Monday, May 30, 2011

Liz's Almost Naughty Green Beans


I have a friend named Liz, I just love her. When our youngest sone was born she brought us a lovely dinner. There was chicken parmesan and hot buttered bread, and then there were green beans. Oh my! The next day I called her and asked her how in heaven's name she made those green beans. They were the most fabulous green beans I had ever put in my mouth. If my memory serves me, I ate them for dessert. She laughed and said, "Oh, the naughty green beans?" Come to find out, they contained a stick of real butter and 1/2 cup of brown sugar! No wonder they were divine! I knew I couldn't live without those green beans in my life but I'm kind of stingy with my butter so I tweaked and adjusted to create Liz's Almost Naughty Green Beans. They have undergone further tweaking as I have been slowly removing sugar from our diet, honey makes pretty great green beans too.

Liz's Almost Naughty Green Beans

1 pound frozen green beans (look for long skinny beans, they work the best)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
or
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced

Place all ingredient in a large saucepan with a lid and place over medium heat. After the butter and soy sauce are simmering good, reduce heat to low. Cook for about half an hour until the beans are quite tender and the sauce it reduced to a thick glaze. Taste and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

You are just going to love this simple side dish. Or of course, you can have it for dessert too!

4 comments:

Heather said...

Oh my, these look so yummy. A must for early summer eating.

Susan said...

Mmmmm! Worthy beans, I say! We planted so many bush beans this year! can't wait for the green beans to be up and ready!

Liz and Josh said...

I love you too, Audra! :) Can't wait to try the "almost naughty" version! I'm trying to cut back on sugar & processed foods too. Want to get some of your favorite healthy recipes sometime. Can't wait to see your sweet family again!

Laurel said...

I am printing this out and will try it soon - thanks for sharing