Here’s a simple way to dress up green beans. Green beans with tomatoes is a delicious way to serve green beans and the dish goes well with many meals. Below is a video demonstration of my making the recipe with fresh green beans. But frozen and thawed green beans can easily be used instead. The recipe is below.

Enjoy!
Judi

Fresh Green Beans with Tomatoes
Makes 5 to 6 Servings

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup diced yellow onion
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
Up to 1 lb of fresh green beans, or frozen green beans, if desired*
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 tsp dried basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 to 2 tsp balsamic or red wine vinegar, optional

Wash, trim, and cut the fresh green beans into bite-size pieces; set aside. (See below if using frozen green beans.)

Warm a skillet over medium heat. Add oil and allow it to heat up briefly. Add the onion and sauté about 1 minute. Add the garlic and prepared green beans. Sauté for about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes with juice, basil, salt and pepper; stir to combine. Cover and bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until the green beans are as tender as you like, stirring occasionally. It takes about 10 minutes for fresh beans to become crisp-tender. Remove from heat and drizzle with vinegar, if desired.

*If preferred, frozen green beans can be used. Simply place the frozen beans in a colander and rinse with running water until they are thawed. Allow to drain, then proceed with recipe as usual. Very little cooking time is needed when using frozen and thawed beans. A few minutes should be enough to lightly cook them without them becoming mushy.

About Judi
Julia W. Klee (Judi) began her journey enjoying “all things food” in elementary school when she started preparing meals for her family. That love of food blossomed into a quest to learn more and more about health and wellness as related to nutrition. She went on to earn a BS Degree in Food and Nutrition, then an MS Degree in Nutrition. She has taught nutrition and related courses at the college level to pre-nursing and exercise science students. Her hunger to learn didn’t stop upon graduation from college. She continues to research on a regular basis about nutrition as it relates to health. Her hope is to help as many people as possible to enjoy foods that promote health and wellness.