Green Bean Casserole

What happens when you mess with Tradition?  This is our second post in our healthier Thanksgiving installment.  If you missed last week’s, check it out here: Homemade Cranberry Sauce. Messing with tradition is usually met with a lot of resistance.  Let me tell you a story about my family quite a few Thanksgivings ago.  My Grandmother, in an effort to consolidate dishes and cut down on waste and leftovers, eliminated some of the common Thanksgiving dishes we are used to eating.  The next thing she knew, and much to her dismay, my sister and I were out the door on an errand of mercy to pick up potatoes to make mashed potatoes.  That’s what happens when you mess with traditions at my house.

However, this recipe’s changes are slight enough to still be called a Thanksgiving Green Bean Casserol, yet still be healthier for you than the original version.  And since this version is mostly homemade (we still used a can of beans and French’s French Fried Onions), we lose a lot of the preservatives lurking in that can of cream of mushroom soup.

Ingredients:

2 Cans of Green Beans

16 oz Bag of Frozen Green Beans

2 1/2 tablespoons Flour

2 tablespoons Butter

2 cups milk

1 pack (8oz) sliced mushrooms

1 medium onion thinly sliced

1/2 cup French’s French Fried Onions

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped garlic or 2 cloves of garlic chopped

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

A dash of nutmeg

A dash of ground thyme

A dash of ground sage

*Note:  We used canned and frozen green beans for a difference in texture.  If you prefer less crunchy green beans, use 4 cans of green beans instead of the 16oz bag of frozen green beans.

8 servings, 196 Calories, 13.2g fat, 20g Carbohydrates, 3.4g protein

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  In medium sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  Cook the frozen green beans.

Melt the butter Boiling water Frozen green beans

3.  Strain Green beans.

Straining Straining Straining

4.  Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, salt, and black pepper to the sauce pan and stir.  Cook until onion is soft and the mushrooms have given up some of their liquid. (About 7 minutes.)

Onion Mushrooms Mushrooms and Onions Garlic Stir Mushrooms and Onions

5.  Add thyme, sage, mustard, and flour and stir until the flour has cooked a little.  (About 2-3 minutes.)

Add the flour Stir Stir

6.  Slowly add milk while stirring, until well incorporated with the flour mixture.
Let mushroom sauce cook over medium heat until thick.  (About 5 minutes.)

Add milk Stir Add milk StirStir Simmer Stir

7.  Place sauce and green beans into an ungreased casserole dish and stir until well mixed.  (We used a 9×9 casserole dish.)

Mix MixMix

8.  Bake for 10 minutes.

9.  Remove casserole, top with french fried onion, and return to oven.  Bake for 10 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and onion are crispy and brown.

Add the fried onions Add the fried onionsGreen Bean Casserole

That’s all there is to it!  Tune in next week for our last Thanksgiving post before the big day! Until then, stay happy and healthy, SPFers!

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Green Bean Casserole Green Bean Casserole



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