vegetables

Fresh from the Garden, Delicious Summer Squash with Peppers and Onions

June 20, 2019 by Becky Spoon

When you grow summer squash there is an abundance when you start harvesting and you’re trying to figure out what to do with all this squash! This is my quick go to!

Easy, yet delicious! Just a few ingredients and you have a side dish for any main course!

Fresh from the Garden, Delicious Summer Squash with Peppers and Onions

I actually made this with my Chicken and Dumplings the other day! It was the perfect side dish for the dumplings. Here’s my Chicken and Dumplings recipe which you have to try! https://the2spoons.com/chicken-and-dumplings-the-perfect-comfort-food/.

My Mom would boil squash, drain it, then mash it with a potato masher. Then she would add butter, salt and pepper. It was delicious! So simple, yet so delicious. I still make it that way. You know, it’s just one of those things you ate growing up and you just crave it sometime!

I didn’t grow squash this year. A friend of ours gave us this squash. There are a couple of different summer squash. Here’s a list for future growing: https://www.thekitchn.com/a-visual-guide-to-8-varieties-of-summer-squash-220740

Fresh from the Garden, Delicious Summer Squash with Peppers and Onions

Ok, back to cooking squash! And my recipe! I really shouldn’t call this a recipe because it’s so simple!

Summer Squash with Peppers and Onions

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Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Ingredients

3-4 Yellow she merry squash or Zucchini, or Combination of the two, diced
1 Green bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp butter
sal and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the oil and butter in a skillet to medium high. I like to use non stick skillet. add the onions and peppers and cook until they begin to soften. Add the squash, increase the heat if you need to so your ingredients will start to brown, turning as the bottom browns. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until good n brown and the squash is tender!

Keyword Summer Squash Casserole

Easy Cheesy Creamed Spinach

March 18, 2019 by Becky Spoon

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We love this Creamed Spinach! Instead of heavy cream, I add sour cream and a little cayenne to spice it up! This recipe is just for 2 so you can increase the ingredients and make it for more. You want to squeeze out as much water as you can to prevent your creamed spinach from being too watery.

This is the perfect side dish for your steak dinners at home. I served this with grilled steaks the other night, of which more times than not, I serve this when I cook steaks on the grill. Allen loves this too, which is always a plus!

Here’s the recipe for the steaks if you want a delicious steak recipe: http://www.the2spoons.com/lucies-oh-so-good-easy-steak-on-the-grill/

There is a restaurant in Dallas called the Celebration. In the 1970s or 1980s they served a spinach casserole that I developed this recipe from, and I think it is how they did it, including the cayenne that I add. That was probably one of their most popular dishes and I absolutely loved it!

Easy Cheesy Creamed Spinach

What about the health benefits? Spinach is one of those foods that is so delicious and equally healthy! Even children love this spinach dish. Maybe it’s the cheese. None the less, this is an excellent way to get some vitamins into your dishes: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270609.php

Here is the so easy recipe for this Cheesy Creamed Spinach. It literally takes minutes!

Easy Cheesy Creamed Spinach

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 15

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

8 cups raw spinach
2 tbsp sour cream
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 pinch cayenne peper
1/4 cup grated medium to sharp cheddar cheese
oil to saute spinach

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Pour a thin coat of oil in a skillet and heat to medium. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Drain in a colander, pressing out as much water as you can. Return to a bowl and add the sour cream, salt, and pepper to taste and the cayenne pepper. Place in a buttered or oiled casserole and top with the cheese.
Bake until the cheese is melted.

Perfect Green Beans with Garlic and Lemon in Browned Butter

January 22, 2019 by Becky Spoon

Green beans are probably the most used vegetable than any other. Green bean casserole, country style with pork slow cooked until almost falling apart, wrapped in bacon, in a Niçoise salad, in a soup….so many uses.

Great Beans — Perfect Browned Butter and Garlic Green Beans

I love green beans. They are that vegetable that you have in the pantry even if you don’t have fresh and with a little seasoning, some bacon, onions, garlic, and salt and pepper, even the canned turn out to be a delicious side dish.

I par cooked these fresh green beans, then quickly sautéed them with chopped garlic in brown butter until heated through and tender, with still a little crunch, and finished them with lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice!

Below is Information I found on the internet. The link is at the bottom!

