Tag Archives: green beans

Dijon Parmesan Green Bean Salad

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If you’re looking for the perfect, healthy dish to bring to a BBQ or potluck, this is a fantastic summer side dish. It’s packed full of fresh green beans and grape tomatoes so it’s really low in calories and the Dijon and parmesan add a ton of flavor while keeping it healthy. I’ve made this for Thanksgiving, for a birthday BBQ and just recently for a big outdoors family dinner at my mom’s and it’s always a hit.

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Enjoy!

Dijon Parmesan Green Bean Salad (serves 8-10)

Adapted from Taste of Home Cookbook

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
  • 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  • Place beans in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil
  • Cook, covered, for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender
  • Drain and shock the beans in a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking and keep them crisp and bright green
  • Place the green beans in a large bowl
  • Whisk the vinegar, oil, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl
  • Add tomatoes to the green beans
  • Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese
  • Refrigerate until ready to serve

A Weekend With An Old Friend & Peppery Brown Sugar Salmon With Pesto Green Beans

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Isabel, one of my oldest and dearest friends, was in town this past week and I was lucky enough to spend basically the entire weekend with her.  We spent the time catching up, eating and watching movies (This Means War and Snow White and the Hunstman-both were great). We only get to see each other about once a year.  Izzy is doing her residency for psychiatry at Duke University.  Yes, she’s a doctor.  Yes, she is way smarter than me and most of the people I know.  Yes, she is totally awesome and will be making boat loads of money once she is done with school.  Oh, and she speaks Spanish fluently.  UGH.

Anyways, we met in 9th grade and had an instant connection.  We are both Virgos.  We are both product junkies.  We are both into bad television, Twilight, scary ghost movies and trashy novels literature .  We both have wavy hair that we straighten.  We have the same views on nearly everything there is to have an opinion about (except I recently learned that she HATES Eva Mendes, which is total nonsense to me but I’ll let that one slide).  Here’s a picture of us from this weekend with our good friend, Kyrsten, who also lives in another state now.  The three of us were inseparable in our early teen years so it was really nice to be reunited!

{From left to right:  Me, Isabel and Kyrsten, having brunch at The Daily Grind}

We stayed in and I cooked up dinner on one of the nights we spent together.  I made us this delicious roasted brown sugar salmon with a side of pesto green beans.  Izzy and Jon both had clean plates after this dinner.  I highly suggest both of these dishes.  The green beans are addicting with their cheesy, pesto sauce and the brown sugar caramelizes on the salmon as it roasts.  YUM!  I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we did!  I suggest you make it for an old friend and spend the night catching up on childhood memories, eating fruit tarts and raspberry blackout cake and watching This Means War.  That’s what we did anyway and it was the best night I’ve had in a while!  :)

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Enjoy!

Peppery Brown Sugar Salmon with Pesto Green Beans (Serves 2)

Peppery Brown Sugar Salmon 

Ingredients:

  • 2 salmon fillets
  • 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
  • Pat the salmon fillets dry, and brush them with melted butter
  • Combine the seasonings in a small bowl, and mix. Sprinkle them over the salmon, and press down gently
  • On a lightly greased and lined baking sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes, until fish flakes easily and the brown sugar is starting to caramelize
  • Serve with pesto green beans (recipe  below)

Pesto Green Beans 

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 to 1 lb of fresh, trimmed green beans
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tablespoons of pesto

Directions:

  • In a large skillet, saute green beans in olive on medium high heat and season with salt and pepper (about 7-10 minutes)
  • When the green beans are almost cooked the way you want them, add the pesto.  Coat the beans evenly with the pesto and finish cooking to your preference.  I like mine crispy and a little browned from the skillet.
  • Serve!