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GREEN BEANS
Can you ever forget growing up on canned green beans mixed with a can of mushroom soup and topped with canned French fried onion rings? A favorite dish for many housewives for many years – and even now – is the “Green Bean Casserole.” This began in a time before frozen vegetables came into existence, and I remember those days well!
Somehow I just can’t bring myself to make that casserole, mainly because I have had access to fresh green beans for many years. Who could adulterate such goodness by mixing it with canned mushroom soup and canned onion rings?
My love of fresh green beans began back in the mid-50s when I was a young married woman with a husband in medical school. We had a big back yard so we had it plowed up by an old guy and his mule for $5. Because this was in the Deep South, we planted okra, speckled butter beans, mustards, collards, tomatoes and Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. When friends came to visit, we sent them home with bags of fresh vegetables, feeling like country cousins.
I’ve been growing beans ever since then, including the tender little French beans that are so sweet and tasty. My latest crop of beans is in one end of my longer raised bed, as shown here.
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RAISED BED WITH BEANS
This is a bowl of my first harvest this year, and I am picking more beans daily.
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BOWL OF BEANS
These beans will never end up in the proverbial “Green Bean Casserole.” Now, I either steam them to go with a main dish, or make my favorite – a quick sauté in a pan with extra virgin olive oil and diced fresh garlic.
Mmmmmm….makes me hungry just thinking about it. Such a heavenly aroma! I think that’s what I will fix for lunch!
A hui ho!