Sesame Green Beans

As I've mentioned before, up until recently I was not the biggest fan of vegetables, especially green beans (just ask my mother-in-law!).  But as I've tried to expand my palate and eat healthier, I knew it was one of the foods I would try to conquer.  A few weeks ago I finished my Saturday morning run and stopped off at the farmers market nearby.  I picked up some kale, some tomatoes, and then decided to just go for it and bought some green beans.  I wanted to do something a little more interesting than just steaming them (plain, unseasoned green beans were why I was convinced I didn't like them in the first place!).  I was making a chicken dish that evening, so I had to find a recipe that didn't call for butter or cheese.  I did a search on Allrecipes.com and came across this one for Sesame Green Beans.  Sounded good to me!

This recipe was super easy to make.  One warning - when you add the green beans to the sesame seeds & oil, stand back, the sesame seeds pop!  It's not like you can just cover it with a splatter guard and leave it, because you need to keep stirring the beans.  I usually make this on a rear burner and then wipe down the stove (and wall) afterward.

It calls for chicken broth, but if you're having it with a dairy meal, you can always use vegetable or No-Chicken broth.

I am happy to say that I am now a green bean lover.  I've made this recipe 3 times in the past month so I knew I had to share it!

Sesame Green Beans (originally posted on Allrecipes.com)


Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 pound fresh green beans, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add sesame seeds.
- When seeds start to darken, stir in green beans
- Cook, stirring, until the beans turn bright green
- Pour in chicken broth, salt, and pepper.
- Cover and cook until beans are tender-crisp (about 10 min)
- Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates (***I have never had to do this, it's always been gone by the end of the 10 min)