Welcome to day two of The Bonus Space 7 Days of Thanksgiving recipe countdown! Today I want to share a family staple that my mom makes all the time, especially during the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This buttery garlic green bean recipe is simple and easy to make. The subtle garlic and butter seasoning compliments the green beans nicely, and pairs with almost any dish!

Enjoy!

The Bonus Cookbook

For those who are interested to see how I made this recipe, here’s some bonus info and a few extra photos to help you out!

This recipe is very simple and easy to make, but here is what you will need to get started:

Ingredients:

• Fresh green beans
• 2 cloves garlic – one diced one cut in half
• 2tbsp butter
• 2tbsp fresh parsley

First, wash and trim the ends off both sides of your green beans.

Fill a large pot or deep sauté pan with salted water (kosher salt best) and bring to a boil. Add 2 halves of a garlic clove that has been cut in half.

Once boiling, add the green beans and cook for 6-8 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached. Boiling the green beans with garlic in the water will give the green beans a nice garlic essence.

Strain the green beans and immediately shock them by rinsing under cold water.

One of the nice things about this recipe is that you can boil green beans in advance, and finish cooking later. I like to use this trick for big dinners like Thanksgiving to get the prep work out of the way.

If you plan to finish your green beans later, dry them off and place them in a plastic bag with a paper towel. This will prevent them from getting soggy in the fridge. You can store cooked green beans in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

When you’re ready to finish cooking your green beans, melt some butter in a large sauté pan. Add chopped parsley and halved garlic, cook until fragrant.

Add green beans, minced garlic and salt to taste. Cook green beans 2 minutes until hot and seasoned.

Serve immediately, and enjoy with your favorite dishes!

Cheers!

-M

Learning to Cook With Mom

Now, my mom is truly an amazing cook. Yes, I know everyone always says that, but I really mean it.

Everything I know about cooking, I learned from my mom. I feel very lucky to have grown up in a house with a mom who was so passionate about cooking, and wanted to teach us everything she knew.

When I was a kid I started out as her sous chef, mostly watching and prepping ingredients for her. She taught me little by little, building up my skills one step at a time. The more I learned, the more responsibility she passed onto me.

Side Note: If you’re trying to teach your kids how to cook, I highly recommend this method! Working as mom’s sous chief in the kitchen got me involved and interested in cooking. I was always excited whenever I was given a new task or responsibility (except parsley, I still really hate chopping parsley). At the time I didn’t realize she was teaching me, but boy did it work!

Cooking By Feel

Now, I don’t know about you, but my mom cooks almost everything by eye or “by feel” as she would say. She rarely has her own recipes written down, because most of the time they’re in her head.

When I asked her for this garlic green bean recipe, she replied with “I don’t have one, I just do it”. Then she started talking me through her recipe so I could write it down, because my mind isn’t a steel trap like hers.

Not unlike the other recipes she has given me over the years, it was basically a list of ingredients without any cooking times or measurements. Her recipe ‘directions’ are usually pretty vague, and include phrases like “a small amount”, “a lot of”, and “cook until it’s done”.

I did my best to translate this garlic green bean recipe into “exact” measurements, but the truth is that cooking isn’t always like that. Sometimes you just need to “feel it”, and adjust the ingredients and cooking times to whatever you think is best!

If my mom has taught me anything about cooking it’s this: trust your instincts, don’t always follow the recipe, taste while you cook to adjust, and most importantly, always keep practicing.

So, take this recipe and tweak it, add to it, and make it your own!

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