Let’s talk about green beans. I am a huge fan of green beans… especially Italian style. Almost every time I go to visit my grandma she makes green beans cause she knows how much I like them. She knows I like them with some extra virgin olive oil, sauteed garlic, and tomatoes and then cooked down till tender.
Unfortunately most people’s experience with green beans is having a can of them dumped into a pot with pieces of bacon… blah. Canned green beans are just blah.
If you don’t know how good green beans are then let me help you get acquainted with them. Green beans are chocked full of vitamins, minerals, and goodies like: vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, manganese, magnesium, potassium, folate, iron, calcium, copper, phosphorus, tryptophan, protein, dietary fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids!
Wow. What a vegetable… I mean bean. Green beans are in the same family as shell beans but unlike them you can eat the whole thing (pod and bean) and eat them raw. I especially like this about green beans… they just seem so fresh. I mean… if you eat other beans raw you can get some nice/terrible stomach cramps… but oh no not with Mr. Green Bean. I especially like french green beans (haricot verts).
Oh the days of cleaning and picking off the stems of green beans for my mom or grandma. Nostalgia. Sigh.
Tim is a health researcher and educator based out of Nashville, TN. Connect with him on Instagram @eattodaytolivetomorrow.
