For My Sister... Green Beans and Bacon

Green beans and bacon is a common match in cooking. Growing up, this was the only way we ate green beans. I have never had the green bean casserole with the French fried onions. The holiday commercials make it look good. Especially the one with tree, grabbing the serving spoon...

 After posting Paddy’s Green Bean Supreme recipe, my sister sent me a note stating those would never cross her table. Why? There is no bacon in the recipe. I hate to say she is snob about it, but this is the only way she has eaten them for four decades.

So for all of the non-adventure or risk taking green beans and bacon eaters, I hope you might like this recipe. Angela, this has one whole pound of bacon in it just for you.

1 pound bacon, cut up

1 cup white sugar

½ cup white vinegar

5  14.5 ounce canned cut green beans, drained

2 large onions chopped

Directions:

In a large pot, cook the bacon and onions, until bacon is almost crispy. Drain on paper towels




Fall leaves in North Carolina, at their peak

Add sugar, vinegar, and green beans to the pot along with the bacon and onions. Mix well

Cook until bubbling. Turn off heat and let sit on burner until ready to eat.   

*I like to add ½ tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes to the pot.This will give a little flavor without making them spicy*

The Get Together...

The potluck, tailgate, block party, or family large family gathering all require one thing, food.

Have you ever noticed that the same people always put out the same effort?

 You have the busy parent flying in from work, wrangling six kids and still manages to produce something fantastic. The (I fall into this) I have too much time on my hands, so let us make everything from scratch person. The person who either because they didn’t get the memo or didn’t care, sliding in with nothing in their hands. The person who on their way home from work, found out they are suppose to be bringing SOMETHING, stop by the store for either a baked treat or bread.

I have decided to use three recipes that would be great for a large get together. Some recipes are very simple and take just a few minutes to the more involved, Block Party Beans, Cornbread Salad, and a Bean and Corn Succotash.

Block Party Beans:

My Father-in-law passed this recipe to me. It came from Cook’s Country magazine and was written by Diane Unger. The best way to describe this dish is Boston Baked Beans meets Sloppy Joes.

Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds of lean ground beef

1 onion, chopped fine

4 mince garlic cloves

4 15 ounce cans of beans drained and rinsed (suggest one can of each: Kidney, Black, Pinto and Cannellini Beans)

2 28 ounce cans tomato sauce

½ cup barbecue sauce

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup of cider vinegar

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

12 ounces fresh green beans cut into ½ inch pieces

1 10 ounce package of frozen lima beans

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat oven to 350°F

In Dutch oven brown the ground beef, drain in a colander, return to pot.

Stir in onion, cook until softened

Add garlic, stir in canned beans, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, sugar, vinegar, red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon of sale and1/2 teaspoon of pepper bring to a boil.

Transfer pot to oven, bake covered for 30 minutes.

Stir in green beans lima beans, continue to cook covered for an additional 30 minutes.

Season with additional salt and pepper before serving, if needed.  

Cornbread Salad:

This is dish is so yummy, why? Three reasons: corn bread, ranch dressing and bacon, need I say more? I have to refer you to Southern Plate, for the original recipe of this dish. I have tried several cornbread salad recipes, and Christy’s is the best.

 The recipe, below is the extra additions suggested by Christy, I have also cut the amount of bacon. I know you can never have too much bacon, so do not even start that argument. I found it a bit salty and with adding the bacon grease, you can cut the amount of bacon in half. If you add two hard-boiled eggs, you almost have a complete and perfect meal. If you like this dish, please make sure you drop Christy a note on her page, she would greatly appreciate it!

Ingredients:

1 pan cornbread

Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix packet

1 Tablespoon bacon grease

1 cup diced onions

1 bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 cup diced tomatoes

15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 pound bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled

2-3 cups mayonnaise (I used two)

Directions:

 Crumble cornbread and place in large bowl.

 Mix in onions, bell pepper, diced tomatoes, corn, and bacon.

In a separate bowl, blend mayo and ranch mix and bacon grease.  

Add mayonnaise mixture to salad and stir until fully mixed.