Fresh green beans are very low in calories (31 calories per 100 g of raw bean pods) and contain no saturated fat. Nevertheless, these lean pod vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, and plant derived micronutrients.
The beans are a very rich source of dietary fiber (9% per 100g RDA) which acts as a bulk laxative. Fiber helps to protect colon mucosa by decreasing its exposure time to toxic substances as well as by binding to cancer-causing chemicals in the gut. An adequate amount of fiber in the diet has also been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels by decreasing reabsorption of cholesterol-binding bile acids in the colon.
Green beans contain excellent levels of vitamin-A, and health promoting flavonoid poly phenolic antioxidants such as lutein, zeaxanthin, and β -carotene in right amounts. These compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes.
Zea-xanthin, an important dietary carotenoid in the beans, selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes where it thought to provide antioxidant and protective UV-light filtering functions. It is, therefore, green beans offer some protection in the prevention of age-related macular disease(ARMD) in the older adults.
Snap beans are an excellent source of folates. 100 g fresh beans provide 37 µg or 9% of folates. Folate along with vitamin B-12 is one of the essential components of DNA synthesis and cell division. A good folate diet, when given during preconception periods and pregnancy, may help prevent neural-tube defects in the newborn babies.
Green beans also carry good amounts of vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), thiamin (vitamin B-1), and vitamin-C. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.
Moreover, green beans contain healthy amounts of minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and potassium, which very essential for body metabolism. Manganese is a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase, which is a very potent free radical scavenger. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Sourcehttps://www.nutrition-and-you.com/green_beans.html

This recipe is easy and fast and you’re not cooking all the nutrients out; just the opposite, retaining them with the quick cook!

Enjoy!

Perfect Green Beans with Garlic and Lemon in Browned Butter

These green beans are the perfect side dish for all most any main course!

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Course dinner, easy side dish, vegetable

Cuisine American

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

1 Lb Fresh green beans with stem removed
Water for blanching
Salt
2 Tsp Unsalted butter
1/2 Tsp Garlic
Zest of a lemon
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Fill a saucepan with water and generously add salt. Bring to a boil and add the green beans. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Remove the beans from the pan and immediately sub merge in ice water.
Heat the butter in a saucepa. When the butter starts to brown just a little add the garlic and immediately add the green beans.
Toss the beans a couple of times until heated through. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and the zest of one lemon. Add a pinch of a salt and fresh ground pepper.

Keyword vegetable, side dish, easy side dish, greeb beans

Try Sunday Pot Roast! These green beans will be the perfect side dish https://the2spoons.com/sunday-pot-roast/

Green Bean Casserole

November 18, 2018 by Becky Spoon

In my family, as long as I can remember, there was always Green Bean Casserole on the Thanksgiving table!! I think it is on most southern Thanksgiving tables and elsewhere.

This recipe uses fresh mushrooms and makes the sauce rather than the customary canned soup from the original recipe from years ago. And the topping is shallots that you flour and fry instead of the canned onion rings!! This is a great recipe.

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Ingredients

For the Green Bean Casserole

3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 shallot chopped
1 8 oz package button mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps chopped fresh thyme
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and halved
2 cups white cheddar cheese, saving some for the top
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Panko bread crumps for the top

The Crispy shallots for the top

2 cups vegetable oil
4 shallots thinly sliced
1/2 to 1 cup flour

Instructions

For the fried shallots that you will top your finished casserole

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat to about 325. Dredge the shallots ion flour, separating them as you go coating them thoroughly. Add the shallots to the skillet and cook stirring until golden brown and crispy. Drain and set aside.

For the casserole

Preheat oven to 350
Heat a pan of salted water to a boil. Add the trimmed and halved green beans and blanck for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove to ice water so they will retain their color. Set Aside.
Melt butter in a skillet and add the shallots and mushrooms. Cook until tender and slightly browned. Stir in garlic. Cook for about a minute and add the flour and cook about one minute more. Add the chicken stock, scraping bottom and sides, bring to boil, then lower heat and cook for about 4 minutes.
Add the green beans and cook until crisp-tender....one or two minutes should all since they were blanched...longer if needed. You want them tender, but still a bite to them as they will cook more in the oven.
Turn off the heat and add the white cheese and the heavy cream. Stir to just combine and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add this mixture to a buttered casserole and top with the panko and remaining cheese.
Place into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven when bubbling and slightly browned. Sprinkle the shallots on top and serve. Delicious!!