Garlic Green Beans

Sorry for the complete lack of blogging for the past, oh, three months, but things have been crazy.  To be brief--we moved!  Good-bye Virginia, hello Texas!  It was a pretty quick move for us, but I think we're finally starting to get settled.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself (as I write this post instead of emptying more boxes).

The food scene is definitely a little different here.  I'm already missing the Middle Eastern options, which are now a prohibitively far drive away.  However, we luckily live really close to several Indian restaurants (imagine the blank stares from our new neighbors when I asked them about the nearby Indian options), and there are exponentially more BBQ and Mexican places here than our last neighborhood.

Another plus for Texas?  I love how enormous the produce section is in my local grocery store, as well as being able to show my kids some vegetables that they've never seen before.  Since we moved here, our grocery store has never failed to have at least three different kinds of cauliflower at a time.  And if my little guy points out the orange or purple or green cauliflower and asks me if we can get one, who am I to deny him?  I made this for dinner last night with an orange cauliflower, as well as my go-to garlic green beans to go with it.

Basically, this entire story was a long way of saying that I realized that I have never actually posted the recipe I use for garlic green beans.  It's ludicrous, really, because I use the recipe all the time.  We are a family of green bean lovers, afterall.  This recipe comes together quickly, and is so easy, that I have no problem picking up a pound or two of green beans whenever I feel like it.  Because I know we'll be eating them up in no time--and will plenty of cauliflower to go with them.

Garlic Green Beans
(adapted from Good Housekeeping)
Printable Recipe
Serves 6-8 side dishes

Ingredients
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and washed
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
1) In a large skillet, heat 1 inch of water and 1/2 teaspoon salt on high until boiling.  Add beans and return to boiling.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 10 minutes or until beans are bright green and tender-crisp.  Remove beans and drain any excess water.
2) Increase to medium heat, and add butter and garlic to skillet.  Cook until fragrant.  Add beans and cook about 2 minutes or until beans are hot and garlic butter is well incorporated.
3) Remove skillet from heat and toss with 1/4 teaspoon additional salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Serve warm.  Enjoy!