmesan cheese, and refrigerate, covered, for an hour, or up to eight hours. When ready to serve, add croutons and dress with your favorite Italian dressing or vinaigrette.  Personally, I use low-fat Italian dressing and love it in this recipe.

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Fresh Green Beans with Bacon and Shallots

I love the Noble Pig Winery blog.  It is written by Cathy Pollak, a former wine enthusiast who, with her husband, ended up being owners of a vineyard and producing their own wine.  Cool, huh?  The blog is always interesting, written in a wonderfully friendly conversational tone, and features some mouthwatering recipes. 

I am always looking for new ways to prepare green beans since it happens to be Mr. O-P’s favorite (and when I say favorite, I mean it is one about which he does not seem to grumble), so we have them quite a lot.  When I saw this recipe last week, I knew I had to try it.  Thumbs up from us both on this one. Lover of vegetables that I am, I could have eaten this entire bowl and called it dinner.

There is a great tutorial here if you want to take a look; the recipe is below with a few of the changes that I made.  

Fresh Green Beans with Bacon and Shallots

1-1/2 pounds fresh green beans, ends trimmed (I used 1lb.)

3/4 pound bacon ends and pieces or thick cut bacon,

chopped (I used 4 slices)

2 large shallots, sliced into thin rings (I diced mine)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch beans in three separate batches*, boiling for 3-4** minutes each (beans should be soft with a slight crunch ~ taste before removing the whole batch from the water.) Immediately plunge beans into a large bowl filled with ice water; let sit for two minutes before removing to a paper towel lined tray. Repeat with other two batches of beans. Soak up any excess water on beans with more paper towels, it's best if they are as dry possible. This process can be done several hours in advance if you choose.

In a large skillet, fry bacon until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate. Over low heat, fry shallots*** until slightly brown, about 1-2 minutes. Return beans to the pan and toss with the shallots, slightly warming the beans as well. Remove beans and shallots from the pan, shaking off any excess grease, and place on a serving tray. Season well with salt. Sprinkle bacon on top and serve immediately.

*I used a fairly big pot so that I was able to blanch all of the beans at once.  I turned them out into my largest mixing bowl that I had filled with ice water.

** I know the popular way to eat green beans these days is when they are crunchy, but Mr. O-P and I prefer our beans with “bend-ability,” so I cooked mine for about 6 minutes.

*** After removing the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, I wiped out the pan and sautéed the shallots in what remained of the bacon drippings.

This post is linked to:

Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Amaze Me Monday

Metamorphosis Monday