week #3 - nutty green beans with bacon from 5 ingredient fix

vegetables (especially the green ones) are totally my jam. 

i was never one of those picky eater kids, and as an adult there's almost nothing i won't eat (almost nothing...cottage cheese....no thanks!)  don't get me wrong, there are certain things that i only like a certain way...for example, not a fan of poached eggs, unless it's on an english muffin and covered in hollandaise, and for the most part, not gonna touch avocado unless it's mashed - but for the most part, i'll eat them anyways if you serve them to me. 
i have no ill feelings for the vegetable family though, bring em' on!

green beans are always a fave for me, and they have made appearances here once or twice before.  they are quick and easy to prepare, have a satisfying crunch, and are easily adaptable to all sorts of sauces and seasonings. 

i'm also quite the fan of recipes with short ingredient lists.  a few years back, i became fascinated with claire robinson's '5 ingredient fix' show on food network.  she was always making recipes that intrigued me in their simplicity, and since there were only 5 ingredients, they were usually a cinch to throw together.  when her cookbook came out a few years back i knew it was an excellent one to add to the collection. 

each section of the book has a spread of recipes that are deep with character, some of which are truly amazingly accomplished with such few ingredients.  To name a few, chai spices s'mores, baked fresh ricotta with stewed cherries, grilled flank steak with corn relish, and polenta fries with roasted tomato sauce all sound like dishes best served in my extremely near future!

since we're still cleansing, we ignored the sweets, and non-cleanse friendly choosings and picked a cleanse friendly recipe instead (here's a link to the recipe).  thank goodness this recipe was a keeper that will surely reappear once cleanse time is over.  this recipe, however, isn't exactly what anyone would consider fat free, as the beans are cooked in bacon fat, and sprinkled with toasted pecans (for good measure).  they do however fit with my philosophy that veggies cooked in bacon fat can convert any veggie hater out there.

since blue cheese isn't exactly cleanse-approved, i subbed with homemade mayonnaise which added the unctuous coating and tangy kick that the blue cheese would have provided (almost).  the end result was quite delicious.  the nuttiness from the pecans was an excellent pair with the beans, and the crispy bacon bits were (and are always) a welcome addition.  throw it all together and you get a side dish that pleases everyone!

so, yet another recipe made, from yet another cookbook from my collection and i am becoming more and more satisfied with this resolution of mine every week!  and once this cleanse is over (february 7th) i'll start bringing you the big guns, my friends.  i can't wait!

happy sunday!