Sautéed Green Beans

joellecole — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 22:22:05 +0000

This isn’t revolutionary and it really isn’t even a recipe. But up until this year, I’ve pretty much only eaten fresh green beans steamed. I have to say that squeak really creeps me out! But it’s fine. Add some butter and salt and it’s an acceptable vegetable addition. But this year I wanted to change things up….especially since I have an exorbitant amount of beans coming in! I planted two green bean tepees this year. 5 poles with 5 plants around each pole. So I have 50 bean plants! I want to eat a ton and share a lot and preserve a lot. I think I’m on track for all of that!

So back to this non-recipe. Start with cleaned, cut beans. Throw a couple peeled cloves of garlic in a cast iron skillet with olive oil. Bring the oil to temp and add beans and salt. Toss them around until they brown up a little, then add a bit of water (a few tablespoons — I eyeball it) and immediately put the lid on. Let steam for about 3 minutes until the beans are tender. Toss them around until you reach the desired brownness. And that’s it! You will never go back to simple steamed beans again!

The post Sautéed Green Beans appeared first on Little Reasons.

Trash to Treasure

joellecole — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 13:14:28 +0000

I know some people are completely freaked out about “trash picking”. I guess I view it more like, “I would buy that if they had a garage sale, but they threw it out instead!” Two nights ago, my kids and I drove by a house that was being sold and in front was a plethora of items. You could tell it was a home of an elderly person because the items were not what you would find in Target. They were rough hewn boxes, a sturdy dresser, heavy benches, a tall skinny utility table… For me, they were things I would have bought at their sale for sure! Here’s a peek at some of the items I found that I’ve already put to use.

There was a tall skinny table — just what I’ve been looking for to go in my back room for seed trays. Last year the huge 6 foot table I used was so intrusive! This is perfect and the legs unscrew to store underneath. I might throw a coat of Annie Sloan chalk paint on it to jazz it up after my seedlings are tucked into the garden, but for now it meets my needs!!

There were a couple great chunky boxes that had sooooo much character! I’ve been needing some storage things for my gardening supplies and these are perfect.

…and a long, skinny box that’s divided into thirds that fits my seed packets perfectly! I’ve been trying to organize them well, but until now I haven’t found something that was just right. I guess God knew exactly what my little gardening spot needed.

So my encouragement is to see what others think is trash — or what someone is selling on the cheap at a garage sale, and think about how you could make it into a treasure!

The post Trash to Treasure appeared first on Little Reasons.

gardening Archives - Little Reasons

Sautéed Green Beans

Trash to Treasure