The giveaway in this post is now closed. But there’s a recipe, so keep reading!

When it comes to my kids’ lunches, I try to do a decent job of feeding them a balanced meal. There’s not much sugar, always a protein of some kind, and definitely fresh fruit. The one area where I am lacking, however, is vegetables. Once in a while I throw in sliced cucumbers or carrot sticks, but more often than not I miss vegetables entirely.

Libby’s® recently contacted me about developing a quick and easy single serving recipe using Libby’s 4 oz. Vegetable Cups. To help with developing the recipe, Libby’s mailed our family a box of the vegetable cups to try out and experiment with. My daughter Anna, who loves trying food and cooking with me, was genuinely excited about the cups.

Anna: “Mom, what are these?”

Me: “Those are the veggie cups I am going to use for a recipe.”

Anna: “Ooooo! Can I have some green beans? Please?!”

Um, yes, she actually said that. And she actually liked the green beans! She liked the carrots, too, and she looooooved the corn. Anna is 100% supportive of me packing the Vegetable Cups in her lunches.

For the recipe I developed I decided to go with a super quick and easy 3-bean salad for one! This makes for a “fancy” after-school snack or even a quick side dish with dinner when life gets busy. And this recipe utilizes one of my favorite magical ingredients: Italian Dressing. Italian dressing has a way of making pretty much any recipe easier, including salads of all kinds.

In addition to today’s recipe, we also have a giveaway! Not only will the winner receive an assortment of Libby’s Vegetable Cups, but they will also be gifted with this ridiculously cute Amanda’s Kids’ Lunch Playset from Food52.com. I wish I could enter the giveaway, all three of my kids would love this playset! (Maybe I’ll just have to go buy it!)

To enter the giveaway, please do the following (comments must be posted by Midnight PT 9/3/15):

• Simply leave a comment on this post! That’s it!
• Bonus entry: Follow Libby’s on Pinterest (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)
• Bonus entry: Like Libby’s on Facebook (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)
• Bonus entry: Follow This Week for Dinner on Pinterest (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)
• Bonus entry: Like This Week for Dinner on Facebook (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)

The randomly-selected winner of this giveaway was comment #22 Kelly, who said, “What a great idea! My Mom used to make 3-bean salad, but I never thought about sending it in the kids’ lunches. Thanks for the recipe!”

And now for the recipe! It seriously took me less than 5 minutes to toss this salad together. It doesn’t get easier than that. Enjoy!

3-Bean Salad for One

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 1 Libby's 4-oz. Green Bean Vegetable Cup
• 1 tablespoon garbanzo beans
• 1 tablespoon kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon chopped red onion
• 2 teaspoons Italian dressing

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Voila! You're done!

Notes

Cost: Appx. $0.60/serving

3.3.3070

Today’s post might be a little controversial. Maybe even more controversial than the 2012 presidential election. I know. Are you ready?

I don’t like green bean casserole. You know, the casserole that practically everyone else in America seems to LOVE except me. The casserole that graces many a Thanksgiving table every November. I appreciate that it is a staple and I love that other people love it. But, yeah. I’m just not that into it and always pass when it’s available.

See. Controversy. I may as well just tell you who I voted for for president. That might actually cause less of a stir! So, I voted for…

What, did you REALLY think I’d fess up about my secret ballot? Yeah right!

Back to casserole. I decided to invite green bean casserole into my life this year. But I also decided I wanted it to be made completely from scratch. Fresh green beans and mushrooms, no canned soup, homemade onion rings. The task was daunting, but I have to tell you, I am SOOOOOO glad I tackled this challenge. Because the end result was unbelievably delicious. And I am NOT speaking in hyperbole here.

Our friend Brandon, a renowned casserole hater, took a bite and said, “Where have you been all my life?”

Is that enough of a build up for you? Are you ready to cast aside the canned soup and the store-bought french fried onions and throw a little blood, sweat and tears into your green bean casserole? Good. Here you go.

{Thanksgiving Prep} Green Bean Casserole from Scratch

 

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Adapted from two recipes, one from Williams Sonoma the other from Cook’s Illustrated

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Side Dish, Thanksgiving

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 1½ pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2”³-3”³ pieces
• 1 cup water and a large bowl of ice water
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 1 small onion or ½ regular-sized onion, chopped
• ⅓ cup flour
• 1½ cups chicken or veggie stock/broth
• 1 cup cream
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 3 shallots, sliced very thin
• ¼ cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large skillet with a lid, heat 1 cup water to boiling over medium-high to high heat. Add green beans. Put on lid and cook for three minutes. Remove beens and place in ice water. Set beans aside.
3. Pour water off of the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and melt butter. Add mushroom and cook for about 5 minutes. Add chopped onion and cook an additional 5+ minutes, until onions are soft and translucent. Sprinkle ⅓ cup flour over the mushrooms and onions and stir well, cooking for a minute or so. Slowly stir in the chicken broth. Slowly stir in the cream. Mix well. Add ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Stir well then mix in green beans. Transfer to 9×13 casserole dish and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes (you will put fried shallot rings on top for the last 5 minutes of baking”¦see below).
4. While casserole is baking, heat ¼ cup oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Mix flour, ¼ tsp salt and ⅛ tsp pepper in a medium to large bowl. Mix shallot rings in the flour, coating well. Use your hands to mix the shallots in the flour so you can break the rings up and get them coated really well. Transfer floured shallots with tongs to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until shallots are crisp and golden.
5. Sprinkle fried shallots over the top of the casserole at the 25 minute baking point. Bake 5 more minutes. Serve hot!
6. If you want to make this ahead of time, I would do everything except the fried shallot rings and put the casserole in the fridge BEFORE baking. Bake 5-10 minutes longer since the casserole will be going into the oven cold and make the fried shallot rings while the casserole is baking.

3.2.2310

Last time I tried to make a nice, homemade dinner that involved some effort, I threw my sciatica into a tizzy. I could barely walk to the dinner table to eat! So, until baby boy arrives in a few short weeks, I’m trying to take it easy in the kitchen. Which is nice in one way, but at the same time I am really craving some good home cookin’ right now. I’ll have to put my mom to work when she comes to visit next month!

What this “taking it easy” business means is that, even though I have menus planned each week, there are plenty of nights where I’m plum worn out and things don’t go as planned. Last night was no exception. But we were all starving, so I grabbed the Costco orange chicken out of the freezer along with the Trader Joe’s dumplings and got “cooking.” Since rice, chicken and dumplings don’t have any vegetables, I grabbed a bag of green beans that we received from our CSA last week and decided to sauté those up.

Nate is a big fan of green beans, so I’m always hoping I cook them well since I know they are one of his favorites. Last night he kept saying how good they were, so I decided they were blog post-worthy! And they were really easy. Which, for me, was the best part!

Easy Asian-Style Green Beans

 

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From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Side Dish, Vegetables

Ingredients

• - A bunch of fresh green beans
• - Olive oil
• - Salt and Pepper
• - Soy Sauce
• - White Sugar

Instructions

1. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet that has a lid. Add the green beans and sauté over medium heat until they brown on the sides a bit. Reduce heat to medium-low and put the lid on the pan. Let cook a few minutes until they are as tender as you want them to be, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the lid, splash evenly with soy sauce, sprinkle with salt and pepper and about 1-3 teaspoons of sugar (just to cover the beans evenly). Stir and serve!

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