Simple Side Dish: Green Beans My Way

Summertime brings so much of everything good. Nice weather, holidays, thunder storms and lots and lots of fresh vegetables. This year was my first big year for planting a garden. I decided to move my garden to a much larger area thus allowing plenty of room for all kinds of delicious vegetables.

I also like to grow things that you don't find every day. This year I grew a green bean called "Scarlet Runner Bean" for the main purpose that it climbs AND has showy scarlet red flowers. The bean pod is pretty similar to the standard green bean, but the dried bean is a spectacular sight. Its all black with pink spots on it. So imagine a kidney bean painted black with pink dots. 

I also grew the standard pole bean, which has climbed VERY high and still climbing. Luckily I planted them next to my deck so the plants have plenty of upward space to grow, they are probably 20 feet or so now!

Anyway, today I noticed that there were a ton of beans ready to be picked. I started picking them and finally had to find something to put them in because I had way more that I had been expecting! So what did I do with them? This recipe is a simple side dish for those of us who like to keep the crisp snap in green beans.

Oh also, you will see that I have purple beans too. These came from an old friend from my hometown who gave them to me, oddly they turned green once they hit the heat, but are still delicious!

Bunch of green beans
olive oil
Crushed garlic
Salt n pepa

Remove the stems from the beans, you can leave them whole if you like. Heat some olive oil in a skillet, I usually use cast iron for this but you can use whatever you have. Add your beans, garlic and salt n pepa. Allow the beans to saute for a while, I'd say around 10 minutes and toss every minute or two. You may also want to add just a little water at this point too so the beans will steam but not become that horrible soggy grey...thing.