country-style green beans

In life, there are green beans...and then there are green beans.  While I generally settle for straight-laced green beans, they never hit the spot like green beans do.  And by green beans, I mean the style of green beans I'm about to share.  I give all the credit to my mama...she's the one who taught me how to make them this way, and as far as I'm concerned (though it's probably not true) she's the one who invented them.

The first step actually has nothing to do with green beans.  Cut up some bacon into small pieces and fry it up in a skillet or saucepan (did I mention that this was not a vegetarian dish?).  We used turkey bacon and cooked it in a large nonstick skillet that was actually probably too big, as you'll see in a second.  If you ask me, this dish tastes better when cooked in cast iron, but I really have no proof for that.  And since I don't have cast iron, I'm sticking with my skillet.

Once your bacon is good and cooked, add some chopped up, peeled potatoes.  Then, on top of the potatoes, put a large can of green beans (undrained).  Simmer until the potatoes are tender!

 Now, the reason I said that our skillet was too large is that all of the liquid simmered out before the potatoes were done.  No biggie - we just added water.  But, cooking everything in a smaller saucepan would have eliminated that problem.

There are several nice things about this dish.  The bacon adds flavor.  You are getting a vegetable that tastes WAY better than a vegetable.  And, you can put as much of each ingredient in as you want (just make sure the potatoes have enough liquid to cook).

For that last reason, I am including no nutritional info.  I'll just give you one last tip...this tastes good on its own, but it tastes amazing with a little Cajun seasoning. :-)  Beans up!