Comments on: Green Bean Dreams (With a Side of Bacon).

By: Donna W

Donna W — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:26:23 +0000

Oh yeah, and in this part of the country we call those long beans “guinea beans”. I have no idea why.

By: Donna W

Donna W — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:25:38 +0000

Try cutting some kielbasa into bite-size chunks and cooking that with the green beans, along with some diced onions. I use the low-fat turkey kielbasa. Cliff loves this dish.

By: The Good Cook

The Good Cook — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:01:44 +0000

Here is my family’s favorite green bean recipe (works well with peas too!)

Cut into 1 inch squares 5 pieces of bacon. Remove crisp bacon from pan and drain. Reserve.

In the same pan, saute 1 turnip (yes, turnip) that you cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Saute until golden (soft on the inside, crisp on the outside.

Meanwhile, blanche the beans in salted, boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to ice water, then drain and dry.

Add beans to turnips in hot bacon grease, toss around to coat. Sprinkle with dill, 1 tablespoon butter and reserved bacon pieces..

YUM.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:16:34 +0000

Here’s the only way my children will eat green beans:

Place them in a skillet with enough water to steam them until just before they’re done. Drain the water (if there’s any left) and plop in a tablespoon or so of bacon grease. You do save yours in a jar in the fridge, don’t you? Saute the beans in the grease and sprinkle on a generous handful of brown sugar (dark is best). Cook until the sugar is dissolved and caramelized. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with bacon if you have some. Sweet, salty, and delicious.

By: Doreen Frost

Doreen Frost — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:45:44 +0000

I’m growing these this year for the first time..they are coming very slowly..so I’m hoping at some point they pull up their boot straps and get serious!

Doreen

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:34:39 +0000

I just made that for dinner tonight. Exept- I used a ham hock and cut up ham pieces. It was a winner, even my picky son who eats no veggies- ate this!

By: Patti

Patti — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:25:55 +0000

Cook up your green beans in a minimal amount of salted water…fry up some bacon in a deep skillet, and add some minced onion. Cook the onion and chopped up bacon in the bacon grease. Drain your green beans and “fry” them with the bacon and onion til just a little browned.

Alternatively my mom makes “sweet and sour” green beans…same as above but you add sugar and cider vinegar. YUM.

By: jamoody

jamoody — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:25:05 +0000

Thanks! I know it was probably a silly question, but I couldn’t possibly even consider growing them until I had an answer…..Now I can breath easier and do some research!!!

By: lINDA

lINDA — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:53:32 +0000

I think the pressure cooker would be overkill. I have found that cooking green beans in a skillet is great. I just put a little water in the skillet with the green beans, add some olive oil and salt and pepper and cook on med. until just tender. Just watch that the water doesn’t cook away and the burn. In a few minutes you have wonderful green beans. I use this method for still frozen green beans too.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:49:37 +0000

Those beans look suspiciously like what we have called Japanese Beans which we’ve grown. We got the seeds in Hawaii in the ’80s and dry the seeds yearly to grow them next year. With ours, two or three beans will grow from one flower bud site and they go from one to three feet long. As for finding beans to pick, I grow yellow wax beans. We are envying your garden-up here in Mass the spring was so wet, cold, and cloudy that only peas grew well. A 25-foot row of cukes has about ten viable plants. So sad. Gardeners do what they can, but Mother Nature has the last laugh always.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:08:53 +0000

My Mom used to use bacon grease and bacon in cooked spinich (sp?). It was delicious especially with vinegar,too. When she made fresh green beans she added salt pork instead. She also would add fresh corn from the cob and potatoes. She called it succotash and of course creamed the broth. I haven’t had that in years and the pressure cooker is the magic ingredient, otherwise it takes too long!
Good luck, I read all the pickle tips, learned a lot. don’t know if I”ve brave enough to do them though. I have made marmelade (I am having a hard time spelling today) from orange, grapefruit and lemons.(Got the recipe from Sunset Magazine about 20 years ago. I lived in Arizona at the time and had both an orange and grapefruit tree in my yard. I just had to trade oranges for lemons with my neighbor It is great tasting but it was a learning experience, too. One time I cooked it to long and you needed a jackhammer to get it out of the jar.!! We all have our successes and failure. Keep on trying!!

By: MyRich

MyRich — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:06:45 +0000

Here is a popular recipe at our house: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/green-beans-smoked-bacon-onions-3780 I don’t know if your boys are onion-eaters, but this is delicious!

By: Rechelle

Rechelle — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:56:56 +0000

jamoody – they do not taste like asparagus. They are a little tougher than traditional green beans and have to be cooked a bit longer, but they taste the same other than that.

By: M.R.

M.R. — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:13:57 +0000

No bacon recipes here, but I love green beans with pesto!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:48:35 +0000

I do roughly the same as Kathleen except I use the saucepan to do the bacon first and then leave some of the grease in the pan while I boil the green beans. Then I don’t have to add butter and the bacon flavor gets all mixed in. I’m loving those beans… may have to hunt down seeds for those next year!