Servings – 4

 This recipe is fine for all stages of the program

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh green beans chopped into bite sized pieces
• 6 strips low sodium turkey bacon cooked and crumbled into small pieces
• 4-6 green onions chopped
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking spray
• 1/4 tsp salt (optional, you may want to wait until you have the beans cooked then decide if you need to add any salt)
• 1 Tbsp. grainy dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. Frank’s Hot Sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil
2. Add beans and cook just until water returns to a rolling boil (this will take about 2-3 min after you add the beans – this is what is called blanching the beans)
3. Strain beans with a colander or strainer and immerse the beans in a large bowl of ice water until beans are cold. (this is to stop the cooking process and lock int he bright green color)
4. Once cooled, drain the ice water from the bean and set the beans aside for later in the cooking process.
5. In a sauce pan heat oil or cooking spray, add green onion and cook until onion starts to brown.
6. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
7. Stir in salt, mustard, water and Frank’s to make a sauce. (you may not need the salt if you add the hot sauce as it tends to be quite salty)
8. Stir in beans, cover and cook just until beans are hot and tender-crisp, about 5 minutes.
9. Stir in bacon and remove from heat.

Serve with a protein of your choice.  This also works well with mashed cauliflower as a second side dish.