Szechuan Green Beans |

Sorry for being MIA lately. I went to Boston for a girls weekend, then Corey and I had “the rents” in town (both of ours…) for memorial day weekend and then we flew to Minnesota for my friend’s wedding this past weekend. Phew!

I had never been to Boston before and it is such a cute city, unlike any place I’ve ever been. We went to celebrate my girlfriend Chelsea’s graduation from grad school – we had an absolute blast.

Memorial day was so much fun, it was the first time our parents were all meeting (we’ve been dating for over 2 years but it’s hard to get everyone together with how far apart we all live). We had a blast and the weather was beautiful! (we were having such a good time I forgot to snap a single pic!)

My friend Alicia looked gorgeous on her wedding day, she was just glowing the whole evening. I am so happy for she and Matt and I wish them a lifetime of happiness. (I snapped this picture during their wedding march – she didn’t miss a beat!)

Now that I am home-sweet-home though I plan on spending some quality time with my kitchen! Below is an awesome recipe for szechuan green beans to get ya started. It goes great with so many things and it is pretty quick and easy.

Spicy Szechuan Green Beans (Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen)

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into halves or thirds
2 T soy sauce (I used low-sodium)
1 T rice vinegar (not seasoned)
2 tsp. Splenda (Sugar, or granular Stevia in the Raw)
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (I used 1/4 tsp. and the beans were fairly hot)
1/4 tsp. pepper (original recipe called for white pepper but I didn’t have any)
1 T vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
2 T minced garlic
1 T peeled and minced ginger root

Instructions

1. Wash green beans, trim the ends, and cut beans into halves or thirds if they are large. Mix together soy sauce, rice vinegar, splenda, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and white pepper.

2. Heat a large stir fry skillet on high heat, add the beans and 1/4 cup water and seasonings. Lower the heat to medium-high and stir continuously for 3-5 minutes or until the beans are bright green and starting to get tender. (If your beans are thin they will cook more quickly, but larger beans will probably need 5 minutes to get done.) Cook until the water is all evaporated.

Dinner on the patio! Served with grilled corn and salt & vinegar kale mashed potatoes. Such a gorgeous night! (we need some nicer napkins though, ugh, what a buzz kill!)

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