 Cover and refrigerate at least two hours before serving, the longer this sits the better it gets.

Bean and Corn Succotash:

The original recipe came from the Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook. I have tinkered a bit with it and changed it to our liking. My daughter begs for this dish a few times a year. Do not get put off about the hominy. Yes, grits come from hominy. The first time I was a bit put off, because I had never had hominy… grits, yes. You need the hominy, I would suggest actually using half can of yellow and half can of white. If you need to make this vegetarian, omit the bacon grease and use vegetable oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:

¼ cup unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons of bacon grease

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small green pepper, diced

½ cup frozen green peas

1 15 ounce can of each, rinsed: hominy, corn, lima beans, black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas (garbanzo)

Salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper to taste

Directions:

Defrost green peas at room temperature

In large pan (suggest a soup pot) melt butter and bacon grease.

Add onion cook until translucent, about five minutes.

Add hominy and green peas allowing to cook for another a five minutes.

Add the drained and rinsed canned beans, season with salt and black pepper, cover and cook over low heat until warm, about eight to ten minutes.

Add crushed red pepper to taste, (can be omitted)

Green Bean Supreme and Honey Smoked Pork Chops



It is well know I cannot leave a recipe alone, I have to tinker with each of them. The green bean supreme recipe came from my mother-in-law, when I married her son. This dish is a staple on our holiday table, and to be honest, I did not really tinker with this one too much until the other day.

Green Bean Supreme
Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons of butter

1 small yellow onion minced

2 Tablespoons of flour

2 Tablespoons of water

½ teaspoon of fresh lemon peel

1 large 28-33 ounce can of French style green beans (drained) I prefer Del-Monte brand

1 cup sour cream

½ cup of crushed Ritz crackers

1 cup Kraft Colby/Jack finely shredded cheese

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F

In skillet melt butter add onion and sauté until translucent.

Gradually stir in flour, lemon peel, and then water making a roux.

Add drained green beans and sour cream into skillet mix well.

Pour into a 2 quart baking dish, sprinkle with crushed red pepper.

Cover top with cheese then crushed Ritz crackers

Bake for 30 minutes

** You can omit the red peppers, if you prefer. They give a bit of spice and heat but not enough to be spicy**

Honey Smoked Pork Chops

3 Tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

3 Tablespoon minced garlic

¼ teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon hot Chinese mustard

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

4 thick center cut pork chops

Ingredients:

Pre-heat oven 350°F

Mix ginger, sage, garlic, liquid smoke and honey in bowl.

 Line small baking pan with aluminum foil,

Brush all sides of pork chop with butter then place on pan.

Brush honey smoke mix on chops, place in oven for 15 minutes

After 15 minutes flip chops over and brush with remaining mix cook an additional twenty minutes

Oven Roasted Green Beans Almondine

Last year for Thanksgiving, I made Green beans Almondine. I did not really care for the part of pre-cooking the beans then dunking them in ice water. I took that step out and roasted the beans in the oven. This summer at the farmers market, I bought several different varieties of beans and subjected the kids to taste testing. We have decided that the Eagles variety is the ones we like the best. They have a great taste, not stringy and freeze really well.

I have been buying a pound or two at a time and freezing them throughout the summer. Saturday I was buying another pound and half and the women told me it was their last weekend until spring. They were gracious enough for me to take their photo at way to early before seven clock in the morning.

Oven Roasted Green Beans Almondine

¼ cup of butter or margarine

1 pound of green beans, whole

1 cup of slivered of sliced Almonds

2 Tablespoons of minced garlic

Preheat oven to 350°F

Wash and snap ends of bean, leaving whole.

Melt butter in a 2qt baking dish, add almonds and toast lightly. When almonds are brown, add garlic and beans to the dish, making sure beans are coated with remaining butter.

Bake for ten minutes before turning beans over, cook for another 5 to 8 minutes before removing from oven. Salt and pepper to taste, sometimes I will sprinkle crushed red peppers on beans. Beans should have a small amount of crispness to them.