Today I woke up dark and early (the sun was not even close to being up) and got ready for my day at work.  We were doing the holiday floor set.  That’s right, HOLIDAY!  Things in the retail world happen sooo early when it comes to holidays.

Because of my crazy early beginning of the day, my eating habits have also been skewed leading to a lack of vegetable and fresh food intake.  By dinner time, I was craving something green.

I absolutely love green beans, and just happen to have some on hand.  I decided to prepare them using my favorite method, I “blanched” them.

Blanching a vegetable is a method of cooking by plunging the vegetable into boiling water for several seconds or several minutes and then quickly placing them in ice water.  This leaves the green beans a vibrant, green color, and super duper crisp!

Blanching Green Beans Step By Step

This method is quick, easy, and almost fail proof!

Begin by placing a large saucepan on the stovetop full of water and letting it boil.  While waiting for the water to boil, pop off the ends of the green beans, discard the ends and rinse the beans.

Once the water is boiling, dump all of the beans into the boiling water.

Set the timer for 4 minutes.  Let the boiling water do it’s magic.  While the beans are cooking, get a bowl of ice water ready.

Once the 4 minutes is over, submerge the green beans in the ice bath.  Strain with the strainer.  The beans are officially done!

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I then added my green beans to a totally new, delicious, and definitely repeatable recipe.

Garlic Pumpkin Pasta (Inspired and adapted by Hungry Girl’s Totally Pumpin Fetticini)

Makes three servings

Ingredients

• 2 Packages of House Foods Tofu Shirataki Noodles
• 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese
• 1/2 cup milk (you can use plain soy milk or lowfat dairy milk)
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup chicken broth or boullion
• 1/4 cup finely diced onions
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup blanched green beans

Brian and I both gave this dinner “two thumbs waaaay way up!” (Aladdin anybody?)

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Hope you all had an amazing weekend!