Can you believe I’m craving a vegetable now?

We tried a new recipe for green beans tonight and it was so good we nearly licked the pan! Oh man, delish.



The recipe came from the EatingWell magazine (which I now want to subscribe to) and was easy enough that a five-year-old (Ro) and an amateur cook (me) could make it. Do yourself a favor and make these for dinner tomorrow – I’ll bet you’ll never have plain steamed green beans again. Well at least I know we won’t. Heh. Here’s the recipe with some notes on what we changed (intentionally and accidentally):

Balsamic Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided (I messed up and used 2TB, not 2tsp – and will make this “mistake” every time now because the beans were FAB)
• 1 pound green beans, trimmed
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I didn’t mince very finely, because Ro was “helping” so much, but the dish still turned out wonderfully)
• 1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green beans and cook, stirring often, until seared in spots, 2-3 minutes. Add water, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes for tender-crisp or 6 minutes for tender. Push the beans to the side; add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, stir everything together and cook until the tomatoes begin to break down, 2 to 3 minutes (I cooked them for about 5 or 6 minutes because I wanted the tomatoes to be on the soft side and cooked through). Remove from heat; stir in vinegar, salt and pepper. (Don’t leave out the balsamic – the flavor was key and was SO GOOD.)

This was all that was left:

Mmmmmmm.